{"id":11416,"date":"2016-05-06T17:36:35","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T17:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/?p=11416"},"modified":"2019-09-05T15:59:56","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T15:59:56","slug":"gmatprep-reading-comp-tackling-a-tough-passage-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/blog\/gmatprep-reading-comp-tackling-a-tough-passage-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"GMATPrep Reading Comp: Tackling a Tough Passage (part 3)"},"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<\/a> of this series, we deconstructed a challenging Reading Comprehension passage from the GMATPrep free exams. Pull up that page, as I\u2019m not going to repeat the full text of the passage here. (And if you\u2019re just starting here, go through parts 1 and 2 first before you read this one!)<\/p>\n

At the end of the second installment<\/a>, I posted the second problem for the passage. Let\u2019s figure it out!<\/p>\n

Here it is again:<\/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>\n

What\u2019s the first step<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Right, figure out what kind of RC problem this is<\/strong>. The language according to the passage <\/em>signals that this is a Specific Detail question. On SD questions, your task is to find something that is specifically stated in the passage and \u201cspit it back\u201d to them as an answer.<\/p>\n

So move to step 2<\/strong>: find the proof<\/strong>. What information do you need from the passage and where is that info located? The question stem asks what is true of comparable worth as a policy<\/em>. Where do they talk about that?<\/p>\n

The whole passage, of course, is about this CW idea, so it might be good to start by reminding yourself of what this idea is. It\u2019s a way to help close pay gaps and it works well even when you\u2019re dealing with different jobs, unlike some other methods.<\/p>\n

Where, in general, does the passage detail the whole CW idea as a policy? Glance at your notes if needed; that was in paragraph 1. Review the text:<\/p>\n

\u201cComparable worth, as a standard applied to eliminate inequities in pay, insists that the values of certain tasks performed in dissimilar jobs can be compared. In the last decade, this approach has become a critical social policy issue, as large numbers of private-sector firms and industries as well as federal, state, and local governmental entities have adopted comparable worth policies or begun to consider doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, I just want to caution you about something. The rest of the passage gets more at how CW has actually worked in practice (versus what the underlying policy is) and how it compares to some other policies. It\u2019s possible<\/em> that you\u2019ll need info from one of those paragraphs to answer the question, but don\u2019t go searching everything now. That\u2019s a mistake\u2014they\u2019re trying to suck you into spending too much time.<\/p>\n

Most likely, what you need is in paragraph 1, because paragraph 1 is where they discuss the overall policy, and that\u2019s what the question specifically asks.<\/p>\n

In short: start with the most likely paragraph. If that doesn\u2019t work, you can decide at that point whether to look in another paragraph or whether to guess and move on. But don\u2019t try to review the entire passage now; just go for the most likely paragraph.<\/p>\n

Okay, step 3<\/strong>: try to predict what you need<\/strong> in the answer. There are a few bigdetails in this paragraph. CW applies when you\u2019re talking about dissimilar<\/em> jobs. This approach has become a critical social policy issue<\/em>. (In this sense, critical<\/em> means important, not negative. It\u2019s critical that you study hard!) Finally, lots of organizations have started using CW or are considering doing so.<\/p>\n

Now, you can take your final step<\/strong>: look at those answers and find a match<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201c(A) Comparable worth policy decisions in pay-inequity cases have often failed to satisfy the complainants.\u201d<\/p>\n

This choice doesn\u2019t match anything in paragraph 1, but could it be somewhere else in the passage? Wait! Don\u2019t go searching yet. First, ask yourself: how does this choice fit in with the overall main point?<\/p>\n

The main point of the passage was that this CW thing worked well in cases where other<\/em> methods failed. CW didn’t fail (at least, not according to this passage). So this choice doesn\u2019t fit with the main idea. Eliminate it.<\/p>\n

\u201c(B) Comparable worth policies have been applied to both public-sector and private-sector employee pay schedules.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does public-sector<\/em> mean? That\u2019s a synonym for government, as private-sector is typically a synonym for for-profit companies (whether the companies are privately-held or publicly-held). They do expect you to be familiar with this type of language, but note that they also gave you a clue in paragraph 1:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026as large numbers of private-sector firms and industries as well as federal, state, and local governmental entities\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

They use the word private-sector in the passage, and they contrast that with governmental entities<\/em>, so you can infer that the private ones are non-governmental. And then when you see public-sector<\/em>, you can infer that this is the opposite of private, so this is a synonym for those governmental entities.<\/p>\n

