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Flashcards: Analyzing Argumentative Claims, Bias, and Support in Social Science / History Passages
Adapted from "Margaret Fuller and Mary Wollstonecraft" by George Eliot (1855)
There is a notion commonly entertained among men that an instructed woman, capable of having opinions, is likely to prove an unpractical yoke-fellow, always pulling one way when her husband wants to go the other, oracular in tone, and prone to give lectures. But surely, so far as obstinacy is concerned, your unreasoning animal is the most difficult of your creatures. For our own parts, we see no reason why women should be better kept under control rather than educated to be mans rational equal.
If you ask me what offices women may fill, I reply—any. I do not care what case you put; let them be sea-captains, if you will. I do not doubt there are women well fitted for such an office, and, if so, I should be glad to welcome the Maid of Saragossa. I think women need, especially at this juncture, a much greater range of occupation than they have, to rouse their latent powers. In families that I know, some little girls like to saw wood, and others to use carpenters' tools. Where these tastes are indulged, cheerfulness and good-humor are promoted. Where they are forbidden, because "such things are not proper for girls," they grow sullen and mischievous.
Men pay a heavy price for their reluctance to encourage self-help and independent resources in women. The precious meridian years of many a man of genius have to be spent in the toil of routine, that an "establishment" may be kept up for a woman who can understand none of his secret yearnings, who is fit for nothing but to sit in her drawing-room like a doll-Madonna in her shrine. No matter. Anything is more endurable than to change our established formulae about women, or to run the risk of looking up to our wives instead of looking down on them. So men say of women, let them be idols, useless absorbents of previous things, provided we are not obliged to admit them to be strictly fellow-beings, to be treated, one and all, with justice and sober reverence.
Which of these arguments is reinforced by the author’s use of the stylistic device comparing women to a “doll-Madonna”?
Women’s natural talents are neglected when men make them into images and idols.
Female identity is strengthened and reinforced by gendered stereotypes.
Female stubbornness prevents a gendered revolution of our patriarchal society.
Men and women are brought closer together by the enforcement of gendered identity.
Men have imagined women as powerful goddesses.
All SAT Critical Reading Resources
The 2016 revised SAT deviates from the old version of the test in some major ways. If you are a high school student planning your schedule for the coming years, there are things you have to start thinking about now to be ready for the new test. The SAT is among the most well-known hurdles you may have to face on your way to the college and career of your dreams. Whether you need top SAT tutors in New York, SAT tutors in Chicago, or SAT tutors in Los Angeles, working with a pro may take your studies to the next level.
Almost all standardized tests seek to gauge your ability to think critically, and the SAT is no different. To accomplish this goal, the 2016 version of the SAT is broken down into two major sections: the Evidence-Based Reading & Writing section and the Math section. There is also an optional essay section, scored separately.
The Evidence-Based Reading & Writing section is really two tests. The reading portion of this test is probably more like the SAT that you have grown up hearing about. You are going to have to use your powers of deduction, inference, and reasoning to face questions based on provided material.
Specifically, you will be given four individual passages, and then one paired passage to interpret. But remember, the SAT is testing your critical reasoning skills. It wants to make sure that you have the skills to excel in college where rote memorization is not enough. As a result, you aren’t going to be asked simple questions about the passages. Instead, you can expect questions demanding that you interpret complex material. Specifically, you can expect questions asking you to identify the conceptual ideas in an indicated portion of the passage and questions asking you to making sense of the vocabulary and rhetorical strategies used.
You may see a question that gives you data in a graph, or a part of a historical document. Can you draw inferences from graphical depictions of scientific experiments? Can you ascertain the definition of a word based on its context? Maybe you are not entirely sure what the word “ascertain” means; are you able to figure it out from the context of the previous sentence?
If you question your ability to succeed on a test that features these kinds of questions, you are not alone. Doing well on such tests can be especially difficult under time pressure, and your exam includes fifty-two questions to be answered in sixty-five minutes. You not only have to develop great reading skills, but great test-taking skills as well. Varsity Tutors also offers resources like a free SAT prep book to help with your self-paced study, or you may want to consider an SAT Critical Reading tutor.
You can develop these skills best by practice! Doing practice questions, and working with tutors or teachers can help you highlight where you need to focus your efforts while studying. You can also use Varsity Tutors’ free SAT Critical Reading resources in working to bolster your reading comprehension and analysis skills. Our free SAT Critical Reading flashcards in particular can suit your study habits if you find you have a busy schedule but still want to incorporate SAT prep into your spare moments. Each of our SAT Critical Reading flashcards contains a question and the passage to which it relates; selecting an answer choice reveals the correct response as well as a full explanation of how to arrive at it. Registering for a free Learning Tools account can help you track your progress as you review. As you get more comfortable with the types of questions you will see, answering almost a question a minute on test day will seem much less frightening. In addition to the SAT Critical Reading Flashcards and SAT Critical Reading tutoring, you may also want to consider taking some of our SAT Critical Reading practice tests.
It is important to recognize that the skill sets tested on the SAT are critical to your long-term success. Developing your reading comprehension and test-taking skills now can help make your SAT Evidence-Based Reading exam easier to face, but it can also position you for academic success in the years to come.
