Reading comp PrepTest 110 · Section 1 · Question 19

Passage

Questions 19-26  .        When women are persecuted on account of their  . gender, they are likely to be eligible Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Author on U.N. Convention's "refugee" definition (some persecuted women are likely eligible for asylum as a "social group")
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Women persecuted on account of their gender are likely eligible for asylum as refugees; even though the U.N. definition doesn't mention gender persecution, the "social group" category was meant to cover such cases (first, fourth through last sentences)
    • Definition of a refugee from the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees:
      • Anyone who is persecuted "for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion" (second sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "likely to be eligible" (first sentence), "does not preclude" (fourth sentence), "nor does it reflect an intention" (fourth sentence), "indicates that this category "Rather" (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support ("social group" is meant as a catch-all phrase)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • The original definition of refugee (from the International Refugee Organization) didn't include protection for "social groups," but it was later added (by the United Nations Convention) as a safety net (first through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "in order to provide a 'safety net'" (second sentence), "fail to fit neatly" (second sentence), "intentionally left the precise boundaries of the social-group category undefined" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (UNHCR Handbook and committee member's comments support including women in refugee category)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Definition of "social group" from the U.N. Handbook by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): "group as persons of similar background, habits, or social status" (first sentence)
    • Author's view:
      • The broad definition of "social group" from the UNHCR handbook supports and a UNHCR committee member support classifying women asylum seekers who face persecution under the "social group category"
    • Author's attitude: "is supported by" (first sentence), "expansive interpretation" (third sentence), "is resonant with the intentions of the Convention drafters" (third sentence), "should fall within" (fourth sentence), "states to use" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (UNHCR committee member's comments will influence the interpretation of laws)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • The UNHCR committee member's comments are important in the international community since it will have a strong influence on the interpretation of national laws (first through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "particularly significant" (first sentence), "likely to exert strong influence" (second sentence), "In particular" (third sentence), "likely to have an impact" (third sentence)

Main Point: Legislative history, supplementary materials, and committee member comments suggest that women facing gender persecution can qualify for asylum as refugees under the social group category.

Meta-Structure?

Question/Answer: This passage doesn't fit neatly within any of the major Meta-Structures, but we think Question/Answer best fits the passage's argument.* That said, the question is implicit: "Should women facing persecution based on their gender qualify for asylum?" The author answers the question in the first sentence with a resounding "Yes." The author spends the rest of the passage supporting that answer, citing the "social group" category of the U.N. Convention, the Convention's legislative history, the U.N. Handbook on refugee status, and U.N. committee members' comments.

In a Question/Answer passage, the author's answer is generally the main point. So, we could just say the main point is "Yeah." But we decided to go with something a little more detailed: "Legislative history, supplementary materials, and committee member comments suggest that women facing gender persecution can qualify for asylum as refugees under the social group category. "

*Because this passage doesn't neatly fit into any Meta-Structures, some test-takers may wonder if this is a Reporting a Viewpoint passage. Classifying the passage this way won't necessarily cause you to misunderstand the passage. As long as you're clear on the "viewpoint" the passage expresses, you should understand the passage's main point and organization. That said, we typically reserve this Meta-Structure for passages in which the author reports someone else's view. Here, the author is clearly the one who argues that women should be eligible for asylum. Notice how many tonal phrases we highlighted. Also, notice how the argument isn't attributed to anyone else. So, while we wouldn't expect any Tone questions in a typical Reporting a Viewpoint passage, we should expect a few in this passage.

Last Thoughts?

Question prompt

According to the passage, Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Refer to notes or what you highlighted/underlined to locate where the passage discusses United Nations Convention and the UNHCR Handbook, and refer to the relevant part of the passage as needed to find that answer choice that must be true

Answer Anticipation

For questions that ask us to find a specific detail mentioned in the passage, quickly finding and reviewing that piece of information is paramount. That is why we make brief notes describing the role of each paragraph and highlight or underline definitions and the minor Meta-Structures — doing so helps us find the salient information efficiently and reliably. Once we review the relevant parts of the passage, we can look through the answer choices to see which one is best supported by what we reviewed.Here, the question asks about the United Nations Convention and the UNHCR Handbook. Where did those show up in the passage? Our notes on the first ("Author on U.N. Convention's 'refugee' definition (some persecuted women are likely eligible for asylum as a 'social group')") and third paragraphs ("Author's support (UNHCR Handbook and committee member's comments support including women in refugee category)") should point us there. We could review these paragraphs to form an anticipation, but that's a heavy lift for just one question. Instead, let's just rely on these notes and the main point (which suggests both documents support granting persecuting women asylum) to evaluate the answer choices.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Both documents are likely Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is this consistent with our notes on the first and third paragraphs or the passage's main point?

