Q1

[zainrizvi]

I was tempted between (B) and (D). (D) seems a bit better because it conveys the authors opinion somewhat with the word "effectively". Ended up choosing (B) anyways... but I'm wondering what would be a better way to approach this q.

[ohthatpatrick]

So you did well to filter out the garbage on the first pass.

(A) we can't justify who formerly wrote mostly poetry and fiction anywhere.

(C) we're only discussing nontraditional autobiographers.

(E) literary critics were not an important feature of this passage, and this answer choice tries to extrapolate a really broad idea about gender/ethnicity and writing styles.

Down to (B) and (D), we want to focus on their differences and ask ourselves:
1. Which better conveys any important sentences the author may have said?
2. Which one better wraps its arms around all the paragraphs in the passage?

One difference I see is that (B) says "Latina autobiographers writing in the late 1980s" whereas (D) says "Latina writers" (who recently experimented in autobiography).

I think (B) wins on that split, since line 4 identifies our three notable autobiographical collections coming at the end of the 1980s, so (B) seems more dialed in to the specific topic.

Although "Latina writers who recently experimented with autobiography" COULD include these writers, it's much more broad than what the passage is specifically focused on. How far back does "recently" go? To the late 80's? Maybe, maybe not.

The other subtle difference is that (B) labels these writers as autobiographers, while (D) implies they are writers who experimented in autobiography. Since we don't know any writing from these three authors other than the autobiographies mentioned, (B) offers a safer way of referring to them.

Another split:
"set aside some standard conventions of autobiography"
vs.
"experimentation in autobiography"

I'd consider this pretty much an even split. Paragraphs 2 and 3 discuss the ways in which these autobiographies differ from the norm. It is probably, again, safer to say that they set aside some standard conventions than to say that they were purposefully experimenting, but that word does get used in line 45, so it's not out of scope.

The last split:
"to make the genre more suitable for the expression of their personal histories"
vs.
"nonfictional narrative can be effectively combined with other genres in a single literary work"

With (B), that comes from lines 50-55. To return to my earlier question, "is this an important sentence? is this a moment in the passage when the author is making a big idea?" Yes! The final paragraph of this passage definitely has the feel of the author's summary / final takeaways.

With (D), can we find a good paraphrase for that? I can't. Furthermore, is "nonfictional narrative" the same as "autobiography"? Definitely not. Someone might write a biography or just a historical novel that would qualify as "nonfictional narrative". But the topic of this passage was purely these three autobiographies. So this term is too broad for the subject matter discussed.

In terms of "wrapping its arms around the whole passage", (B) gives us a little P1 with "Latina autobiographers in the late 80s", a little P2 and P3 with "set aside some standard conventions", and little P4 with "to make it more suitable for the expression of their personal stories". Ahhhh, sweet synthesis.

In summary, when you're reading the passage, try to find the important moments ... i.e. 1-3 sentences that seem to best encapsulate the author's big ideas. That way if you're comparing a couple answer choices on Main Point or Primary Purpose, you know where to look in the passage for reinforcement.

Also, keep comparing the differences in the two answer choices and ask yourself which choice does a better job of honing in on the specific topic and purpose of the passage.

Hope this helps.

[tian.application]

i chose B over D because (B) looks like a theme to me, where (D) seems like a "what is it" type of answer.

it is like "the point that author mentioned XXX is ?"

what we are choosing is "why it is mentioned"
NOT "what did he mentioned"

[ttunden]

I eliminated D and E because it kept talking about recent writings but we don't know if they are recent, that's why I felt safer deferring to B.

I didn't like the 2nd of E, that isn't the main point here. D- don't like the recent stuff, we don't know if its recent nor what it means by recent.2nd half looks ok but my problem is with the 1st half.

[ohthatpatrick]

Yup, I agree.

As it said in my earlier post, "recent autobiography" might be able to include the late 80's (we don't really know when this passage was written), but it's broader and would also DEFINITELY encompass more modern stuff, which this passage didn't discuss.

[drewnakayama]

I chose B over D because D discusses the combination of different genres, but it looks like they were experimenting more with structures.