One of the reasons that the Kaplan Method for CARS Passages emphasizes reading for perspective (trying to understand the author’s attitude and intentions) is that the entire Function question type specifically asks about what the author is trying to do in the passage. Unlike a Main Idea question, which might ask about the overall Goal of the passage, a Function question will ask about the purpose of only a portion of it. Function questions are just about as common as Main Idea questions, constituting about 5 percent of what you’ll see in this section on Test Day.
According to our research of released AAMC material, Function questions make up about 5 percent of the CARS section (about two or three questions).
What should be readily apparent in the phrasing of Function questions is frequent mention of the author and the use of direct references to the text—especially through paragraph references. Language like purpose, motive, and intention indicate a Function question, as do phrases that end with in order to and because.
The Outline will be key when working with a Function question. If you were reading for perspective by looking out for Author keywords (which give a glimpse from the author’s point of view), you may have already included the information you need to answer such a question in your Outline. Keep in mind that, generally speaking, Function questions work in a nested way. In other words, the passage as a whole has a purpose, and each paragraph within it has a subordinate function that is distinctive but that contributes to the larger whole. Each paragraph can in turn be broken down into sentences, each of which has its own particular role to play in the paragraph—and even sentences can be broken down into particular words or phrases.
Because a Function question will generally ask for the purpose of no more than a paragraph, to formulate some initial expectations, you should go to your Outline and look at the Label for the specific paragraph and perhaps also look at the Goal. Then, if buzzwords in the question stem direct you to specific sentences, reread those portions of the paragraph and think about how they fit into both the purpose of the paragraph and the passage’s general Goal. Formulate a statement of what the desired function is, and then start to look for an Answer that matches.
Both Main Idea and Function questions can often be answered solely by looking at your Passage Outline. The answers to Main Idea questions should reflect the author’s Goal, whereas the answers to Function questions should usually reflect the Label you’ve assigned to a given paragraph.
Remember that if you can’t find a perfect match, you can eliminate choices that would be inconsistent with functions at a higher level. So, for example, the purpose of a paragraph will not be at odds with the author’s Goal for the passage as a whole. Even when authors bring up information that conflicts with their main arguments, they commonly do so for the sake of shooting it down—answering or countering a refutation, as discussed in Chapter 5 of MCAT CARS Review.
The most prevalent argument against doctor-assisted suicide relies upon a distinction between passive and active euthanasia—in essence, the difference between killing someone and letting that person die. On this account, a physician is restricted by her Hippocratic oath to do no harm and thus cannot act in ways that would inflict the ultimate harm, death. In contrast, failing to resuscitate an individual who is dying is permitted because this would be only an instance of refraining from help and not a willful cause of harm. The common objection to this distinction, that it is vague and therefore difficult to apply, does not carry much weight. After all, applying ethical principles of any sort to the complexities of the world is an enterprise fraught with imprecision.
Rather, the fundamental problem with the distinction is that it is not an ethically relevant one, readily apparent in the following thought experiment. Imagine a terminally ill patient hooked up to an unusual sort of life support device, one that only functioned to prevent a separate “suicide machine” from administering a lethal injection so long as the doctor pressed a button on it once per day. Would there be any relevant difference between using the suicide machine directly and not using the prevention device? The intention of the doctor would be the same (fulfilling the patient’s wish to die), and the effect would be the same (an injection causing the patient’s death). The only variance here is the means by which the effect comes about, and this is not an ethical difference but merely a technical one.