Reading comp PrepTest 145 · Section 3 · Question 4

Passage

Questions 1-6  .        The Universal Declaration of Human Rights  . (UDHR), approved by the United Nations General  . Assembly Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • History of UDHR (first treaty on human rights, some wanted to create an obligation to act)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparisons, according to the author:
      • Unlike other international treaties, the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was expressly affirmed and created a standard for human rights (first and second sentences)
      • Some small countries and NGOs wanted the language of UDHR to go further and create an obligation to promote human rights, but the version of UDHR that passed didn't feature such an obligation (third through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "lobbied vigorously" (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Process and content of UDHR (long drafting/debate process, expressed principles of freedom/equality and fundamental rights)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Examples of fundamental rights asserted in UDHR, according to the author:
      • The right to work, the right to rest and leisure, and the right to education (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "elaborate" (second sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author on what UDHR gets wrong (nonbinding) and right (led to binding conventions and set standards/aspirations)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • The biggest weakness of the UDHR is that it's a nonbinding legal document (first and second sentences)
      • But the UDHR is a progressive document that has created (belatedly) legally binding human rights and sent a good message (last sentence)
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
      • The UDHR has caused the creation of legally binding human rights agreements (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "in many ways a progressive document" (first sentence); "weaknesses" (first sentence); "most regrettable" (first sentence); "purely programmatic nature" (second sentence); "has led, even if belatedly" (last sentence); "clearly deserves recognition" (last sentence)

Main Point: Despite its nonbinding legal status and late adoption, the UDHR is a good first step in promoting and starting to set a legal framework for international human rights laws.

Meta-Structure?

Importance of [Subject]: This passage best fits the Importance of [Subject] Meta-Structure. In such a passage, the author describes why a particular person, artistic work, law or legal accomplishment, or scientific breakthrough was historically significant or meaningful. The word "[Subject]" is just a placeholder for whatever specific topic the passage is about. In this case, the passage is about an international treaty, so we can think of this as an Importance of Treaty passage.

In an Importance of [Subject] passage, the main point is generally the author's opinions on why the subject was important. The author summarizes their opinions on the UDHR treaty in the last paragraph, so we'll use that to construct our anticipated main point.

Last Thoughts?

Note how the last paragraph presents the strengths and weaknesses of the UDHR, yet our anticipated main point makes it seem as if the author has a positive view of it. That's because of how the last paragraph is phrased, with the author pointing out a flaw but then pivoting ("Nevertheless") to the positive. In pivoting away from the negative to the positive, we should view the author's opinion as leaning more towards the latter while still believing the former.

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

Remind ourselves of the main point of the passage, then head to the answers, focusing on those that line up with the main point and then using our notes/the passage to eliminate the incorrect answer choices

Answer Anticipation

For these Bizarro Must Be True questions, the correct answer will either present a topic not discussed by the passage or assert a claim contradicted by information in the passage. For the former, we’ll generally use a process of elimination to get rid of each answer that does show up in the passage. For the latter — we’re in luck — as we can find a line citation to prove that the passage contradicts the correct answer. In that case, we can feel a lot more comfortable about picking it — while also likely getting it correct faster. But we won’t know if this is the case for the correct answer until after we analyze it, so we should expect to use a process of elimination.As such, we’ll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point (either by reviewing what we said after reading the passage or by rereading our answer to the main point question). From there, we can head to the answer choices. If something seems familiar, consistent with the main point, or reflected in our notes, it’s probably supported by the passage. We can eliminate it without checking the passage. If something seems inconsistent with the main point, it’s probably the correct answer. We can use our notes/highlights/underlines to find the part of the passage that proves the answer choice must be false. If we can find that confirmation, we’ll select that answer choice and move on. If something in an answer choice doesn't seem familiar and isn’t reflected in our notes on each paragraph, we should mark that answer choice as the possible correct answer. Once we've eliminated the remaining answer choices, we can select it.

Answer choices

  1. A
    It asserts a right Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Our note for the second paragraph mentions "fundamental rights," so it's definitely possible that the UDHR asserts a right to rest and leisure. If you don't remember that this is one of the fundamental rights, you can quickly check the end of the second paragraph or table (A) and return to it if you can eliminate the remaining options.

    If we check the end of the second paragraph, we'll see that the right to rest and leisure is included in the UDHR (P2, S5).

  2. B
    It was drafted after Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Our note for the first paragraph mentions the "History of UDHR," so it's definitely possible that the passage supports this claim. If you don't remember that this is one of the fundamental rights, you can quickly check the beginning of the first paragraph or table (B) and return to it if you can eliminate the remaining options.

    If we check the end of the second paragraph, we'll see that the UDHR it was approved in 1948 by the UN General Assembly, while Article 1 was adopted with the rest of the UN Charter in 1945 (P1, S2-S3). Therefore, this is supported and should be eliminated.

  3. C
    The UN Commission on Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Our note for the first paragraph mentions the UDHR's "long drafting/debate process," so it's definitely possible that the passage supports this claim. If you don't remember that the UN Commission on Human Rights was charged with producing the UDHR, you can quickly check the beginning of the second paragraph or table (C) and return to it if you can eliminate the remaining options.

    If we check the beginning of the second paragraph, we'll see that the the UN Commission on Human Rights was charged with producing the UDHR (P2, S1). Therefore, this is supported and should be eliminated.

  4. D
    It has had no Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    No! In fact, this contradicts the author's main point (which says the UDHR had the effect of "promoting and starting to set a legal framework for international human rights laws") and the note on the third paragraph (which says the UDHR "led to binding conventions"). This answer choice contradicts our main point and our notes, which strongly suggests that (D) is the correct answer to this Bizarro Must Be True question.

    If we wanted to check the third paragraph to confirm that this is a false statement, we'd see that the author says that the UDHR has led to "legally binding human rights conventions" (P2, S3). Legally binding conventions are practical consequences. As such, the passage notes that the UDHR did have practical consequences, so this answer is contradicted by the passage and is thus correct. We can select it and advance to the following question — even if we haven't eliminated all the other answer choices.

  5. E
    It was the first Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Yes, our note for the first paragraph ("first treaty on human rights") confirms that this is correct. This was mentioned at the beginning of the first paragraph.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 5%
  2. B 5%
  3. C 10%
  4. D Credited 72%
  5. E 8%

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