OG 12 Q 43

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OG 12 Q 43

by umaa » Sun Dec 20, 2009 5:02 pm
In recent years, teachers of introductory courses in Asian American studies have been facing a dilemma nonexistent a few decades ago, when hardly any texts in that field were available. Today, excellent anthologies and other introductory texts exist, and books on individual Asian American nationality groups and on general issues important for Asian Americans are published almost weekly. Even professors who are experts in the field find it difficult to decide which of these to assign to students; nonexperts who teach in related areas and are looking for writings for and by Asian American to include in survey courses are in an even worse position.

A complicating factor has been the continuing lack of specialized one-volume reference works on Asian Americans, such as biographical dictionaries or desktop encyclopedias. Such works would enable students taking Asian American studies courses (and professors in related fields) to look up basic information on Asian American individuals, institutions, history, and culture without having to wade through mountains of primary source material. In addition, give such works, Asian American studies professors might feel more free to include more challenging Asian American material in their introductory reading lists, since good reference works allow students to acquire on their own the background information necessary to interpret difficult or unfamiliar material.

2) The "dilemma" mentioned in line 2 can best be characterized as being caused by the necessity to make a choice when faced with a
(A) lack of acceptable alternatives
(B) lack of strict standards for evaluating alternatives
(C) preponderance of bad alternatives as compared to good
(D) multitude of different alternatives
(E) large number of alternatives that are nearly identical in content

[spoiler]OA is D. But the dilemma talks about non-existence of material. What is wrong with A? [/spoiler]
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by cbenk121 » Sun Dec 20, 2009 9:37 pm
umaa wrote:In recent years, teachers of introductory courses in Asian American studies have been facing a dilemma nonexistent a few decades ago, when hardly any texts in that field were available. Today, excellent anthologies and other introductory texts exist, and books on individual Asian American nationality groups and on general issues important for Asian Americans are published almost weekly. Even professors who are experts in the field find it difficult to decide which of these to assign to students; nonexperts who teach in related areas and are looking for writings for and by Asian American to include in survey courses are in an even worse position.

A complicating factor has been the continuing lack of specialized one-volume reference works on Asian Americans, such as biographical dictionaries or desktop encyclopedias. Such works would enable students taking Asian American studies courses (and professors in related fields) to look up basic information on Asian American individuals, institutions, history, and culture without having to wade through mountains of primary source material. In addition, give such works, Asian American studies professors might feel more free to include more challenging Asian American material in their introductory reading lists, since good reference works allow students to acquire on their own the background information necessary to interpret difficult or unfamiliar material.

2) The "dilemma" mentioned in line 2 can best be characterized as being caused by the necessity to make a choice when faced with a
(A) lack of acceptable alternatives
(B) lack of strict standards for evaluating alternatives
(C) preponderance of bad alternatives as compared to good
(D) multitude of different alternatives
(E) large number of alternatives that are nearly identical in content

[spoiler]OA is D. But the dilemma talks about non-existence of material. What is wrong with A? [/spoiler]
Look at the first two sentences: "In recent years, teachers of introductory courses in Asian American studies have been facing a dilemma nonexistent a few decades ago, when hardly any texts in that field were available. Today, excellent anthologies and other introductory texts exist, and books on individual Asian American nationality groups and on general issues important for Asian Americans are published almost weekly."

The dilema the question refers to was NONEXISTENT a few decades ago, when hardly any texts were available. Therefore, A is the exact OPPOSITE of the correct answer, because A describes the scenario when the dilema didn't exist.

So you should look for answer about LOTS of choices. Therefore, it's down to D and E. E is wrong because it adds the phrase "that are nearly identical in content" - nothing in the passage says that all these texts/books are identical. Therefore, D is correct - the first paragraph is all about the multitude of different alternatives out there.

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Re: OG 12 Q 43

by PalashJain19 » Thu Aug 27, 2020 9:49 am
Q.3 The author mentions that if one-volume reference works on Asian Americans, such as biographical dictionaries or desktop encyclopedias are available then it would be easy for professors to include more challenging Asian American material in their introductory reading lists, since good reference works allow students to acquire on their own the background information necessary to interpret difficult or unfamiliar material. Thus if such helpful materials, if not available, would force professors to use contents for their courses that are not too challenging for students unfamiliar with Asian American history and culture. Hence D is the correct answer.

Q.4 A is the correct answer. As per the passage, "In recent years, teachers of introductory courses in Asian American studies have been facing a dilemma nonexistent a few decades ago, when hardly any texts in that field were available", it is clear that a few decades ago only limited sources of information were available about Asian American studies.

Q.5 E is the correct answer - This question can be answered on the basis of the last sentence of the passage.