Practice Test: Reading Comprehension- 1 - CAT MCQ

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 describes a problem facing national parks: negative effects from the land surrounding them.
• Para 2 describes one approach to dealing with the problem: federal legislation, which failed.
• Para 3 and 4 describe a second approach: giving power to states to cooperate with adjacent national parks, and describe the problems with it.
• Para 5 argues that state participation must be tied to federal regulations.
• Para 6 argues that any solution requires a national response with elements of local participation.

If you have mapped the passage correctly you will notice that most of the passage discusses the different approaches that can be taken to solve the problem of degradation of national parks.
Option C matches best with this.

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 describes a problem facing national parks: negative effects from the land surrounding them.
• Para 2 describes one approach to dealing with the problem: federal legislation, which failed.
• Para 3 and 4 describe a second approach: giving power to states to cooperate with adjacent national parks, and describe the problems with it.
• Para 5 argues that state participation must be tied to federal regulations.
• Para 6 argues that any solution requires a national response with elements of local participation.

An Inference question, this one requires students to find that one option which can logically follow from the information in the passage without making any extreme assumptions.
Only (C) has support in the passage. 

The passage discusses how activities outside the boundaries of national parks can negatively impact the parks. The phrase "external degradation" refers to these threats, which are influenced by local politicians advocating for state involvement in federal park planning. This suggests that the threats come from actions and decisions made at the state level, rather than from federal legislation or lack of local support.

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 describes a problem facing national parks: negative effects from the land surrounding them.
• Para 2 describes one approach to dealing with the problem: federal legislation, which failed.
• Para 3 and 4 describe a second approach: giving power to states to cooperate with adjacent national parks, and describe the problems with it.
• Para 5 argues that state participation must be tied to federal regulations.
• Para 6 argues that any solution requires a national response with elements of local participation.

According to the passage, start to the question tips you off to look for detail within the passage. Where is the scenario in the question mentioned?
Go to the last paragraph, which discusses a combination of national and local responses. It argues that this cooperation is necessary in order to ― protect park wildlife. If this cooperation doesn‘t occur then, wildlife would presumably be harmed.
So option (D) is correct.

Mapping of Passage:

• Para 1 describes the opinions of one railroad promoter (Poor), who tied the railroad to the progressive nature of American character.
• Para 2 describes the American idea of the time that the railroad reflected elements of American character.
• Para 3 and 4 discuss the fears associated with the railroad and the metaphors presented to counter them.
• Para 5 describes the way that Americans were won over to the railroad by these metaphors (Emerson).

The question stem gives you a big hint—take the statement "at face value" and "objectively." Don't over think! The passage itself is straightforward, so review the author‘s main gist: the railroad reflected American character at the time, and despite a few misgivings, Americans were generally on board.
While three answer choices don‘t fit with what the author argues, option (E) fits and is supported extensively in the last paragraph.

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 describes the opinions of one railroad promoter (Poor), who tied the railroad to the progressive nature of American character.
• Para 2 describes the American idea of the time that the railroad reflected elements of the American character.
• Para 3 and 4 discuss the fears associated with the railroad and the metaphors presented to counter them.
• Para 5 describes the way that Americans were won over to the railroad by these metaphors (Emerson).

The passage broadly describes the early years of the railroad and its impact on the American character at that time. Option B fits in very nicely with this.

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 describes the opinions of one railroad promoter (Poor), who tied the railroad to the progressive nature of American character.
• Para 2 describes the American idea of the time that the railroad reflected elements of American character.
• Para 3 and 4 discuss the fears associated with the railroad and the metaphors presented to counter them.
• Para 5 describes the way that Americans were won over to the railroad by these metaphors (Emerson).

Where is Emerson mentioned? Review the last paragraph: Emerson thought that the locomotive kept the nation together. Look for an answer choice that ties into this unity: Option (C) does just that.

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 describes the opinions of one railroad promoter (Poor), who tied the railroad to the progressive nature of American character.
• Para 2 describes the American idea of the time that the railroad reflected elements of American character.
• Para 3 and 4 discuss the fears associated with the railroad and the metaphors presented to counter them.
• Para 5 describes the way that Americans were won over to the railroad by these metaphors (Emerson).

The new situation involves scientific progress much like the railroad, what does the author say about Americans‘ ideas about this?
Go back to Para 2: the author argues that Americans had a special fondness for science and progress. Therefore, they‘d endorse something that furthered these goals. So option (B) fits.

Option: 1
Explanation:

Review the author's main arguments before looking for an answer choice that he's agree with. (A) recalls the author's point in paragraph 2: "Leaders often say one thing in public and something quite different in public conversation... " The author explains why this occurs—fear of media leaks—and clearly opposes such leaks. Therefore, the author must agree with (A)'s contention that misinformation is sometimes warranted.

Wrong Answers:

(B): Opposite. This is the opposite of (A); for the same reasons that (A) is a valid inference, (B) isn't.

