Practice

You have seen the ways in which the SATtests you on Rhetoric questions in Reading passages and the way an SAT expert approaches these types of questions.

You will use the Kaplan Method for Reading Comprehension to complete this section. Part of the test-like passage has been mapped already. Your first step is to complete the Passage Map. Then, you will continue to use the Kaplan Method for Reading Comprehension and the strategies discussed in this chapter to answer the questions. Strategic thinking questions have been included to guide you—some of the answers have been filled in, but you will have to fill in the answers to others.

Use your answers to the strategic thinking questions to select the correct answer, just as you will on Test Day.

Strategic Thinking

Step 1: Read actively

The passage below is partially mapped. Read the passage and the first part of the Passage Map. Then, complete the Passage Map on your own. Remember to focus on the central ideas of each paragraph as well as the central idea of the overall passage. Use your Passage Map as a reference when you’re answering questions.

1. Questions 4-6 are based on the following passage.

2. The following passage was written (on the last night of 1849) by Florence Nightingale. She was not only a pioneer in the profession of nursing but also one of the first European women to travel to Egypt (1849-1850) and keep a detailed journal of her letters and reflections of her journey.

   My Dear People, Yes, I think your imagination has hardly fol- lowed me through the place where I have been spending the last night of the old year. Did you listen to it passing away and think of me? Where do you think I heard it sigh out its soul? In the
   dim unearthly colonnades of Karnak, which stood and watched it, motionless, silent, and awful, as they had done for thousands of years, to whom, no doubt, thousands of years seem but as a day. Would that I could call up Karnak before your eyes for one moment, but it “is beyond expression.” No one could trust themselves with their imagination alone there. Gigantic shadows spring upon every side; “the dead are stirred up for thee to meet thee at thy coming, even the chief ones of the earth,” and they look out from among the columns, and you feel as terror-stricken to be there, miser- able intruder, among these mighty dead, as if you had awakened the angel of the Last Day. Imagine six columns on either side, of which the last is almost out of sight, though they stand very near each other, while you look up to the stars from between them, as you would from a deep narrow gorge in the Alps, and then, passing through 160 of these, ranged in eight aisles on either side, the	¶1: impossible to describe Karnak
   end choked up with heaps of rubbish, this rubbish consisting of stones twenty and thirty feet long, so that it looks like a mountain fallen to ruin, not a temple. How art thou fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning! He did exalt his throne above the stars of God; for I looked through a colonnade, and under the roof saw the deep blue sky and star shining brightly; and as you look upon these mighty ruins, a voice seems continually saying to you, And seekest thou good things for thyself? Seek them not, for is there ought like this ruin? One wonders that people come back from Egypt and live lives as they did before.     Yet Karnak by starlight is not to me painful: we had seen Luxor in the sunshine. I had expected the temples of Thebes to be solemn, but Luxor was fearful. Rows of painted columns, propylae, colossi, and—built up in the Holy Place—mud [not even huts, but] unroofed enclosures chalked out, or rather mud- ded out, for families, with their one oven and broken earthen vessel; and, squatting on the ground among the painted hieroglyphs, creatures with large nose- rings, the children’s eyes streaming with matter, on which the mothers let the flies rest, because “it is good for them,” without an attempt to drive them off; tat- tooed men on the ground, with camels feeding out of their laps, and nothing but a few doura stalks strewed for their beds;—I cannot describe the impression it makes: it is as if one were steering towards the sun, the glorious Eastern sun, arrayed in its golden clouds, and were to find, on nearing it, that it were full—instead of glorified beings as one expect- ed—of a race of dwarf cannibals, stained with blood and dressed in bones. The contrast could not be more terrible than the savages of the Present in the temples of the Past at Luxor. But Karnak by starlight is peace; not peace and joy, but peace—solemn peace. You feel like spirits revisiting your former world, strange and fallen to ruins; but it has done its work, and there is nothing agonizing about it. Egypt should have no sun and no day, no human beings. It should always be seen in solitude and by night; one eternal night it should have, like Job’s, and let the stars of the twilight be its lamps; neither let it see the dawning of the day.	¶2: details of K temple ruins

3. Questions	Strategic Thinking
   The statement in lines 38-39 (“One wonders . . . before”) is primarily included to suggest that many people who visit Egypt overlook many of its important temples. express how profoundly Egypt has affected the author. emphasize how difficult it can be to understand someone else’s experience. criticize travelers who do not experience Egypt in the same way the author did.	Step 2: Examine the question stem What are the keywords in this question stem? The keywords in this question stem are the cited statement and “primarily included to.” What parts of your Passage Map are relevant? Looking at how the Passage Map notes surrounding the cited lines serve the passage as a whole will help you find the answer. Step 3: Predict and answer What can you predict? The Passage Map note next to the cited phrase should reveal that the author believes traveling to Egypt is a life-changing experience. Which answer choice matches this prediction? ____
   What is the most likely reason the author draws a distinction between the two cities in lines 40-41 (“Yet Karnak . . . sunshine”)? To show that some ancient ruins have retained special relevance while others have reverted to everyday use To argue that Egyptian authorities should do more to protect Luxor To communicate how dreadful it was to find mundane activities in a place meant to hold great spiritual significance To demonstrate how much more difficult it is to describe Karnak than it is to describe Luxor	Step 2: Examine the question stem What are the keywords in this question stem? The keywords in this question stem are “the most likely reason,” “distinction between the two cities,” and the cited lines. Step 3: Predict and answer What parts of your Passage Map are relevant? Look at your Passage Map for notes about the author’s contrast of the two cities. The author has a generally positive attitude toward Karnak and a generally negative attitude toward Luxor. What purpose does providing this contrast serve in the passage as a whole? _______________ _______________ Which answer choice matches this prediction? ____
   Throughout the passage, the author employs which of the following techniques to convey her meaning? Physical descriptions interspersed with lyrical portrayals A series of analogies emphasizing the difference between past and present An extended metaphor evoking eternal truths Expository prose describing a journey to Egypt	Step 2: Examine the question stem What are the keywords in this question stem? The keywords in the question stem are “throughout the passage” and “techniques.” The answer to the question will be found by analyzing how the author conveys her meaning rather than what that meaning is. What parts of your Passage Map are relevant? Your Passage Map probably will not contain the answer, but it can guide you to the more important parts of the passage. Step 3: Predict and answer What are the consistencies in the author’s style and tone throughout the passage? _______________ _______________ Which answer choice matches this prediction? ____