RC X-Ray
On test day, you’ll see about eight questions spread out among roughly
three passages. A common breakdown consists of two questions accompanying a
short passage (roughly 150 words), two questions on another short passage, and
four questions on a longer passage (roughly 450 words). The passages will be
interspersed among the other Verbal question types—Analogies, Antonyms, and
Sentence Completions. Once a Reading Comp passage appears, you’ll have to answer
all of its accompanying questions before moving on to the other question types.
On the actual test, the passages will always appear alongside the
questions. Most passages don’t fit on the screen, so you’ll usually have to
scroll to see the entire thing. You’ll see only one question at a time, but a
heading at the top of the passage will let you know how many questions accompany
each passage.
Here is what a typical RC passage and question look like:
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Directions: After reading the
passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all
questions following the passage on the basis of what is
stated or
implied in the passage.
|
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On two tragic occasions, at a century’s distance, the fate |
| |
of the United States has trembled in the balance: Would it be a |
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free nation? Would the states continue to be one nation? A leader |
| Line |
was wanted on both occasions, a very different one in each case. |
| (5) |
Twice America got the leader that the country needed: The |
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American people had a Washington when a Washington was needed and |
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a Lincoln when a Lincoln could save them. Neither would have |
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adequately performed the other’s task. A century of gradually |
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increasing prosperity had elapsed when came the hour of the |
| (10) |
nation’s second trial. Though it may seem to us small, compared |
| |
with what we have seen in our days, the development had been |
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considerable, the scattered colonies of yore had become one of |
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the great powers of the world, with domains reaching from one |
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ocean to the other; the immense continent had been explored; new |
| (15) |
cities were dotting the wilderness of former days. In 1803 France |
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had, of her own will, ceded the Louisiana territories, which have |
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been divided since into fourteen states. Many in the Senate had |
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shown themselves averse to the ratification of the treaty, |
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thinking that it might prove rather a curse than a boon. “As to |
| (20) |
Louisiana, this new, immense, unbounded world,” Senator White, of |
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Delaware, had said, “if it should ever be incorporated into this |
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Union . . . I believe it will be the greatest curse that could at |
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present befall us; it may be productive of innumerable evils, and |
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especially of one that I fear even to look upon.” |
You’ll be given a standard multiple-choice question, followed by five
answer choices, and asked to choose the single correct answer by clicking on the
oval that precedes your choice. Your job here is to click the correct answer’s
oval and continue onto the next question. In this case, the correct answer is
D.
