Reading comp PrepTest 115 · Section 1 · Question 13

Passage

Questions 13-20  .        Donna Haraway's Primate Visions is the most  . ambitious book on the history of science yet Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's conclusion (Haraway's primatology book most ambitious feminist science history book)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparisons, according to the author:
      • Haraway's book is a more ambitious feminist science history than any other book to date (first sentence)
      • Primates seem like us, so Haraway can use them to make conscious and unconscious projections of her beliefs about nature and culture (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "the most ambitious" (first sentence), "not only" (first sentence), "particularly apt vehicle" (last sentence), "they provide ready material" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (Haraway argues the division between knower/object is masculine and colonial)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • A distinction is drawn between the "traditional" division in scientific inquiry (between knower —scientist/historian — and object — nature/history) and Haraway's approach (miscellaneous human actors & creatures contribute to the knowledge of nature, which isn't singular) (first, fourth, and last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "most radical departure" (first sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (Haraway's fragmented, unique writing style reflects her views)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • A distinction is drawn between "traditional history" writing and Haraway's fragmented approach (third sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "iconoclastic" (first sentence), "unorthodox" (first sentence), "will not succumb" (second sentence), "fragmented" (third sentence), "familiar enough" (third sentence), "rarely been but into practice" (third sentence), "complex alternative" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (Haraway ignores distinction between scientific theory/practice and social issues/beliefs)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • A distinction is drawn between "internal" scientific issues and "external" scientific issues (second sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "equally innovative" (first sentence), "difficult to set aside" (second sentence), "simply ignores it" (third sentence), "one must shed a great many assumptions" (last sentence)

Main Point: By challenging traditional assumptions of science and adopting a unique writing style, Donna Haraway's Primate Vision is an innovative work of primatology and the most ambitious book on the history of science written from a feminist perspective.

Meta-Structure?

Innovative Subject: This passage adopts the Innovative [Subject] Meta-Structure.* This structure is usually reserved for passages about artists but can occasionally appear in passages about scientists, historians, philosophers, and others. In this case, we could call this an "Innovative Scientist" passage, as it's about a primatologist with some ambitious, unconventional ideas.

When a passage falls into the Innovative [Subject] Meta-Structure, the main point focuses on that innovation, as reflected in our main point above. Further, it's important to track whether and the extent to which the author approves of these innovations. In this passage, the author adopts a tone that suggests that the author truly admires Haraway's innovations, referring to her book as "the most ambitious book on the history of science yet written from a feminist perspective" (P1, S1), her writing style as a "complex alternative" to the traditional (P3, S4), and her analysis as "innovative" (P4, S1). The author does use some words that can have a neutral or even negative connotation, like "iconoclastic" (P3, S1) and "unorthodox" (P3, S1), and does make a concession that Haraway's writings could be considered by the more traditionally minded to be "distracting … bewildering … digressive" (P4, S4). However, on balance, the author seems to approve of Haraway's work.

*As is often the case with Innovative Subject passages, you could also reasonably call this passage an Old Approach/New Approach passage, characterizing Haraway's approach as the "new approach."

Comparison: The most prominent minor Meta-Structure is the comparison. As is often the case for passages that utilize the Innovative [Subject] Meta-Structure, the subject's innovations are frequently distinguished from the conventional approaches. The author distinguishes Haraway's approach from the traditional division between "active knower" and "passive object" in the second paragraph, distinguishes Haraway's writing style from the traditional style in the third paragraph, and distinguishes Haraway's topics from the traditional focus of scientific studies in the last paragraph. We should expect several questions about these.

Last Thoughts?The author uses many words and phrases that convey authorial opinions, so expect several questions about the author's attitude.

Question prompt

The passage is primarily 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

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review the main point and any major Meta-Structures, then find an answer that best captures the latter with the details from the former

Answer Anticipation

A question that asks what a passage is "primarily concerned with" wants us to select the answer choice that describes why the author wrote the passage. The correct answer will describe an action: what the author hoped to do in the passage and how the author accomplished that.Now, in a broad sense, every author hopes to convince us that the main point is true. However, different authors employ different means to convince us of that main point. That's why the passage's Meta-Structure can be revealing: it helps us predetermine how this specific author was attempting to convey the main point.In this case, the passage uses an Innovative Subject Meta-Structure. So, unsurprisingly, the passage is primarily concerned with discussing how our subject is innovative. But how exactly is Haraway innovative? As our main point states, Haraway challenged several scientific norms and assumptions in her book. So, we should look for an answer choice that says the passage is concerned with showing how an innovative historian challenged scientific norms and assumptions in her book.

Answer choices

  1. A
    the roles played by Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this say the passage is primarily concerned with showing how an innovative historian challenged scientific norms and assumptions in her book?

    Nope. This answer choice is far broader in its scope than our anticipation, so we can eliminate it.

    After all, this passage isn't concerned with the roles of gender and class in science and primatology "in general." It's concerned with one specific historian/primatologist's beliefs about gender and class (and race and colonialism), as expressed in one specific book. This passage would have a much wider scope, and its topics would range far beyond just one book, if this were its primary purpose.

  2. B
    two different methods of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this say the passage is primarily concerned with showing how an innovative historian challenged scientific norms and assumptions in her book?

    Not quite. While this passage contrasts Haraway's approach and beliefs to traditional approaches and beliefs, it really only contrasts the "methods of writing" in the third paragraph. This answer choice is too narrowly focused on one part of the passage to adequately answer a big-picture question like this one.

  3. C
    the content and style Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) Does this say the passage is primarily concerned with showing how an innovative historian challenged scientific norms and assumptions in her book?

    Yes! This answer choice gets very close to our anticipated answer, so we can confidently select it. After all, the passage certainly discusses the "content and style" of Haraway's book at length.

    Certain test takers may take issue with the characterization of Haraway's book as a "proposal to reform the scientific approach to nature," as the passage never explicitly calls Primate Visions that. Admittedly, it may be a stretch to refer to Haraway's book as just a proposal to reform the scientific approach to nature. Presumably, she writes about apes at some point. Still, it's not inaccurate to claim that Haraway's book is a reform proposal since the author claims that part of Haraway's polemic is to argue that the current approach to nature is "no longer politically, ecologically, or even scientifically viable" (P2, S3), and that Haraway's approach offers a "complex alternative" to the traditional approach of scientific writing (P3, S4). Still, even expert test-takers would feel more comfortable selecting (C) after eliminating the remaining answer choices.

  4. D
    the theoretical bases and Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this say the passage is primarily concerned with showing how an innovative historian challenged scientific norms and assumptions in her book?

    Not quite. This answer choice starts promisingly but errs in claiming that Haraway's book is about "the history of women in science." Although it's written from a feminist perspective (P1, S1), the actual subject is primates (P1, S2). This small issue makes the entire answer choice incorrect.

  5. E
    the effect of theoretical Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this say the passage is primarily concerned with showing how an innovative historian challenged scientific norms and assumptions in her book?

    No. Like (B), this answer choice is too narrowly focused on paragraph three, which focuses on how Haraway's theoretical positions influenced her writing style. Moreover, this passage doesn't focus on the "writing styles in books" but rather the writing style of just one book.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 8%
  2. B 6%
  3. C Credited 55%
  4. D 22%
  5. E 9%

Deeper help

Ask follow-ups on any step

Optional AI tutor mode will let you interrogate assumptions, compare answers, and drill weak patterns without leaving the page.

Human-written explanations stay primary; AI is an add-on when you want it.

Discussion

View all discussions Start a discussion