At 150 minutes, Reasoning Through Language Arts (RLA) is the longest of the four GED® subject tests, combining 95 minutes of Reading and Language, a 10-minute break, and the 45-minute Extended Response (essay) section. We’ll talk about the language questions and Extended Response section in upcoming chapters. For now, let’s look at Reading, which will take up most of those 95 minutes.
You’re more likely to encounter informational (nonfiction) texts than literary passages, which is good news if you’ve ever had to struggle with complex literary language and ideas while the clock ticks. Only 25 percent of the reading passages will be literary; 75 percent will be informational material, which tends to be more straightforward, with concrete language and clearer presentation.
The focus on informational material reflects with the GED® test’s emphasis on the skills required for a career or college. Employees in every industry and at all levels are expected to respond appropriately to the information they receive, and college students need to work with large volumes of information. That’s why the reading passages and questions, with their emphasis on informational material, are considered so important in predicting readiness for a career or for college.
Therefore, the Reading section is all about critical thinking and active reading—analyzing and questioning the passage as you go through it instead of just passively absorbing what it says. You’ll see six to eight passages of up to 900 words each, and you will need to show that you not only understand the material, but that you can do something with it—summarize it, find reasoning flaws in it, or make inferences from it, for example. (We’ll get into that in more detail when we discuss the types of questions you can expect.)
Taking this test gives you a chance to develop and demonstrate critical thinking and analytical skills for potential employers or college admissions officers. The strategies you’ll discover as you work through this book will help you prepare, so you’ll walk into the testing center knowing what to expect and feeling confident in your abilities.
The passages span a range of difficulty (more good news), starting with the type of material that would be appropriate for a student just entering high school. (Some are set at the high school graduation level.) And the topics have been chosen to appeal to the majority of test takers, so there’s a good chance you’ll find most of the passages interesting to read.
What are they about? Well, informational passages could cover a broad range of topics, as long as they’re nonfiction. Readings are drawn from both the workplace and the academic worlds; they could be from ads or letters for customers, and from speeches, manuals, or government documents, for example. A literary passage will tell a good story, with vivid characters and a strong narrative line.
The GED® test is very systematic about the reading skills it assesses, following a detailed set of criteria called the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). So what? So now we know what reading skills the test writers are looking for, which determines the passages they select and the questions they ask.
In fact, there are seven of these reading standards, each with a dizzying array of subsections. Only some subsections will appear on different versions of the test, but you can bet that each of the seven main standards will show up somewhere. And that, in turn, tells us the seven main question tasks you can expect.
The questions will appear in two formats. Most will be multiple choice, with four choices. As always, Process of Elimination is your friend with multiple-choice questions. If you start by looking for what’s clearly wrong, you should find you can eliminate a couple of the choices, and then look for the right answer in the other two—or, worst case, guess at which one is right. By using Process of Elimination to get rid of two of the four choices, you’ve just increased your chances of making a correct guess to 50 percent instead of the original 25 percent.
Where Are the Answers?
They’re in the reading passages, although they may not always be obvious. You’re expected to use your critical thinking skills, analyze the text, dig beneath the surface, and make inferences. Don’t draw on your own knowledge and experience; they could lead you astray. Rely only on the information in the passages.
The computer-based test also presents you with drag-and-drop questions, in which you could be asked to arrange events in the proper order, or sort out which of two authors made which statements. Your options will be mixed up, and you’ll need to “drag” them, one at a time, to a chart full of empty boxes and “drop” them into the correct positions on the chart. There will be only one or two drag-and-drop questions per passage, and you might find they’re kind of fun to do—a nice break from the multiple-choice questions that predominate. (See Chapter 3 for an illustration of what a drag-and-drop question looks like.)
Most questions are worth one point, but some might be worth two (such as the example mentioned in the previous paragraph, in which you need to match statements to one of two different authors), so the number of questions per passage isn’t set in stone. You can expect a total of about 48 questions spread across six to eight passages.
