Reading comp PrepTest 110 · Section 1 · Question 20

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

The passage suggests that Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

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 the drafters of the United Nations Convention, 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 that part 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 drafters of the United Nations Convention. Where did they show up in the passage? Neither our notes nor the main point suggests where the drafters appear in the passage, so our best course of action may involve using CTRL/Command + F to search "drafter." That will direct us to the second and third paragraphs.Reviewing those references, we see that the drafters of the Convention intentionally left the precise boundaries of the "social-group category" fuzzy so the category would be broad enough to address unanticipated situations (P2, S3). The third paragraph repeats this point — "social group" is a "malleable category created for future asylum determinations" (P3, S3). The correct answer will feature a statement we can infer from these points.

Answer choices

  1. A
    They wanted to ensure Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Can we infer this statement from the passage's claims that the drafters left the social-group category open-ended so the category would be broad enough to address unanticipated situations?

    Nope. We didn't review anything about the drafters' desire to ensure that the U.N. maintains jurisdiction over asylum cases. We know that the drafters wanted to use the social group category to "address unanticipated situations" (P2, S3), but that doesn't necessarily mean they wanted to ensure the U.N. would be consulted about those situations. (A) is out.

  2. B
    They followed the precedent Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Can we infer this statement from the passage's claims that the drafters left the social-group category open-ended so the category would be broad enough to address unanticipated situations?

    Nope. We didn't review anything about the drafters' relationship to the International Refugee Organization. As far as we know, the International Refugee Organization never created any precedent for gender-based persecution. We can eliminate (B) for this reason.

    If you had to review the passage to eliminate (B), you'd notice the drafters used the definition of "refugee" established by the International Refugee Organization (P2, S1). But, the U.N. Convention's definition doesn't stipulate that gender is a protected class (P1, S3). But, the drafters added the "social-group category" to protect other groups, like women. So, it is not accurate to say the drafters followed the precedent set by the International Refugee Organization concerning gender-based persecution. That organization did not protect gender as a class, but drafters did.

  3. C
    They recognized that it Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) Can we infer this statement from the passage's claims that the drafters left the social-group category open-ended so the category would be broad enough to address unanticipated situations?

    Yes! As we discussed in our anticipation, the drafters left the social group category undefined in order to "address unanticipated situations" (P2, S3). This strongly suggests that the drafters thought it would be hard to "list every possible reason" a person might seek asylum. (C) is our answer, and we can select it and advance straight to the next question.

  4. D
    They did not consider Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Can we infer this statement from the passage's claims that the drafters left the social-group category open-ended so the category would be broad enough to address unanticipated situations?

    Nope. This is the exact opposite of what we reviewed. It also conflicts with the passage's main point. Although the Convention didn't explicitly mention gender persecution, that doesn't mean they thought it wasn't a valid reason to protect asylum seekers. In fact, they included the social-group category to ensure other types of persecution would be addressed. (D) is out.

  5. E
    They did not list Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Can we infer this statement from the passage's claims that the drafters left the social-group category open-ended so the category would be broad enough to address unanticipated situations?

    Nope. Our review didn't reveal anything about the prevalence of gender-based persecution when the U.N. Convention was drafted. We can eliminate (E) for this reason.

    Indeed, this topic was never addressed, so you wouldn't learn whether (E) is true if you re-read the entire passage.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 3%
  2. B 4%
  3. C Credited 89%
  4. D 1%
  5. E 3%

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