Challenged to a (Short) Dual
Dual short RPs present you with two 100-word
passages, and then four questions. The first question
deals with the first passage, the second covers the second passage, and
the last two questions cover the relationship between the passages.
As with the long dual passage, you should treat
each short dual passage individually:
-
Read the questions about the first passage, and then
read the first passage.
- Come
up with your own answer and compare it to the actual answer choices
in the question about the first passage.
- Read
the questions about the second passage, then read the second passage. Think
about how the second passage relates to the first.
- Come
up with your own answer and compare it to the actual answer choices
in the question(s) about the second passage.
- Answer
the questions that address both passages together.
By the time you get to step 5, you’ll be so familiar with
the passages that you won’t have to look back at them to answer
the two questions that ask you to relate them.
Sample Short Dual RP
Here are two related brief passages followed
by four questions: two that treat the passages together and two
that treat them individually.
Few things in life are as rewarding
and fulfilling as owning a pet. Whether it’s a dog, cat, bird, or
fish, the appeal is the same—years of fun and unconditional love.
Indeed, pets can actually satisfy many of the things people crave
most: companionship, communication, loyalty, and plenty of amusement.
Perhaps that’s why pets are so popular among the elderly and people who
live alone. As human relationships grow more complex with each new
technological gadget, the simple bond between a pet and its owner
offers a refreshing and comforting reprieve.
In addition to protesting reprehensible
practices like fur trapping and animal testing, animal rights groups
have begun to attack owners of cats and dogs for keeping animals “imprisoned”
in the home. Finally, these groups have started to make the justified
comparison of owning a pet to keeping a domesticated animal like
a sheep or a cow. Both pet ownership and domestication of animals
stem from the same cruel source: human selfishness. No animal should
be kept confined solely for the benefit of human beings, whether
that benefit comes in the form of meat, leather, or the companionship
of a pet. |
Sample Dual Short RP Questions and Explanations
|
|
| 1. |
How
might you sum up the author’s main idea in the first passage? |
| (A) |
Owning a pet is cruel and unfair. |
| (B) |
Pets should always be leashed. |
| (C) |
Pet ownership has profound rewards. |
| (D) |
Pet ownership is technologically advanced. |
| (E) |
Pets need new forms of communication. |
|
|
|
| 2. |
The
word “reprehensible” in the second passage most nearly means |
| (A) |
demoralizing |
| (B) |
invigorating |
| (C) |
restorative |
| (D) |
disgraceful |
| (E) |
delightful |
|
|
| 3. |
Based on
information in these two passages, the authors disagree about whether |
| (A) |
animals should be kept as pets |
| (B) |
pets are beneficial for humans |
| (C) |
fur trapping should be illegal |
| (D) |
kennel conditions should be reformed |
| (E) |
human beings are inherently selfish |
|
|
| 4. |
Which words
among the pairs below best describe the tone of the first passage
and of the second passage, respectively? |
| (A) |
alarmed and disengaged |
| (B) |
enthusiastic and critical |
| (C) |
despondent and exuberant |
| (D) |
elated and enervated |
| (E) |
wary and disapproving |
|
Explanations
1. C Main Idea
Step 1 tells you to read this question before reading
the first passage, since it’s specifically about the first passage.
You then know to think about coming up with your own quick description
of the main idea of the first passage as you read. This author strongly
supports pet ownership because it rewards pet owners with years
of fun and love. So, that’s your answer to describe main idea of
the passage.
Now take a look at the actual answer choices
and look for a description of the passage’s main idea that comes
closest to your description of the joys of pet ownerships (step
2). A is out because it describes having a pet as “cruel”
and “unfair.” B, D, and E are all
SAT traps because each mentions something vaguely mentioned in the
passage (leashes, technological innovations, and communication),
but none captures the main idea. Only C matches the
answer you generated to describe the main idea: Owning a pet brings
profound, or deep, rewards to pet owners. C is the
correct answer.
2. D Words-in-Context
Step 3 tells you to read the question(s) about
the second passage before reading the second passage.
You’d then know to pay close attention as you read the passage to
the sentence with the word reprehensible so you
don’t have to go back and find it later.
And there it is, right in the first sentence. Since
this is a words-in-context question, treat it like a Sentence Completion
and use the rest of the paragraph to help you fill
in the blank with your own answer. The sentence is: “In addition
to protesting ---- practices like fur trapping
and animal testing, animal rights groups have begun to attack owners
of cats and dogs for keeping animals ‘imprisoned’ in the home.”
The switch words in addition to show that the sentence
is one-way: The animal rights groups are acting consistently. And
it’s clear from the rest of the passage that the writer is really,
really against pet ownership. So, it would seem that the blank must
be filled with an extremely negative word like awful.
You can throw out answers B, C,
and E, because each is a positive word. That leaves demoralizing and disgraceful.
These two words are both negative, but demoralizing means
“negatively affecting morale,” which isn’t quite strong enough to reflect
this writer’s anger about the mistreatment of animals. So the answer
is D.
3. A Themes and Arguments
By the time you get to dual passage questions that
ask about both passages together, you will have already read and
answered specific questions about both passages. That means you
don’t need to read them again and can dive right in to generating your
own answers and comparing them to the actual answer choices.
This question asks about what the authors of the two
passage disagree about. The divergent views of the authors of these
two passages are quite clear: One supports pet ownership enthusiastically
and one objects to it strongly. Let’s say that’s the answer you
generate on your own. Now let’s see which answer choice matches it.
Since you’ve established that the question of whether “animals should
be kept as pets” is the core of their disagreement, A is
the correct answer.
B is incorrect because while the first
passage would agree with the statement, the second passage does
not disagree; it just says that the question of whether having a pet
is beneficial for the human is not the issue. C is
an SAT trap. The SAT wants you to see “fur trapping,” which the
second passage mentions briefly, and pick that answer. But the first
author does not mention fur trapping at all, so it is definitely
not the main issue here. Cut C. Neither passage mentions
kennels, so eliminate D. E is incorrect
because only the author of the second passage would explicitly agree
with the sentiment that human beings are selfish.
4. B Tone
This question asks about the tone of the two passages.
Since you’ve read both passages thoroughly already, generate your
own answer and compare it to the real answer choices.
What words might you already have in mind to describe
the tone of these two passages? The first is positive, encouraging,
and excited about the prospect of owning a pet. The second is negative,
disapproving, and concerned about pet ownership in general. With
that in mind, you should be able to select B as correct:
The first passage is enthusiastic in tone, whereas
the second is critical.