The seven main reading skills the test writers are assessing lead to seven main question tasks.
Main Idea or Theme
Development (of Ideas, Events, or Characters)
Language Use
Structure
Purpose (or Point of View)
Evaluation (of the Author’s Argument or Reasoning)
Comparison (of Different Passages that Deal with Similar Topics)
You’ll notice there’s no plain old “comprehension” question task in that list. Comprehension is a given on the GED® test—you need to understand the passage before you can do any of the things the questions will ask you to do with it. Download and read the supplemental tutorial on reading comprehension, if you need to.
One last tip about the questions: Read each one carefully to make sure you understand what it’s asking you to do. It’s important not to confuse the question’s task with its format. Just because the last drag-and-drop question was a development task asking you to arrange events in the proper sequence, for example, doesn’t mean the next one is. It could be a comparison question asking you to sort out which of two authors said what, or a purpose question asking you to choose the words that most accurately describe the author’s point of view.
Let’s take a closer look at what each question task is asking you to do with the passage. In the next two chapters, we’ll work through examples of informational and literary passages with the seven question tasks.
This is what we like to call a “helicopter question,” because it asks you to take the 10,000-foot view of the passage (or perhaps of one or more paragraphs in it). This is not about details or writing techniques, but about the big picture. When you look out the helicopter window and see all the details and writing techniques below, what overall main idea or theme do they convey?
The question will probably then ask you to do something with that big-picture overview you’ve gained—identify the details that support it, for instance, or draw a conclusion by stitching together the main ideas of a few different paragraphs. Whatever task the question sets, your first step is to get a clear view of that main idea or theme.
The key to development questions is that the passage starts at Point A and ends up at Point B. You need to follow the route the author takes to get there.
For some tasks, think of driving to a destination, passing different landmarks along the way. This works for such tasks as arranging events in the proper order (a classic “drag-and-drop” assignment). For other questions, think of a jumble of building blocks (Point A), and piling them carefully on top of each other to construct a tall tower (Point B). This type of task might ask how a particular character contributes to the progression of the plot in a literary passage, or what you can infer about that character from the separate details the author has given. Other development questions might ask you how the author’s ideas are connected (cause and effect? problem and solution?), or how the context chosen for an informational passage influences its meaning.
It’s all about getting from Point A to Point B, whether that involves encountering things one after another as you travel through the passage, or seeing how one thing builds upon something that came before it, or figuring out how the separate elements connect to create the whole.
You’ll come across some unfamiliar words in Reading passages, and Language Use questions ask you to figure out an unfamiliar word’s meaning from its context. The words won’t be obscure technical terms that only a specialist, such as an economist or a master electrician, would know. They’ll be words that aren’t specific to any particular field of study—words such as “specificity” and “formulate” (in informational material) or “unabashedly” and “faltered” (in literary passages). Look at what the context is telling you, try substituting a word you know for the unfamiliar word, and see if it makes sense. Here’s an example.
Although the mayor and town council were initially ardent supporters of a new public library building, their position faltered when the cost estimates started coming in.
What does the context tell you about “ardent” and “faltered”? Well, the cost estimates were apparently higher than expected, causing local officials to reconsider. If you guessed from that a meaning of “enthusiastic” or “passionate” for “ardent” and “weakened” for “faltered,” you’d be right. You can read more about guessing a word’s meaning from its context in the Reading Comprehension supplement.
Language use questions might go further, too, and ask you what impact the author’s word choice has on the tone or the meaning of the passage. For example, someone who offers to “assist you in reaching out to a competent attorney” is setting a more formal tone than someone who offers to “help you find a good lawyer.”
Structure questions could ask what a particular part of the passage adds to the author’s purpose or to the development of the author’s ideas. In other words, why is it there? That’s the question to ask yourself with structure questions. Why did the author put a particular description or instruction, sentence or paragraph in the passage, and why does it appear where it does?
