Hi, LawLover,
Good questions!
- 9. Very good. This is a global reference question. However, this is not quite a Cannot Be True question. Think about what this question would mean without the "EXCEPT." Without the "EXCEPT," this is a standard Must Be True question. When we add the "EXCEPT," we negate the Must Be True task. What is the logical opposite of something that must be true? The logical negation of "must be true" is "not necessarily true." Something that is not necessarily true is not exactly the same as something that cannot be true. When you have something that cannot be true, there is zero possibility that it could happen. The text would provide sufficient information to prove a statement in the answer choices is impossible/false. For this question, we do not need to prove the credited response is impossible. We only need to establish that there is not sufficient information in the text to answer the question.
In fact, if we had sufficient information in the text to prove an answer choice is impossible, we would therefore have an "answer to the question" in the answer choices. Thus, we would have information in the passage to answer that question. This would be an incorrect answer.
The answer we're looking for here is something the passage does not address. We're looking for something we don't know one way or the other. The credited response will either be outside the scope of the passage or will have information to suggest there are multiple different answers to the question.
For these reasons, this is a GR-MustX question and not Cannot Be True.
10. Your reasoning is sound. This question does ask about the "author's purpose" in writing the entire. However, we categorize this question as a P question because we are considering the passage in its entirety. In this case, the purpose of the passage in its entirety will correspond to the author's purpose in writing the passage, but this is not necessarily the case.
A question could be phrased, "Which of the following best expresses the primary purpose of the passage?" Notice we have omitted the author from this question. This question is also a GR, Must, P question. For the purpose of consistency, we will treat all questions that deal with this scope and purpose as P questions.
However, for the purpose of doing this question, because the question stipulates that we are dealing with the author's purpose, you are correct that the purpose in this question is identical to the author's purpose.
12. These "LR-style" RC questions can be challenging to spot. The key is to focus on the thrust of the question task. Explain it to yourself. What's happening here? We're looking for information in an answer choice that would harm an argument made in the passage. Notice this is identical to a Family #3 Hurt task LR question. We are bringing information up from the answer choices to harm an argument made in the passage.
Once you have spotted the overall task, ask yourself what serves as the conclusion for this one. It is the "author's interpretation of the study." See what evidence the author has provided for his/her interpretation, then ask what kind of information would go against the author's interpretation. You will likely find if you do these steps correctly, these RC questions will be more straightforward than a typical similar question task on LR. Part of the difficulty is just figuring out what the question is asking you to do.
With this last point in mind, yes, it is important to identify the patterns in RC questions and be able to categorize them. However, missing a category here or there or misinterpreting a question type does not mean you will bomb this part of the test. At all.
As long as you have an accurate understanding of what any particular question is asking, you have enough of a grasp of the question to find the evidence in the text, make a prephrase, and determine the credited response. Seriously, don't get discouraged about missing a couple of these here and there. Focus on your review. Why are these questions categorized as such? What do these categories mean? How can my understanding of these categories help me to answer similar questions quickly and confidently.
This confidence is key. Remember "changing your attitude about reading" is one of the first key steps to success on RC. Stay positive and keep up the good work!
