{"id":11295,"date":"2016-04-01T15:36:14","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T15:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/?p=11295"},"modified":"2019-09-05T16:00:02","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T16:00:02","slug":"gmatprep-reading-comp-tackling-a-tough-passage-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/blog\/gmatprep-reading-comp-tackling-a-tough-passage-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"GMATPrep Reading Comp: Tackling a Tough Passage (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ManhattanDid you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

In the first installment of this series<\/a>, we deconstructed a challenging Reading Comprehension passage from the GMATPrep\u00ae free exams. Pull up that page, as I\u2019m not going to repeat the full text of the passage here.<\/p>\n

I also gave you the first problem to try. Let\u2019s talk about it now!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the problem again:<\/p>\n

* \u201cIt can be inferred from the passage that application of \u201cother mandates\u201d (see highlighted text) would be unlikely to result in an outcome satisfactory to the female employees in which of the following situations?<\/p>\n

\u201cI. Males employed as long-distance truck drivers for a furniture company make $3.50 more per hour than do females with comparable job experience employed in the same capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cII. Women working in the office of a cement company content that their jobs are as demanding and valuable as those of the men working outside in the cement factory, but the women are paid much less per hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cIII. A law firm employs both male and female paralegals with the same educational and career backgrounds, but the starting salary for male paralegals is $5,000 more than for female paralegals.<\/p>\n

\u201c(A) I only<\/p>\n

\u201c(B) II only<\/p>\n

\u201c(C) III only<\/p>\n

\u201c(D) I and II only<\/p>\n

\u201c(E) I and III only\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you recall, I was pretty annoyed by this problem. Roman numeral questions are always long and the three statements here are pretty complex. Don\u2019t just dive into a question like this; decide whether it\u2019s even worth your time in the first place.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to do this problem, then it\u2019s going to be crucial to make sure that you understand the question before going to the statements.<\/p>\n

First, this is an inference question. Inference questions require you to figure out what must be true based upon some evidence presented in the passage.<\/p>\n

Step two is to find the proof in the passage. Luckily, they highlighted the relevant text in the passage, so you know exactly where to go. Wait a second, though. Make sure you understand the question before you jump to this text.<\/p>\n

Glance at the statements. Don\u2019t read completely or try to understand them. Just articulate to yourself whatkind<\/i> of info they contain.<\/p>\n

They seem to be describing very specific scenarios that weren\u2019t at all talked about in the passage. I guess these are hypothetical scenarios that I\u2019m going to have to think about somehow.<\/p>\n

Go back to the question stem to see how you have to think about the scenarios.<\/p>\n

application of \u201cother mandates\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

hmm\u2026\u201dapplication\u201d of this thing I\u2019m going to read about in the passage\u2026<\/p>\n

would be unlikely to result in an outcome satisfactory to the female employees<\/i> in which of the following situations?<\/i><\/p>\n

Okay, they\u2019re going to describe something in this text I\u2019m about to read, and applying that something to the scenarios (in the roman numerals) would not<\/i> be satisfactory to the female employees. So in this text I\u2019m about to read, I need to be able to infer something about female employees in particular.<\/p>\n

Step three: time to read that text and try to articulate my own answer. I need to read enough to understand how female employees would be affected.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the relevant text from the passage:<\/p>\n

\u201cComparable worth pay adjustments are indeed precedent-setting. Because of the principles driving them,other mandates that can be applied to reduce or eliminate unjustified pay gaps between male and female workers have not remedied perceived pay inequities satisfactorily for the litigants in cases in which men and women hold different jobs. But whenever comparable worth principles are applied to pay schedules, perceived unjustified pay differences are eliminated.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Put this all in the context of the overall point of the passage: CW did \/ does make a difference in alleviating the pay gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther mandates\u201d means other things besides CW. But those things \u201chave not remedied perceived pay inequities satisfactorily\u201d when \u201cmen and women hold different jobs.\u201d BUT CW did actually help in that situation.<\/p>\n

Okay. So the \u201cother\u201d stuff, whatever it is, doesn\u2019t really work when you\u2019re talking about different jobs for the male and female employees involved. That would definitely be considered an unsatisfactory outcome for the female employees, so I need to look for scenarios in which the employees have different jobs.<\/p>\n

Finally! I can go back to the statements.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI. Males employed as long-distance truck drivers for a furniture company make $3.50 more per hour than do females with comparable job experience employed in the same capacity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cEmployed in the same capacity\u201d = the same job, so this doesn\u2019t fit what I\u2019m looking for. I\u2019m looking for situations in which the employees do not<\/em> have the same kind of job.<\/p>\n