Hunting for transitional or signal words will be a big help here. What are those? They’re words that indicate a change (or transition)—perhaps from one opinion to another—or that signal a relationship—perhaps between two statements. Consider the following example:
I prefer living in a big city because there are so many things to do. On the other hand, (change to the opposite point of view) a small town offers warmth and a sense of community that big cities lack.
Frosty-Man air conditioners are the most energy-efficient units on the market. In addition, (signal that the author is going to build upon a previous point), with an average lifespan of 15 years, they are the most reliable.
In the first example above, the transition to the opposite opinion reveals something important about the character making the statements—he or she may be indecisive or confused or perhaps weak. In the second case, the author is strengthening the goal of promoting Frosty-Man air conditioners by building a list of their advantages. Transition and signal words help give the reader a smoother ride through the author’s points.
Some Common Transition and Signal Words
Changing course:
alternatively
however
nevertheless
on the other hand
otherwise
Adding:
also
in addition
furthermore
moreover
not only…but also
Reaching a conclusion:
accordingly
as a result
consequently
on the whole
therefore
Here’s another helicopter question. From 10,000 feet above the passage, looking at what all of the details and descriptions and sections add up to as a whole, for what purpose did the author write this passage? Did the author want to persuade readers to do something? Educate them? Entertain them? Defend a position against someone who has publicly attacked it?
A related question asks about the author’s point of view. Overall, is the author positive about the subject of the passage? Critical? Neutral? Nailing down the point of view can add another dimension to the author’s purpose. For instance, if the purpose seems to be to persuade readers to join a local ski club, but the tone seems neutral about the health benefits of skiing and the author strongly cautions readers about the risks of injury, you’ve got to wonder if promoting the ski club is really the purpose of this piece.
There could even be a deeper, more subtle purpose underlying the obvious surface goal, or perhaps the purpose is not even explicitly stated. That doesn’t mean the author’s point of view and purpose are difficult to figure out, though, if you just use your critical thinking skills.
Take a look at this brief excerpt, for instance:
Excerpt from A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, by Frederick Douglass, 1845
I was utterly astonished at her goodness. I scarcely knew how to behave towards her. She was entirely unlike any other white woman I had ever seen. I could not approach her as I was accustomed to approach other white ladies. My early instruction was all out of place. The crouching servility, usually so acceptable a quality in a slave, did not answer when manifested toward her. Her favor was not gained by it; she seemed to be disturbed by it.
Even from these few sentences it’s pretty clear that the author’s purpose, on the surface, is to describe an event in his life, while “crouching servility” gives a clue that his unstated purpose and point of view are critical of slavery.
Besides simply asking you to identify the author’s purpose or point of view, these questions might ask what rhetorical techniques the author uses to achieve his or her purpose more effectively. What are rhetorical techniques? They’re simply tools that writers use, like hammers or wrenches, to get the job done better.
One common rhetorical technique is analogy—comparing something to another thing that will be more familiar to readers, in order to help them understand the author’s point and increase the chance that they will agree with it. For instance, the passage might explain that “a Hemi engine is more powerful than a flathead engine because the Hemi is designed to minimize heat loss and unburned fuel, in much the same way as a toaster oven is more energy efficient than a full-sized oven.” Because most people are familiar with toaster ovens and full-sized ovens, this comparison helps the reader to see the relationship between Hemi engines and flathead engines.
Another common rhetorical technique is repetition. Think of the last ad you saw for a new car. How many times, in how many different ways, did the ad tell you that you would be powerful, free, safe, and environmentally responsible if only you would buy this car?
If you wanted to be an extremist, you could find ridiculously long lists of obscure rhetorical techniques (paraprosdokian, anyone?). The GED® test, however, is not extremist. The test writers expect you to recognize only a few of the most commonly used rhetorical techniques, and you can often guess a technique’s name just by looking at what it does. Try this one:
In your SnoSqual parka, you’ll enjoy unmatched protection from the cold, unrivalled flexibility for your gear, and unsurpassed style on the slopes.
