Reading comp PrepTest 149 · Section 2 · Question 23

Passage

Questions 21-27  .       The novelist and social theorist Charlotte Perkins  . Gilman, whose writings were widely read and  . discussed Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Social Sciences

Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • A theory is introduced that has two variations, and a key person is said to be a supporter of one of them
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Theory - Social Darwinism - Survival of the fittest applies to social ideology
    • Variation 1 - Completely determined by biology
    • Variation 2 - Doesn't need to be competitive; can be directed by humans cooperatively
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • Implications of the Variation 2 are discussed, and Gilman is aligned with it
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Gilman is in the second camp
    • Central thesis - Humans have evolved to the point where they can consciously direct our social evolution
    • Gilman - This means we have an ethical responsibility to contribute as best we can to society
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • How Gilman contributed to society
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Through her writings, Gilman tried to break the molds that constrained people, especially women
    • Belief - Gender roles were at one time important for evolution, but they're not anymore
Main Point:
An activist view of Social Darwinism said that people can direct society's evolution, and one adherent of this view, Gilman, used her writing to promote a view that we have an ethical duty to do so in a way that breaks social norms, especially with respect to gender roles.

Key Lines:
Lines 9-14 - The first variation of Social Darwinism is discussed
Lines 14-20 - The second and more activist variation of Social Darwinism is discussed
Line 21 - Gilman is identified as being in the second camp
Lines 23-29 - The central thesis of that group is identified
Lines 31-38 - Gilman's specific view of this is noted
Lines 41-43 - How this translated to Gilman's work is described

Meta-Structure:
Theory/Specific implementation. The passage discusses an activist Social Darwinist theory and then explains how it was implemented by a specific adherent. This lines up with the Generalization/Application to a specific case argument in LR.

Last Thoughts:
The passage itself falls into a less common camp—one where the Author isn't present. There are no statements of opinion or reflection on the topic—just statements of what Gilman believed, argued for, and worked towards. As such, we should be wary of answers that reflect an active/opinionated Author.

The last paragraph has some unexpected aspects to it that might show up in detail questions For instance, Gilman's advocacy for gender equality might not be expected to line up with a view that gender inequality was necessary in the past, or that there are specifically male and female qualities. Such unexpected views tend to show up in questions since they cut against what we expect!

Question prompt

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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

Question Type

Social Science

Answer choices

  1. A
    The author identifies a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Methods of Reasoning

    Strategy Overview:
    Review our notations or thoughts on the role of each paragraph (or section, if we broke any paragraphs up into sub-parts) and then find an answer reflecting that structure

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    We should be at least thinking about the role of each paragraph as we go through the passage so that we can answer questions such as this one!

    Paragraph 1 - Introduces Gilman and then describes two types of Social Darwinists
    Paragraph 2 - Identifies Gilman with one of the groups and then explores their and her beliefs
    Paragraph 3 - Talks about how Gilman put her beliefs into practice

    Let's find an answer that hits these points.

    Answer Explanation:
    This answer lines up with our anticipation. The author identifies Gilman as a proponent of the more activist Social Darwinist theory, and then it goes into how Gilman used that theory to advocate for societal changes, particularly with gender equality. This answer is therefore correct.

    Key Takeaway:
    Note how many of these answers have a clause or two that suggests an author that was present in the passage. Since we noted that the author didn't jump in to opine on the topic, we could rule those out.
  2. B
    The author describes the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. The author does describe the relationship between Gilman and the activist Social Darwinists and it does characterize her theory generally, but it doesn't contrast Gilman's theory to the other group of Social Darwinists. Rather, it compares the two groups of Social Darwinists. Additionally, it doesn't reject one of the competing theories—the author is largely absent from the passage.
  3. C
    The author proposes an Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 43-46) While the author mentions Gilman's writings in the first line, they're not described until the third paragraph, so the passage doesn't start with a proposed interpretation of Gilman's writings.
  4. D
    The author describes some Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. This answer is a little off at the beginning in failing to mention the two camps of Social Darwinists, but it definitely goes off the rails in stating that the author ""evaluates"" some of the reasoning since there's little analysis and mostly presentation of the view.
  5. E
    The author presents some Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. There's no criticism of Gilman's work discussed, so this answer is incorrect.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 63%
  2. B 8%
  3. C 8%
  4. D 19%
  5. E 2%

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