epdf.pub_cbest-cliffs-test-prep13a9b242c7cb4125e6cca92d00a73d5a41681

Part II: Analysis of Exam Areas
Recognize the Tone and Purpose of the Passage
Would the author agree or disagree with something?
Sample
11. The author of this passage would be most likely to agree with which of the
following statements?
A. In order to prevent chaos in a society, authority must be strong and
unquestioned.
B. All men, whether weak or strong, desire justice in their dealings with
others.
C. Social obligation is the most important factor ensuring protection of the
weak by the strong.
D. Rights are granted to those without power when to do so will benefit
those with power.
E. In the past, when rights have been granted to people, only the most
extreme circumstances have led to their being rescinded.
The best choice is D. According to the passage, the rights of the weak were acknowledged
only when the strong were induced to do so for their own convenience
(sentence 2). Choice A is irrelevant; the author doesn’t advocate strong,
unquestioned authority; the passage only defines what the author sees as the realistic
situation. Choice B is incorrect; the author states that the powerful are concerned
with their own interests, not with justice. Choice C is also incorrect;
notions of social obligation are, like laws, based on the needs of the powerful.
Choice E is refuted in the passage; the author states that rights have been “revoked
or violated on the most trifling provocation.”
As you read the following longer passage, focus on what the author is really saying
or what point the author is trying to make. Also pay attention to how the passage
is put together — the structure.
Read the passage below and answer the five questions that follow.
22
Woodrow Wilson won his first office in 1910 when he was elected governor
of New Jersey. Two years later, he was elected president in one of the most
rapid political rises in our history. For a while, Wilson had practiced law but
found it both boring and unprofitable; then he became a political scientist
and finally president of Princeton University. He did an outstanding job at
Princeton, but when he was asked by the Democratic boss of New Jersey, Jim
Smith, to run for governor, Wilson readily accepted because his position at
Princeton was becoming untenable.
Until 1910, Wilson seemed to be a conservative Democrat in the Grover
Cleveland tradition. He had denounced Bryan in 1896 and had voted for the