Now the question:
1. The writer creates a positive image and desire for a SnoSqual parka through the use of
A. alliteration.
B. parallelism.
C. hyperbole.
D. repetition.
Remember Process of Elimination, or POE? You can get rid of “repetition”—the sentence doesn’t say the same thing over and over. Check out “Some Common Rhetorical Techniques” in the box on the next page, and you’ll see that “alliteration” and “hyperbole” are eliminated. So “parallelism” is left, and indeed that’s the technique the author uses.
However, you could also have chosen “parallelism” based simply on what the author’s description does: it presents the SnoSqual parka’s three advantages (warmth, flexibility, and style) in parallel structures (each starting with an “un-” description and ending with a phrase, such as “from the cold,” that puts the advantage in context). The end result is a product claim that sounds organized, trustworthy, and appealing, and would advance the author’s purpose of making readers want this coat.
Some Common Rhetorical Techniques
Alliteration: creating rhythm through repeating initial consonant sounds. Example: “The store’s spectacular sales season yielded enormous profits.”
Analogy: enhancing readers’ understanding by comparing two things that have similar features. Example: “A jet pump works much like a drinking straw in a glass of soda.”
Hyperbole: exaggerating a statement to make a point. Example: “I’ve tried a million different ways to open the file you sent, but it’s broken.”
Metaphor: describing something by saying it’s the same as an otherwise unrelated thing. Example: “The empty highway was a ribbon stretching over the distant mountains.”
Parallelism: stringing together phrases or sentences with similar structures. Example: “First push the power button, then select fan mode, and finally select the fan speed.”
Qualifying Statement: toning down what sounds like an extreme statement. Example: “That’s the worst lasagna I’ve ever eaten—since I had Aunt Mabel’s lasagna last week, that is.”
Repetition: stating the same thing in different ways to emphasize a point. Example: “A snow shovel with a curved handle puts less strain on your back. It makes shovelling easier and minimizes the risk of injury.”
Simile: adding impact to a description by comparing one thing to another unrelated thing using the word “like” or “as.” Example: “His stare was as cold as ice.”
Understatement: making something sound less significant than it really is to achieve an effect. Example: “The country has a minor trade deficit of $3 trillion.”
Yes, you, the GED® test taker, get to evaluate whether the author has done a thorough, reliable, persuasive job of making his or her case. How’s that for giving you power and letting you show off your critical thinking skills?
To begin, of course, you need to travel through the passage to create a map of the argument as the author moves from Point A to Point B to Point C to arrive at a final conclusion. Only then will you be able to do what the questions ask you to do with that argument. For evaluation questions, those tasks generally fall into three categories.
First, you could be asked to evaluate the evidence the author uses to support claims. Is the evidence trustworthy—the opinion of a well-known expert in the field, perhaps, or the results of a professional research study? Is the evidence directly applicable to the claim, or does it sound good but really not have much to do with the author’s point? Does the author provide enough evidence to support a claim, or perhaps no evidence at all?
Second, the question might ask you to evaluate whether the author’s reasoning is sound. Here you’re looking for what are called logical fallacies—major flaws in reasoning that may not be apparent until you really think about it. Like rhetorical techniques, logical fallacies come in a long list of creatively named types. In this case, the GED® test writers won’t expect you to know those names, but they will expect you to recognize faulty reasoning when you see it.
One logical fallacy you might find familiar is called the slippery slope. Politicians often use it to gain support for their positions by generating fear. For example, “If we allow the Bank of Broad River to refuse loans to any company that hasn’t been profitable for the past 10 years, pretty soon all of the banks will be refusing those loans and small business in the state will collapse.” The first act is the beginning of a snowballing slide down toward destruction. But wait a minute—who said any other banks would adopt the same policy? What evidence does the author provide to support that claim? The chain of reasoning from one bank’s change in policy to the annihilation of small business in the entire state is unreliable.
