1. C This is an Inference question.
A: No. This choice is too extreme. The author suggests that in some important sense there is no such thing as individual memory, but he is stressing the interdependence of individual and collective memory, not the complete absence of the former. There is also no suggestion that the idea of Individual memory was constructed as a way of explaining collective memory.
B: No. This answer may be tempting for those who don’t check back to the passage, as the author says that there is no such thing as individual memory, and that the concept of distortion becomes problematic once one dispels the notion that individual memory is independent of collective memory. However, we don’t know, based on the text, that the nature of individual memory itself causes problems in considering dis-tortion. That is, the concept of individual memory may be problematic, but the author does not suggest that individual memory causes conceptual problems.
C: Yes. The author makes this point in a number of places in the second paragraph, especially in the last line when he notes that “cultural memory…is distributed across social institutions.”
D: No. This is the opposite of what the passage suggests. The author stresses the dependence of individual memory on collective institutions. That is, individual memory doesn’t really exist because “memory is social” (paragraph 2). The author’s point is not that they are two different things, but rather that they are one and the same thing.
2. C This is a Structure question.
A: No. The statement in question does have a bearing on the overall argument. If the controversies did not exist, it would suggest that collective memories might be entirely unstable and therefore of no use in judg-ing how much we might come to agreement about what really happened.
B: No. The statement is not in itself of historical importance, as far as we know. That statement is, rather, about some aspect of history.
C: Yes. This statement, when examined along with the prior sentence, is used by the author to point out that memory is not so entirely open to interpretation that it is matter of pure fiction. The passage states: “If interpretation were free-floating, entirely manipulable to serve present interests, altogether unanchored by a bedrock body of unshakable evidence, controversies over the past would ultimately be uninteresting. But in fact they are interesting. They are compelling. And they are gripping because people trust that a past we can to some extent know and can to some extent come to agreement about really happened.” If controversies were uninteresting (the contrary notion), it would suggest that there is no foundation at all for agreement, which would be inconsistent with the author’s argument in this paragraph.
D: No. It is not an exception, but instead a statement of fact according to the author. Furthermore, it is not used to anticipate opposing arguments; rather, it is used to directly support the author’s claim that it makes sense to study distortions of widely accepted historical interpretations.
CARS SECTION-WIDE STRATEGY
MCAT COMPLETE
3. A This is an Inference question.
A: Yes. This is a rather oblique way of referring to something the author says nearby in the first paragraph, that “the biography of a lifetime is the appropriate “natural” frame for individual memory.” Given this fact and the statement mentioned in the question stem, we can conclude that the fact that “there’s no … evident frame” means that the ongoing “lifespan” of the human race, still around, obviates any snapshot of race memory as representative of the whole.
B: No. The author never suggests that there is no sharing of experience or memory between different cul-tures.
C: No. This contradicts the passage, as individuals certainly have access to common cultural memories and in fact depend on this access to survive (see paragraph 2).
D: No. This is the opposite of what the author states in the first paragraph: “Neither national boundaries nor linguistic ones are as self-evidently the right containers for collective memory as the person is for indi-vidual memory.”
4. A This is a Weaken question.
A: Yes. When answering a Weaken or Strengthen question, don’t evaluate whether or not the answer choice is true; rather, take each choice as a true statement and judge whether or not it has the required effect on the author’s argument. The author’s main view of individual memory is that it’s partly illu-sory, since it reflects so many aspects of cultural knowledge carried over from generation to generation and vested in various institutions. This choice would weaken this claim, as it would indicate that social memories are changeable and do not necessarily persist outside the individual.
B: No. The fact that people can memorize information is not inconsistent with the author’s argument about the nature of memory. By saying that memory is inherently social, the author is not literally arguing that individuals cannot remember things.
C: No. This would strengthen the argument, if anything, as it would support the notion that memories re-side chiefly in institutions rather than individuals.
D: No. This choice is not strong enough to “most undermine” the passage. While this statement doesn’t sup-port the author’s claim that institutional memory is advantageous (paragraph 2), it doesn’t significantly weaken the author’s argument as a whole, especially as compared to choice A. It relates only to a small and probably non-representative sample, rather than to individual and institutional memory as it functions more generally.
5. D This is a Strengthen question.
A: No. The author says that the choice of what we recall and the consequent distortion is “socially conditioned”
(third paragraph), implying that it’s unconscious. If we were to purposefully and consciously choose to with-hold certain information and report other information, it wouldn’t affect the underlying issue of what was available for the recollection of the individual.
B: No. This would have no effect on the author’s claim, as it would show a capability on a particular task, but would not affect the unconscious biases in storage and retrieval the author is interested in.
C: No. This might support the failure of the mental hardware to store or retrieve certain items of memory, but it wouldn’t have much effect on the issue of socially conditioned memory distortions.
D: Yes. The author’s point is that memory is inherently distorted, as it involves selecting what to pay atten-tion to and what to ignore. If the brain is inherently limited in its ability to notice and store memories, then the individual must inevitably choose what to notice and what to ignore, as the author argues in paragraph 3.
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6. A This is an Evaluate question.
A: Yes. The statement regarding agreement about the past is a statement about what may be derived from collective memory, institutions, and the like. The statement about individual memories is generally unrelated to the idea of coming to some agreement about what has actually happened in the past.
B: No. While the statements are consistent (see explanation of choice A) it is not because the second claim in the question stem supports the first. An argument might be made that the first claim supports the second, if weakly, but not the other way around.
C: No. Difficulties in judging whether controversies over the past are gripping or not are irrelevant, as we are told directly by the passage that they are gripping. Furthermore, the author does not literally argue that individual memories do not exist, but rather that individual memory is inherently conditioned by social institutions and practices.
D: No. The relationship stated in this answer choice is not supported by the passage. The idea that individual memories are inextricably linked to cultural memories is not inconsistent with the idea that we can come to some agreement about what’s occurred in our collective past.
7. B This is a New Information question.
A: No. The fact that dominant individuals have inordinate influence would go directly to the heart of issue of why certain cultural memories are emphasized and others are downplayed.
B: Yes. If dominant individuals can influence large groups to change their opinions about what is most relevant and what is less so, then their influence would have a direct bearing on “social and historical processes” and therefore on the author’s claim that the notion of distortion is problematic.
C: No. That distortions are fairly ordinary would tend to strengthen rather than weaken the author’s claim.
D: No. The second half of this answer (“explain the ultimate origin”) is too extreme. This choice also incor-rectly states that the situation described would weaken the author’s claim, when in fact it would support it.
CARS SECTION-WIDE STRATEGY
MCAT COMPLETE