1. A This is a Structure question.
A: Yes. Remember, you’re looking for the claim for which the author doesn’t offer any specific support or explanation. Although the author makes this claim in paragraph 4, he does not offer any examples or explain why plays and/or stage shows particularly exemplify this point.
B: No. The author explains this statement in paragraph 2 after addressing why excessive stoutness is laugh-able, saying that “This too is what sometimes makes bashfulness somewhat ridiculous. The bashful man rather gives the impression of a person embarrassed by his body.”
C: No. In paragraph 2 the author writes, “Where lies the comic element in this sentence…? In the fact that our attention is suddenly recalled from the soul to the body.” Several examples follow, such as the speaker cut short by a painful tooth.
D: No. This statement, made by Napoleon (paragraph 5) is explained immediately after: “for as soon as you are seated it all becomes comedy.”
2. D This is a Structure question.
A: No. The analogy to music is consistent with the author’s explicit argument, rather than serving as a coun-terpoint or contrast.
B: No. The tragic poet avoids striking a comic “note” so as to avoid bringing in unwanted overtones (para-graph 3), while in the analogy to music the author discusses how when one note, musical or comic, is struck, another inevitably follows. Therefore, there is a contrast rather than an analogy drawn between a tragic poet and a musician.
C: No. This choice includes some words from the relevant paragraph (paragraph 5), but the meaning is different.
The “far-fetched inventions” of comic fancy are extreme cases that still obey the rule; the author’s analogy to music does not specifically serve to illustrate those extreme cases.
D: Yes. In paragraph 5, after explaining the musical effect whereby “other notes start up of themselves,”
the author writes, “These are what are called in physics the overtones of the fundamental note. It would seem that comic fancy, even in its most far-fetched inventions, obeys a similar law.” His purpose in describing the effect in music is to support his analysis that comedy operates in the same fashion.
“No sooner, then, does the comic poet strike the first note than he will add the second on to it, in-voluntarily and instinctively. In other words, he will duplicate what is ridiculous professionally with something that is ridiculous physically.” This description of one tone or “note” adding on to another supports the descriptive word “multilayered” in this choice.
3. C This is a New Information question.
A: No. We have no indication this is about demonstrating power, either from the new information or from the passage. This choice is out of scope.
B: No. This choice is tempting, as the author says that sitting gives the body precedence over the soul (para-graph 4). However, we have no evidence that this was considered by Napoleon. The only evidence we have of his awareness of the significance of sitting relates to the “transition from tragedy to comedy.”
C: Yes. The author states in paragraph 3 that Napoleon “had noticed that the transition from tragedy to comedy is effected simply by sitting down” and supports this assertion with a quote from Napoleon:
“…for as soon as you are seated it all becomes comedy.” The author indicates that Napoleon was aware that sitting in any situation would produce comedy, so by not sitting, the author would most likely say that he was consciously avoiding one source of comedy.
D: No. If Napoleon never sat when receiving guests, this suggests that he attached some importance to standing. Therefore, we cannot infer that he did not understand that sitting was comic (if anything, it suggests that he may in fact have already understood this).
THE POE AND ATTRACTORS
MCAT COMPLETE
4. A This is an Inference question.
A: Yes. The “outward formalities” of the professions of lawyers, magistrates, and doctors are the things that make their jobs ridiculous, as they speak “as though health and justice were of little moment”
(paragraph 4). He further explains, “Constant attention to form and the mechanical application of rules” (paragraph 4) are what is laughable about these professions.
B: No. The author does not address their uniforms or clothing. This is a misinterpretation of “outward for-malities.”
C: No. The author does not indicate that these are intellectually stimulating careers. Be careful not to use outside knowledge or opinion.
D: No. The author does not mention these professions positively contributing to society. Again, be careful not to use outside knowledge or your own opinion.
5. C: This is a New Information question.
A: No. There is no indication that a tragic scene has been shortened here.
B: No. We have no indication that manner (Medea’s behavior) has substituted for matter (the tragic content of the play).
C: Yes. The new information describes a writer of tragedy, Euripides, who allowed his heroine to both sit and eat. This is inconsistent the author’s assertion in paragraph 3 that the tragic poet presents his heroes in a certain way because he fears the comic element in drawing attention to the body. “On this account, the hero in a tragedy does not eat or drink or warm himself. He does not even sit down any more than can be helped.” (You may not be sure whether Euripides might be called a tragic poet or not, but the theme of tragedy itself makes this relevant to the passage.)
D: No. Neither plumpness nor virtue is addressed in the new information. Also, the issue of the author’s reference to the speech quoted by the German philosopher is that of a relationship between a mention of plumpness and comedy, not of some generalized relationship between plumpness and virtue.
6. B: This is an Inference question.
A: No. A cough would be similar to a sneeze, which the author says in paragraph 2 could draw attention to the body. So, the author is unlikely to disagree with this claim.
B: Yes. Remember, you’re looking for the statement the author would disagree with. The final paragraph indicates that “When a musician strikes a note on an instrument, other notes start up of themselves.”
Later in that paragraph the author, in the context of the analogy, states that “No sooner, then, does the comic poet strike the first note than he will add the second on to it, involuntarily and instinctively”
(emphasis added). So, the author does not believe the artist “may choose to play” overtones, and there-fore the author is most likely to disagree with this statement.
C: No. Referring to excessive tallness, like the author’s example of excessive stoutness in paragraph 2, prob-ably calls up a laughable image. Therefore, the author is unlikely to disagree with this statement.
D: No. The author would be likely to agree that brushing one’s teeth is a similar kind of physical action (touching one’s mouth) to eating or drinking, two activities he says poets are unlikely to depict their he-roes doing. So, the author would likely agree rather than disagree with this statement.
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Individual Passage Log
Passage # __________
Q# Q type Attractors What did you do wrong?
Revised Strategy
_________________________________________________________________Passage # __________
Q# Q type Attractors What did you do wrong?
Revised Strategy
_________________________________________________________________THE POE AND ATTRACTORS
MCAT COMPLETE