Some Common Logical Fallacies
Slippery Slope—In an attempt to persuade people to do (or not to do) something, this technique claims the result of inaction (or action) will be widespread disaster, but doesn’t provide evidence to support that conclusion. Wars have been started this way: “If we don’t stop this dictator now, he’ll take over every country in the whole region.”
Straw Man—This technique exaggerates or misstates an opponent’s argument so it’s easy to knock it down. For instance, “Advocates of compact fluorescent light bulbs want us all to die from mercury poisoning in order to save energy.”
Appeal to Emotion—In appealing for donations, a charity often tells heartbreaking stories of the people it has helped. But do these emotional appeals perhaps hide the fact that the organization is paying its executive director a huge salary, or that it uses half of the money it raises to pay for more fundraising campaigns?
Ad Hominem—If you can’t refute the opponent’s argument, attack the opponent. An ad hominem fallacy might concede that a prominent scientist’s latest published theory “seems to sound promising, but don’t forget that this is the author who was suspected of plagiarizing other researchers’ work a few years ago.”
To explore more logical fallacies, take a look at the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) at owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/logic_in_argumentative_writing/fallacies.html.
Third, you might need to dig out the assumptions behind the author’s argument and judge whether they’re valid. For instance, say a candidate for mayor is trying to persuade voters to support her because her top priority is expanding the mass transit system to reduce traffic gridlock. What are the underlying assumptions? She’s presuming that most voters use mass transit or that they even care about it enough to fund it with their tax dollars. She’s thinking they would choose mass transit as a solution instead of adding traffic lanes or a new bypass highway. In a large, sprawling city where many businesses and shopping areas are miles away and constructing long rail or subway lines could be very expensive, her assumptions might not be valid. She could just have lost a large group of potential supporters.
In comparison questions, you’re looking for what’s different and why. Those differences will fall into three broad categories.
First, the two readings could present the same information in different formats. Think, for instance, of a computer blog’s feature article about a new tablet and the technical spec sheet for that same product on the manufacturer’s website. Both pieces probably include such information as processor speed and memory size, but the two formats will present it in quite different ways. Why? Think about the purposes, audiences, and tone of the two pieces. The article aims to interest a more general audience—readers who are perhaps just investigating tablet brands—and will have a more casual tone. The spec sheet, on the other hand, is designed to give detailed technical information to more knowledgeable readers who are seriously considering a purchase, and will have a neutral, objective tone to inspire confidence in the accuracy of the information.
Second, the two pieces might treat a similar topic differently because they were written in different eras, when writing styles and cultural values differed. Consider, for example, these two quotes about education:
“I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education.”
—Thomas Jefferson
“What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.”
—Henry David Thoreau
Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers, writes in the lengthy, complex, formal sentence structure of his era and his status, at a time when the young democracy was defining itself and establishing its legitimacy. In plain language, he’s saying that ordinary people are the only safe source of power and if you don’t think they’d exercise it wisely, then educate them to do it. Thoreau, on the other hand, writes with the simplicity of a naturalist during the American Romantic era and sees man-made institutions, including education, as threats to nature. Even if you weren’t familiar with these two authors or the times in which they wrote, you would be able to see the differences in their writing styles and in the values they consider important. The questions will target those more general differences.
The third and trickiest type of comparison questions will present opposing viewpoints on a topic and ask you to delve down to see how the arguments rely on different interpretations of the same facts, or how they emphasize different evidence that supports their positions. Look for authors with rigid opinions who select evidence to support conclusions they’ve already reached. For example, fracking (or hydraulic fracturing) is a topic for which there is a lot of information—from the shale gas industry on one side and environmental groups on the other. An author could easily construct a strong pro or con argument just by selecting the right research results or expert statements. The GED® test question could expect you to detect that type of bias.
In the next two chapters, we’ll look at informational and literary reading passages in more detail, with examples to help you develop strategies for tackling different question tasks. Then, we’ll give you a drill for each kind of passage to try on your own.