MCQ
Multiple Choice Strategies
Passage Types: 5 passages: 2 longer reading texts; 3 shorter revision-focused texts.
Strategies
Strategies
Read questions first, then text
First Pass: Answer easy questions quickly, mark hard questions with a “?” and skip them.
Second pass: Answer hard questions then review easy ones if time.
Process of Elimination
Eliminate: Usually two obviously wrong answers.
Best Guess: Choose the best answer among the remaining options (the distractor and correct answer).
Consider all choices for each question.
All parts of an answer must be correct.
Success Factors
Understand author's purpose.
Follow the author's syntax.
Respond to diction and vocabulary.
Know and apply rhetorical terms.
Infer from the text.
Note tone, irony, and changes in tone.
Understand how the author uses other sources.
Recognize the passage's organization.
Evaluate the author's style.
Understand modes of discourse and rhetorical strategies.
Types of Multiple-Choice Questions
Straight-Forward Questions: Example: "The passage is an example of…"
References to Lines: Draw conclusions or interpretations from specific lines. Example: "Lines 52-57 serve to…"
Contextual Reading: When asked about specific lines, read at least two lines above and below to understand the context.
Test-Taking Techniques
Underline, mark, and circle text (no highlighting allowed).
Rely on the passage, not memory.
Preview questions before reading (optional).
Avoid spending too much time on one question.
Don't be misled by the length of selections.
Question Formats
"All…Except" Questions: Identify the exception.
Inference Questions: Abstract a concept not explicitly stated. Example: "The reader can infer…"
Roman-Numeral Questions: Example: I. A only II. Both A & B, etc.
Vocabulary in Context: No longer part of the test.
Staying Engaged
Actively read to stay awake.
Remember, the passages are not meant to entertain.
Last Resort: Guessing
There is no penalty for guessing.
If out of time or unsure, bubble in an answer and move on.
Passage Breakdown
Two reading passages
Three think-like-a-writer passages
Repeated Reminders
Questions are not graded according to difficulty.
Work within the given context.
Consider all choices and use POE.
Previewing Questions
Consider previewing the questions (not the answer choices).
Do a quick annotation.
Sample Passage & Questions
The following passage is excerpted from an op-ed published in 2018.
Op-Ed Beginning: America’s boys are broken. And it’s killing us.
Context: The brokenness of the country’s boys stands in contrast to its girls, who still face an abundance of obstacles but go into the world increasingly well equipped to take them on.
Question 1
The author’s opening lines (“America’s boys . . . killing us”) capture the audience’s attention by:
highlighting a disturbing statistic
sketching a hypothetical scenario
alluding to an anecdote about his son
presenting a startling claim
quoting the slogan of a political group
Correct Answer: D - presenting a startling claim
Question 2
Context: Contrasting girls and boys in the United States (paragraphs 3 and 4).
Options:
suggest that boys’ performance has suffered because of competition from girls
imply that the same message that has helped girls has undermined boys’ self- confidence
attribute problems faced by boys to men’s lack of political engagement in the United States
identify a key role for women in efforts to redefine the concept of masculinity
highlight the lack of attention given to the complexities of masculinity in United States culture
Correct Answer: E - highlight the lack of attention given to the complexities of masculinity in United States culture
Question 3
Context: The author discusses a definition of masculinity in the fifth paragraph.
Options:
contest its accuracy
trace its origin
underscore its limitations
clarify an ambiguity
present a recommendation
Correct Answer: C - underscore its limitations
Excerpt from Paragraph 5: Too many boys are trapped in the same suffocating, outdated model of masculinity, where manhood is measured in strength, where there is no way to be vulnerable without being emasculated, where manliness is about having power over others. They are trapped, and they don’t even have the language to talk about how they feel about being trapped, because the language that exists to discuss the full range of human emotion is still viewed as sensitive and feminine.
Question 4
Which of the following statements best encapsulates the author’s line of reasoning in the passage?
Options:
“America’s boys are broken. And it’s killing us.” (paragraph 1)
“The past 50 years have redefined what it means to be female in America.” (paragraph 3, sentence 1)
“They’ve absorbed the message: They’re outperforming boys in school at every level.” (paragraph 3, sentence 3)
“To be a girl today is to be the beneficiary of decades of conversation about the complexities of womanhood, its many forms and expressions.” (paragraph 3, sentence 5)
“No commensurate movement has emerged to help them navigate toward a full expression of their gender.” (paragraph 4, sentence 2)
Correct Answer: A - “America’s boys are broken. And it’s killing us.” (paragraph 1)
Question 5
The fifth paragraph contributes to the reasoning of the author’s argument primarily by:
Options:
reminding readers that boys are naturally rebellious
emphasizing the greater number of obstacles facing boys than facing girls
explaining the complexity of the problems facing boys
suggesting the different ways in which language restricts discussions of gender
convincing readers that children need more opportunities to express vulnerability
Correct Answer: C - explaining the complexity of the problems facing boys
Excerpt from Paragraph 5: Too many boys are trapped in the same suffocating, outdated model of masculinity, where manhood is measured in strength, where there is no way to be vulnerable without being emasculated, where manliness is about having power over others. They are trapped, and they don’t even have the language to talk about how they feel about being trapped, because the language that exists to discuss the full range of human emotion is still viewed as sensitive and feminine.
Question 6
Context: The second sentence of the penultimate paragraph.
The Author states: There has to be a way to expand what it means to be a man without losing our masculinity. I don’t know how we open ourselves to the rich complexity of our manhood. I think we would benefit from the same conversations girls and women have been having for these past 50 years.
Options:
expresses the author’s sense of despair in the face of the crisis described in the passage
suggests the inevitable outcome of the process analyzed in the passage
introduces a potential way of addressing an issue discussed in the passage
concedes a possible error in the author’s conceptualization of a phenomenon
implies that the context of a problem is far more complex than the author has hitherto acknowledged
Correct Answer: C - introduces a potential way of addressing an issue discussed in the passage
Question 7
Context: The eleventh paragraph.
Excerpt from Eleventh Paragraph: I believe in boys. I believe in my son. Sometimes, though, I see him, 16 years old, swallowing his frustration, burying his worry, stomping up the stairs without telling us what’s wrong, and I want to show him what it looks like to be vulnerable and open but I can’t. Because I was a boy once, too.
Options:
analyzing an existing definition of masculinity to proposing a new definition of his own
undermining a particular understanding of masculinity to calling for the dismantling of gender categories in general
examining the current disadvantages of boys to enumerating the resources that they still enjoy
criticizing the pressures exerted by social conventions on boys to acknowledging the benefits of those conventions
describing the problems facing boys to affirming the possibility of finding solutions
Correct Answer: E - describing the problems facing boys to affirming the possibility of finding solutions