mcat-lecture-notes-chaneys-verbal-reasoning-mastery-lecture-notes4

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Charles Chaney’s VR Mastery

• _{Curriculum for Increasing Verbal Reasoning}

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Chaney’s VR Strategies

Addressing the Questions.

–

_{Predicting the questions for each passage is vital}

to scoring well on the VR section of the test.

• _{Can you anticipate the VR test questions and identify}

wrong answer choices?

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Cheney’s VR Strategies

–

_{Addressing the Questions.}

• _{Learn and become comfortable with the eight question}

types.

– _{Main idea questions.}

» _{The thesis of the passage tying everything together.}

» _{Wrong answer choices are either too narrow in focus or}

beyond the scope of the passage.

• _{Note: Just because an answer is true does not make it}

correct or the best answer choice.

– _{Direct comprehension questions.}

Comprises the majority of VR questions.

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Cheney’s VR Strategies

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_{Addressing the Questions.}

• _{Three point analysis strategy.}

– _{Regarding the event, argument or phenomenon of the passage, you need to}

answer three questions about it:

» _{What are the claims of this argument; what does it represent or state?} » _{When does this argument succeed or fail; what weakens and}

strengthens it?

» _{Who supports and rejects this argument and why?} – _{Key words in the question stem signalling a DC question:}

» _{Can be concluded, which one best represents, are the reasons for,}

which would be the most /least effective.

» _{Note: Make mental or physical notes about the main idea of each}

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Cheney’s VR Strategies

–

_{Addressing the Questions.}

• _{Direct reference question.}

– _{A question stem that makes a direct reference to the material} and/or refers back to specific words in the passage.

» _{Don’t worry about looking back at the passage to answer} the question; rather you should look back only to confirm your answer.

• _{Students typically waste too much time looking back} over the passage.

» _{These questions also test your understanding of}

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Cheney’s VR Strategies

–

_{Addressing the Questions.}

• Inference question.

– Key words signaling inference questions include: imply, the passage suggests, it can be inferred.

– _{Inference questions are not state explicitly, so you don’t need to look back at}

the passage to identify the answer.

– This question stem tests your understanding of concepts and ideas NOT stated in the passage.

» _{This question type entails that you understand argumentation and how}

arguments are constructed.

• You must feel comfortable identifying:

• Stated conclusions.

• _{Stated evidence.} • Implied conclusions.

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Cheney’s VR Strategies

–

_{Addressing the Questions.}

• _{Logical argument review.}

– Premises—reasons and evidence.

– Conclusion—inference drawn from reasons and evidence. – _{Evidence—Facts, opinions, assumptions (unstated evidence).}

» Assumption questions dictate that the implied evidence (unstated assumption/evidence) MUST be true in order for the conclusion to be true.

• _{Therefore, the correct answer for an assumption}

question MUST be true in order for the conclusion to be true.

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Cheney’s VR Strategies

–

Addressing the Questions.

• _{Structure and function questions.}

– _{These question stems test your ability to understand and appreciate the arrangement}

of the passages as well as the purpose of the passage or key parts of it (ideas, phrases, etc).

» _{Avoid confusing main idea questions with structure function questions.} • _{The main idea is often distinctly different from the passages’ purpose.}

• _{Note: Whenever you’re confronted by facts or evidence from the passage,}

always ask yourself why the author presents it.

– _{Questions asking for the purpose of a word or phrase are really testing your}

understanding of the author’s arguments and ideas

» _{Read below the surface of the test to understand the purpose and structure of}

each paragraph and frequently ask why and how given information is presented in the passage.

» _{Key words signaling structure and function questions:}

• _{The purpose of, probable reason for, in order to, the structure of, what role,}

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Cheney’s VR Strategies

– _{Addressing the Questions.}

• Strengthen and weaken questions.

– These question stems test your ability to understand and appreciate how concepts, ideas and arguments in the passage succeed or fail.

» _{You need to think about ways in which an argument can be strengthened or weakened.} • _{Note: Use answer elimination strategies for these questions.}

• _{There’s a trend indicating that one answer choice is the OPPOSITE to what the} question asks.

• There’s a trend indicating that one answer choice NEITHER strengthens NOR weakens the argument.

• _{Note: Whenever you’re confronted by facts or evidence from the passage, always} ask yourself why the author presents it.

– _{Key words in the stem signaling a strengthen and weaken question:}

» _{Which would weaken, which would strengthen, which would be most troublesome,} which would most help to clarify, which statement is inconsistent with, etc.

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Cheney’s VR Strategies

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_{Addressing the Questions.}

• _{About the author questions.}

– _{These question stems test your ability to understand and}

appreciate your awareness of the author’s attitude toward the topic.

» _{Identifying the author’s argument will go a long way to} helping get a better idea of the author’s attitude.

» _{Pay close attention to the deeper levels of meaning, such as} the inferences and tone, the author’s vantage point, etc. » _{Key words in the stem signaling about the author questions:}

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Cheney’s VR Strategies

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_{Addressing the Questions.}

• New information questions.

– _{These question stems test your ability to apply and incorporate new concepts from}

outside/inside the passage.

» _{Avoid the temptation to select the answer that looks most similar to the}

passage.

• _{Try answering the question yourself before looking at the answer choices.} » _{A four-step method for new information questions:}

• _{Summarize the main points of each paragraph.} • _{Determine the how, who and what for each point.} • _{Make a prediction of the answer in your own words.} • _{Compare answer choices.}

» _{Key words in the stem signaling new information questions:}

• _{Suppose it were demonstrated, given the following were true, consider}

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Cheney’s VR Strategies

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_{Addressing the Questions.}

• _{Final advice.}

– _{How do you avoid attractive answer choices that are wrong?} » _{Always attempt to answer the question on your own first,}

then look for two fairly common wrong choices: the