In short, this choice says that CW has been used by companies and by government groups. Hey! That\u2019s exactly what paragraph 1 did say. This is the correct answer.<\/p>\n

Do run your eye over the other answers, just to be thorough.<\/p>\n

\u201c(C) Comparable worth as a policy has come to be widely criticized in the past decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, this doesn\u2019t match with the main idea, which generally praises CW. No good.<\/p>\n

\u201c(D) Many employers have considered comparable worth as a policy but very few have actually adopted it.\u201d<\/p>\n

We call this one a Direct Contradiction trap. The passage says the opposite: large numbers <\/em>of employees have adopted it or are considering doing so.<\/p>\n

These Direct Contradiction traps can be really tempting when you don\u2019t take the time to re-read the passage. You remember reading something<\/em> about that\u2026what was it again? And then you might fall into the trap of thinking that the passage said the opposite of what it really said.<\/p>\n

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

Transitory<\/em> means temporary or not-long-lasting. If you don\u2019t know the word, then pay attention to the word only<\/em>: it signals some kind of a negative. Only (blank) gains in pay equity <\/em>isn\u2019t a good thing.<\/p>\n

Paragraph 1 said nothing about early implementations<\/em> of CW. It is possible that CW didn\u2019t work as well early on. And if you hadn\u2019t already found a good answer, maybe you\u2019d go look elsewhere in the passage for a discussion of the early implementation. But since you already know that (B) works and since the point of the passage was really that this CW thing has generally worked well at least in the longer-term, cross this one off.<\/p>\n

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

I want to summarize the process here, because a consistent process is really what\u2019s going to help you most on these questions.<\/p>\n

First, identify the question. According to the passage<\/em> signals a Specific Detail question.<\/p>\n

Second, find the proof. Figure out what you need to re-read in the passage in order to answer the question. (Do NOT skip this step. Do NOT rely on your memory. This is an open-book test! Re-read the needed material.)<\/p>\n

Third, read that text and use it to formulate your own answer to the question. Your wording, of course, won\u2019t match the wording of the correct answer. That\u2019s okay. You\u2019re just trying to articulate to yourself the kinds of things you want the answer to say or address. Get that clear in your head (or even jot down a note or two) before you go to the final step.<\/p>\n

Fourth, eliminate wrong answers and find a match! This is what I want to emphasize here: look at how much work comes before you get to look at the answers. Don\u2019t jump straight to the answers. Figure out what\u2019s going on with the question first!<\/p>\n

All right, are you ready for the third problem in the set? Here you go!<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich of the following best describes an application of the principles of comparable worth as they are described in the passage?<\/p>\n

\u201c(A) The current pay, rates of increase, and rates of promotion for female mechanics are compared with those of male mechanics.<\/p>\n

\u201c(B) The training, skills, and experience of computer programmers in one division of a corporation are compared to those of programmers making more money in another division.<\/p>\n

\u201c(C) The number of women holding top executive positions in a corporation is compared to the number of women available for promotion to those positions, and both tallies are matched to the tallies for men in the same corporation.<\/p>\n

\u201c(D) The skills, training, and job responsibilities of the clerks in the township tax assessor\u2019s office are compared to those of the much better-paid township engineers.<\/p>\n

\u201c(E) The working conditions of female workers in a hazardous-materials environment are reviewed and their pay schedules compared to those of all workers in similar environments across the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Key Takeaways for Specific Detail questions<\/h2>\n

(1) Follow the process. Don\u2019t skip steps!<\/p>\n

(2) Even though these are detail questions, you can still use the main idea \/ main point to help you eliminate answer choices. If something contradicts the main point, it\u2019s probably incorrect (unless that question was worded in such a way as to contradict the main point: e.g., what would the author disagree<\/em> with?).<\/p>\n

(3) Reading Comp is an open-book test. The passage is always there while you\u2019re answering questions. Don\u2019t feel like you need to learn everything the first time you read it and don\u2019t hesitate to go back to it whenever you need to do so.<\/p>\n

* GMATPrep 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 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":[873,25,10],"tags":[389,52845,52844],"yst_prominent_words":[54510,54508,54509,54463,54482,54495,54505,54503,54507,54506,54501,54499,54502,54251,54497,54504,54498,54500,54494,54496],"class_list":["post-11416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-current-studiers","category-reading-comprehension","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-gmatprep","tag-long-bus-passage","tag-tackling-a-tough-passage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11416","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=11416"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16984,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11416\/revisions\/16984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11416"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}