(C): Opposite. The author argues in paragraph 3 that policy benefits from a "richness and variety of ideas. "

(D): Opposite. The author's point in decrying leaks is that privacy is a necessary component

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 argues that the media‘s suspicion of government and lack of knowledge about the world harm government policy.
• Para 2 and 3 introduce the concept of the ―leak and explain why it‘s bad for foreign policy.
• Para 4 states that the media was trusted by the public until recently, but are now met with skepticism.
• Para 5 argues that leaks are usually part of a power grab and that the media is a pawn in the game.

This question requires students to find the assumption in the lines mentioned. Review the author‘s argument in 2 Para that leaks harm discussions with foreign leaders. What is the author assuming in this argument?
The author argues that foreign leaders don‘t want their private thoughts to be made public, he must also, therefore, assume that leaders have some sort of reason for not wanting their views to be made public.
Option (D) provides a possible reason. If unclear, use the denial test: if leaders didn‘t have this fear, what would be their motivation for hiding their personal views?

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 argues that the media‘s suspicion of government and lack of knowledge about the world harm government policy.
• Para 2 and 3 introduce the concept of the ―leak and explain why it‘s bad for foreign policy.
• Para 4 states that the media was trusted by the public until recently, but are now met with skepticism.
• Para 5 argues that leaks are usually part of a power grab and that the media is a pawn in the game.

Option (C) is the most consistent with our passage summary above.

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 argues that the media‘s suspicion of government and lack of knowledge about the world harm government policy.
• Para 2 and 3 introduce the concept of the ―leak and explain why it‘s bad for foreign policy.
• Para 4 states that the media was trusted by the public until recently, but are now met with skepticism.
• Para 5 argues that leaks are usually part of a power grab and that the media is a pawn in the game.

Go back to Para 4 to review what the public thinks of the media. The author argues that the public is equally skeptical of media and government, saying that in the past, the public always assumed the media was right when it challenged the government, but that ―this may be changing.
Therefore, the public might now consider the possibility that the media, rather than the government, is wrong.
While the wrong answer choices distort this, option (C) rewards careful and methodical thought.

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 outlines the decline of American business.
• Para 2 and 3 list reasons that analysts have given for the decline and introduce the author‘s own theory for American business problems: incompetent management.
• Para 4 lists management‘s problems with labour.
• Para 5 explains the problem with America's fixation on high-tech products.
• Para 6 uses mergers to show that corporations lack long-range planning.

A quick scan of the answer choices shows that you have to compare the workers of the two nations on two criteria: contentedness and efficiency.
Search for a part of the passage that touches on this. Para 3 is the only one that cites Japan and mentions that analysts consider American workers less productive and less content. So Option (C) is correct.

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 outlines the decline of American business.
• Para 2 and 3 list reasons that analysts have given for the decline and introduce the author‘s own theory for American business problems: incompetent management.
• Para 4 lists management‘s problems with labour.
• Para 5 explains the problem with America's fixation on high-tech products.
• Para 6 uses mergers to show that corporations lack long-range planning.

An inference question; make sure that you‘re clear on the main points of the author‘s argument. Remember that the author will agree with four, but will disagree with the correct answer. The three wrong answers could be easily eliminated, leading to option (B).
However, you can also reason that since management has suffered by cutting labour costs, cost-cutting doesn‘t always result in lowered prices.

Mapping the Passage:

• Para 1 outlines the decline of American business
• Para 2 and 3 list reasons that analysts have given for the decline and introduce the author‘s own theory for American business problems: incompetent management.
• Para 4 lists management‘s problems with labour.
• Para 5 explains the problem with America's fixation on high-tech products.
• Para 6 uses mergers to show that corporations lack long-range planning.

Paraphrase the author‘s argument about high technology: it‘s better to start out with low-tech, get experience, and then ramp up to high-tech.
Search the answer choices for something that would contradict this. Option (B) clearly does, if the processes are completely different, why start with low-tech.

The passage outlines several theories that analysts have proposed to explain the decline of American business competitiveness, including government restrictions, corporate raiders, the American workforce, and consumer behavior. However, the passage concludes by stating that "the blame actually lies with corporate management," which has made "serious errors based on misconceptions about what it takes to be successful in the marketplace." These errors are specifically identified as missteps in labour costs, production choices, and growth strategies.

• Option A is incorrect because it is mentioned as an early analysis, but the passage ultimately refutes this as the primary reason.
• Option B is also mentioned as an analysis by later analysts, but again, the passage refutes this as the primary reason.
• Option C is the correct answer because it is the conclusion drawn by the passage after considering and refuting other analyses.
• Option D is incorrect because, although mentioned, it is not supported as the primary reason for the decline in competitiveness.
• The passage clearly indicates that the primary reason for the decline in American business competitiveness is the strategic errors made by corporate management, making Option C the correct answer.

The answer to this is in the last sentence of the first paragraph, ‘Although businesses have made huge gains — 65 percent — from the mechanization of manufacturing, the average worker’s wages had only increased 8 percent.’ So, from this, we see that the 65 percent is related to the businesses which had made huge gains and the wages of the workers had increased by 8%.

It is stated in the passage that African Americans suffered more than whites because they were discriminated against and their jobs were taken and given to the whites. Hence, they were the most affected by the Great Depression. There is nothing mentioned in the passage about Native Americans, immigrants or tourists. Therefore, the correct answer is ‘African Americans’ Option B.