Reading Comprehension

I'm pasting an RC of OG followed by one question.

Historians sometimes forget that history is continually being made and experienced befire it is studied , interpreted ,and read. These latter activities have their own history, of course which may impinge in unexpected ways on public events. It is difficult to predict when “new posts” will overturn established historical interpretations and change the course of history.

In the fall of 1954, for example, C Vann Woodward delivered a lecture series at the University Of Virginia that challenged the prevailing dogma concerning the history, continuity and uniformity of racial segregation in the South. He argued that the Jim Crow laws of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries not only codified traditional practice but also were a determined effort to erase the considerable progress made by black people during and after reconstruction in the 1870’s. This revisionist view of Jim Crow legislation grew in part from the research that Woodland had done for the NAAP legal campaign during its preparation for Brown v Board of Education. The Supreme Court had issues its ruling in this epochal desegregation case a few months before Woodward’s lectures.

The lectures were soon published as a book, The Strange Career Of Jim Crow. Ten years later, in a preface of the second revised edition, Woodword confessed with ironic modesty that the first edition “had begun to suffer under some of the handicaps that might be expected in a history of the American Revolution published in 1776”. That was a bit like hearing Thomas Paine apologize for the timings of his pamphlet Common Sense, which had a comparable impact. Although Common Sense also had a mass leadership ,Paine had intended to reach and inspire : he was not a historian, and thus not concerned with accuracy or the dangers of historical anachronism. Yet, like Paine, Woodward had an unerring sense of the revolutionary moment and of how historical evidence that was crushing the dreams of new social possibilities. Martin Luther King Jr testified to the profound effect of The Strange Career Of Jim Crow on the civil rights movement by praising the book and quoting it frequently.



Which of the following is the best example of writing that is likely to be subject to the kinds of “handicaps” ? (See in bold)

1) A history of an auto manufacturing plant written by an employee during an auto buying boom.
2) A critique of a statewide school desegregation plan written by an elementary school teacher in that state.
3) A newspaper article assessing the historical importance of a US president written shortly after the president has taken office.
4) A scientific paper describing the benefits of a certain surgical technique written by the surgeon who developed the technique.
5) Diary entries narrating the events of a battle written by a soldier who participated in the battle.

According to me handicap here is referring to some negative thing. So I chose option 2. Where am I wrong?

I think the answer is C. Pelae lemme know if i am correct and I may post the xplanation for my choice.

Guys, I will go for C. Look that person, Woodward delivered his lecture criticizing or opposing the earlier belief of a concept/ theory. This lecture was published in a book soon after the delivery of Woodward's speech and after that Woodward made the comment. Any other input? By the way, what's the OA?

(3) should be the correct choice.

A handicap is something which has an adverse affect on performance.

The example given in the passage is "a history of the American Revolution published in 1776". (As an aside, remember that the GMAT is a US test and everyone in the US is expected to know as matter of fact that the American Revolution took place in and around 1776.)

So, the problem is that the history is written as the event is actually taking place.

(3) is the only choice that gets this timing issue across.

(2) doesn't mention when the critique is written, so it outside the scope of the question.

Stuart,

I was doing OK till I bumped into this passage. My whole comprehending skills went for a toss attempting this passage. Many mistakes. Could you please advise on how to tackle such(difficult for me,at least) passages in the test?

Thanks,
AJ

aj5105 wrote:Stuart,

I was doing OK till I bumped into this passage. My whole comprehending skills went for a toss attempting this passage. Many mistakes. Could you please advise on how to tackle such(difficult for me,at least) passages in the test?

Thanks,
AJ

First you need to diagnose what part (or parts) of the exercise gave you the most trouble.

Was it the passage? Was it the questions? Was it particular wrong answers?

If it's the passage, then work on your roadmapping skills and do more general reading in this subject area (humanities). Look over your notes and see how helpful they were to answering the questions. Did you have to reread massive parts of the passage to find the answers? If so, then you're not taking effective notes.

If it's the questions, then spend more time understanding them before jumping to the choices. Make sure you understand exactly what each type of question is asking.

If it's the answers, are you predicting before looking at the choices? If not, you want to start prephrasing your own answer before allowing the wrong choices to distract you. Are you familiar with the common traps on the test? If not, make yourself familiar by reviewing ALL of the RC questions you do, not only the ones you get wrong.

Can someone please tell what is wrong with option A.

Isn't history of auto manfacturing plant far from over.....the same as the case of American Revolution history written in 1776.....

Stuart Kovinsky wrote:

aj5105 wrote:Stuart,

I was doing OK till I bumped into this passage. My whole comprehending skills went for a toss attempting this passage. Many mistakes. Could you please advise on how to tackle such(difficult for me,at least) passages in the test?

Thanks,
AJ

First you need to diagnose what part (or parts) of the exercise gave you the most trouble.

Was it the passage? Was it the questions? Was it particular wrong answers?

If it's the passage, then work on your roadmapping skills and do more general reading in this subject area (humanities). Look over your notes and see how helpful they were to answering the questions. Did you have to reread massive parts of the passage to find the answers? If so, then you're not taking effective notes.

If it's the questions, then spend more time understanding them before jumping to the choices. Make sure you understand exactly what each type of question is asking.

If it's the answers, are you predicting before looking at the choices? If not, you want to start prephrasing your own answer before allowing the wrong choices to distract you. Are you familiar with the common traps on the test? If not, make yourself familiar by reviewing ALL of the RC questions you do, not only the ones you get wrong.

Dear Stuart,
I am not a U.S citizen so it was really hard for me to pinpoint the problematic 1776 Am. Rev.'n sentence however I had the rough idea from other parts of the passage, but it is also very useful in reinforcing the interpretation of the passage.
Anyway what I see is that my note taking skills just suck I have done about 120 Q's on time with %85-%92 success however what I have noticed is that notes only served to strengthen my memory once i put them down i don't need to refer to them however with these long passages in Humanities I'd rather use a neat plot of events and connections, a roadmap.
If it won't be much of a burden, could you please show us a simplest roadmap possible for this specific passage...
I'd really appreciate it.
thanks again for well established explanations for other questions I came across..
keep up the good work,
best regards!!!