Wow. I can eliminate answers (A), (D), and (E) based on this statement alone. (Note: this made me second-guess myself. Did I understand the question properly? So I re-read the question and confirmed that, yes, I really did understand and now I\u2019m confident that this one is not right.)<\/p>\n

\u201cII. Women working in the office of a cement company content that their jobs are as demanding and valuable as those of the men working outside in the cement factory, but the women are paid much less per hour.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Different jobs\u2014office vs. factory. If the \u201cother\u201d methods (not CW) are used here, then the women aren\u2019t likely to be happy with the outcome. This one works. Eliminate answer (C).<\/p>\n

Only answer (B) is left. Let\u2019s check the third statement just in case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIII. A law firm employs both male and female paralegals with the same educational and career backgrounds, but the starting salary for male paralegals is $5,000 more than for female paralegals.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Same job. Nope, this one\u2019s wrong, too. Statement II is the only one that fits the \u201cdifferent job\u201d criterion.<\/p>\n

The correct answer is (B).<\/strong><\/p>\n

This problem required a lot of careful upfront work. If that is done well, then the statements aren\u2019t that bad. The trick is that you actually have really understand both the convoluted question and the relevant text in the passage so that you can pick out the one key detail: these other methods don\u2019t work well when the male and female employees have different jobs.<\/p>\n

It would be really easy to get lost in either the question or the passage on this one, in which case, don\u2019t push on<\/i>. You already know this is a crazy one, by virtue of the roman numeral set-up. So if the question, or passage, or both are just too much, roll your eyes that they actually expected someone to do that much work, pick your favorite letter, and don\u2019t look back. Dive right into the next problem.<\/p>\n

Speaking of, here is the second question!<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the passage, which of the following is true of comparable worth as a policy?<\/p>\n

\u201c(A) Comparable worth policy decisions in pay-inequity cases have often failed to satisfy the complainants.<\/p>\n

\u201c(B) Comparable worth policies have been applied to both public-sector and private-sector employee pay schedules.<\/p>\n

\u201c(C) Comparable worth as a policy has come to be widely criticized in the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201c(D) Many employers have considered comparable worth as a policy but very few have actually adopted it.<\/p>\n

\u201c(E) Early implementations of comparable worth policies resulted in only transitory gains in pay equity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the next installment of this series<\/a>, we\u2019ll talk about how to work your way through the above problem. I\u2019ll also give you the third problem in the set.\u00a0?<\/p>\n

Key Takeaways for Roman Numeral questions<\/h4>\n

(1) Don\u2019t dive straight to the statements. First, make sure you understand the question, especially if it\u2019s as involved as this one. Your understanding of the question should tell you what you need to figure out from the passage text. If you don\u2019t get that, guess and move on.<\/p>\n

(2) Next, still don\u2019t dive into the statements! Go back to the passage, read the relevant text, and try to formulate your own overall \u201canswer\u201d to the question. This won\u2019t be the actual answer of course, but it will be the key to evaluating the statements. Again, if you don\u2019t get this step, guess and move on.<\/p>\n

(3) Finally, you can go to the statements! But you\u2019re only going to get this far if you successfully pass the earlier steps. Don\u2019t be stubborn and keep going just because you think you have to get it right or you \u201cshould\u201d be able to figure it out.<\/p>\n

* GMATPrep\u00ae questions courtesy of the Graduate Management Admissions Council. Usage of this question does not imply endorsement by GMAC.<\/p>\n

\n

Can\u2019t get enough of Stacey\u2019s GMAT mastery? Attend the first session of one of her upcoming GMAT courses<\/a> absolutely free, no strings attached. Seriously.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"stacey-koprince\"<\/a>Stacey Koprince<\/a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California.<\/strong> Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT \u00a0for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. In the first installment of this series, we deconstructed a challenging Reading Comprehension passage from the GMATPrep\u00ae free exams. Pull up that page, as I\u2019m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[873,929,25,10],"tags":[389,52816,967,52815],"yst_prominent_words":[54491,54487,54463,54482,54473,54465,54488,54483,54484,54486,54464,54490,54470,54493,54469,54471,54485,54472,54489,54492],"class_list":["post-11295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-prep","category-reading-comprehension","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-gmatprep","tag-inference-questions","tag-roman-numerals","tag-tackling-a-tough-reading-comprehension-passage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11295"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16983,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11295\/revisions\/16983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11295"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}