    Not quite. Neither these notes nor the passage tell us much about "improving the status of women" in U.N. countries. For this reason, it's best to curb any impulse to review the passage, table this answer choice, and move on to the next one.

    Besides, if we reviewed the passage, we wouldn't find any support for (A). The author says that the UNHCR's position on women will "likely exert a strong influence" on how the international community interprets national asylum laws (P4, S2-S3), but that doesn't necessarily mean that this will improve the women's lives in U.N. countries. (A) is out.

  2. B
    Both documents explicitly support Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Is this consistent with our notes on the first and third paragraphs or the passage's main point?

    Nope. The question around which this passage is based is whether women should be granted refugee status even though the U.N.Convention doesn't include gender among the protected categories. Because (B) cuts against the passage's main point, we can eliminate it.

    But if you needed to review the passage to confirm that (B) is wrong, you can see that the U.N.Convention doesn't explicitly give protection to women — it "persecution on the basis of gender is not explicitly listed" (P1, S4).

  3. C
    Both documents recommend using Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this consistent with our notes on the first and third paragraphs or the passage's main point?

    Not quite. However, our note for the first paragraph is, "Author on U.N. Convention's 'refugee' definition (some persecuted women are likely eligible for asylum as a 'social group')." Notice how we said the author thinks women are "likely" eligible for refugee status? If the U.N. Convention recommended including women under the "social group" category, then we wouldn't have included the "likely." Women would be eligible under the "social group" category. (And the author probably wouldn't have needed to make the arguments in the remaining paragraphs!) For this reason, we can safely eliminate (C).

    If you had to review the passage to eliminate (C), we'll see that the author says that "the drafters of the Convention intentionally left the precise boundaries of the social-group category undefined to ensure that the category would retain the flexibility necessary to address unanticipated situations" (P2, S3). So, that would suggest that the U.N. Convention doesn't explicitly recommend adding women to the "social-group" category, since that would involve them setting at least some "precise boundaries" to the category.

  4. D
    Both documents suggest that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) Is this consistent with our notes on the first and third paragraphs or the passage's main point?

    Yes! The main point and our notes for the first ("Author on U.N. Convention's refugee' definition (some persecuted women are likely eligible for asylum as a 'social group')") and third paragraphs ("Author's support (UNHCR Handbook and committee member's comments support including women in refugee category)") suggest that we can add women to the "social-group" category. Plus, our note for the second paragraph — "Author's support ('social group' is meant as a catch-all phrase)" — suggests that we can add many other asylum seekers to this category. Based on these notes, we can confidently select (D) without even checking the passage.

    But to be safe, we can check the passage to confirm that (D) is correct. The second paragraph says the U.N. Convention specifically created the social group category in order to provide the "flexibility necessary to address unanticipated situations" (P2, S3). Further, the third paragraph says the Handbook supports a "expansive interpretation" of the social group category (P3, S2). So, (D) is definitely our answer! We can justifiably select it and advance to the next question.

  5. E
    Both documents describe a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Is this consistent with our notes on the first and third paragraphs or the passage's main point?

    This appears to be consistent with our main point and notes, all of which suggest that U.N. Convention and UNHCR keep the "social-category" rather broad and inclusive. So, we may need to check the passage to determine whether (E) is supported.

    Upon review, we'll see that (E) refers only to the Handbook's definition of social group (P3, S2). The Convention left the category "undefined" (P2, S3), so it does not define a social group this way. (E) is out.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 2%
  2. B 5%
  3. C 14%
  4. D Credited 71%
  5. E 7%

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