Maps made by non-Native Americans to depict Native American land tenur

Passage map
p1: discuss the formation of early maps made by non-native americans
p2: discuss what the maps lack - genuine native american information


Q3 - Inference
Info about existing maps of Native American lands is in P1.
A - we don't have information to infer this. We are only told the types of sources used, such as diaries, and that the accuracy was dependent on mapmakers' own interpretive abilities
B - Again, we can't infer this from what we have.
C - We aren't led to believe that any archaeology evidence is outdated.
D - We don't know that oral reports are more accurate than written evidence, we just know that both are used in making the maps. Incorrect
E - This is true. We can infer this as we are told "most existing maps...are reconstructions that are based largely on ..evidence x, evidence y, evidence z". There is no evidence here concerning the mapmakers first-hand observations. We just know that the accuracy of the map was based on the mapmakers interpretation of the evidence, not of their interpretation of the actual locations first-hand. Correct

A)a nineteenth-century government report on population distribution of a particular tribe
Hi! Can you explain why A is not the right answer ? I mean population distribution is never mentioned as something used though government report matches up with official report. Thanks !!

Great read. Very interesting passage as well. What level do we think this is? 600-650? Thanks!

Question #1: 600
Question #2: 700
Question #3: 650
Question #4: 650

Overall: 650

Thank you

Hi, Can you provide the OE for Q4. Thanks !

Please read the explanation in post below in the link

https://gmatclub.com/forum/maps-made-by ... l#p2351703

Good Luck

Consider the first sentence of the passage:

Maps made by non-Native Americans to depict Native American land tenure, resources and population distributions appeared almost as early as Europeans' first encounters with Native Americans and took many form: missionaries' field sketches, explorers' drawings, and surveyors' maps, as well as maps rendered in connection with treaties involving land transfers.

Remember that the question is not asking us to find evidence that is explicitly mentioned in the passage. It’s asking about examples of the type of evidence discussed in the passage.

With that in mind, here’s (A):


The first sentence of the passage (quoted above) indicates that non-Native Americans depicted Native American population distributions. The following sentence indicates that existing reconstructions are based on official reports. Presumably, a government report depicting Native American populations distributions would fit these criteria, and thus be an example of the type of evidence used in creating “most existing maps.” So, we can eliminate (A).

I hope that helps!
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Here are my answers.

1. Which of the following best describes the content of the passage?

(A) A chronology of the development of different methods for mapping Native Americans
(B) A discussion of how the mapmaking techniques of Native Americans differed from those of Europeans
(C) An argument concerning the present-day uses to which historical maps of Native American lands are put
(D) An argument concerning the nature of information contained in maps of Native American lands
Correct. Its made clear by the author that Native American input into the construction of maps of Native American lands are heavily influenced by what NON-Natives feel is appropriate. The contributions of the Native Americans themselves is seldom included.
(E) A proposal for improving the accuracy of maps of Native American lands

2. The passage mentions each of the following as a factor affecting current maps of Native American lands EXCEPT

(A) United States government policy X
(B) non-Native Americans’ perspective on Native Americans X
(C) origins of the information utilized to produce the maps X
(D) changes in ways that tribal lands are used Correct
(E) the reason for producing the maps X

3. The passage suggests which of the following about most existing maps of Native American lands?

(A) They do not record the migrations of Native American tribes.
(B) They have been preserved primarily because of their connection with treaties involving land transfers.
(C) They tend to reflect archaeological evidence that has become outdated.
(D)They tend to be less accurate when they are based on oral reports than when they are based on written documents. (no comparison is made b/w oral reports and documents)
(E) They are not based primarily on the mapmakers’ first-hand observations of Native American lands. Correct (reconstructions)

4. All of the following are examples of the type of evidence used in creating “Most existing maps” (line 7-8) EXCEPT

(A) a nineteenth-century government report on population distribution of a particular tribe X
(B) taped conversations with people who lived on Native America tribal lands in the early twentieth century X
(C) aerial photographs of geological features of lands inhabited by Native Americans Correct
(D) findings from a recently excavated site once inhabited by a certain Native American people X
(E) a journal kept by a non-Native American explorer who traveled in Native American territory in the early nineteenth century X
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The options talk about 19th Century.. but no such timeline is given in the passage. Hence, I was not sure about the question itself.

Hello egmat, GMATNinja,

Could you please help me with the detail to justify option D.


4. All of the following are examples of the type of evidence used in creating “Most existing maps” (line 7-8) EXCEPT

(A) a nineteenth-century government report on population distribution of a particular tribe
(B) taped conversations with people who lived on Native America tribal lands in the early twentieth century
(C) aerial photographs of geological features of lands inhabited by Native Americans
(D) findings from a recently excavated site once inhabited by a certain Native American people
(E) a journal kept by a non-Native American explorer who traveled in Native American territory in the early nineteenth century

Also on a general note, I am getting most of RC questions right. However for a typical 400 word passage with 4 questions takes around
10 minutes. Any particular strategies of bringing it down to around 7 - 8 minutes?

I would really really appreciate your help!
Regards,

Question 4

The author lists a bunch of factors that contributed to "most existing maps" at the end of the first paragraph. One of those factors is "archeology," which involves excavating sites to learn about the people who lived there. (D) provides a good example of how archeology might have been used to create existing maps.

Eliminate (D) for question 4.

As for bringing down your time: it really depends on what is causing your time to be inflated. Here are some examples of things that might cause timing issues, and what to do about them:

• Are you a fundamentally slow reader? This is tough to fix in a short amount of time. You best bet is to add tough reading into your daily routine -- check out this article and this article for some book recommendations.
• Are you getting bogged down in details as you read through the passage? The principles in this article might help you to extract the most important stuff without wasting time on details too early.
• Conversely, are you rushing through the passage, and then having to go back to re-read large portions of it? It may seem counterintuitive, but sometimes the best way to become more efficient at RC is to slow down during your first read through so that you don't have to re-read as much.

These are just a few examples -- there are many other things that might be causing your timing issues. The first step is to put some thought into the underlying cause, and then you can implement a solution from there.

I hope that helps!
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Explanation required why
(E) They are not based primarily on the mapmakers??? first-hand observations of Native American lands.
is the answer for question 3.

The first paragraph states that "most existing maps" are:
...reconstructions that are based largely on archaeology, oral reports, and evidence gathered from observers' accounts in letter, diaries, and official reports;

These are all secondhand sources. The map makers are relying on indirect information in order to put together their maps.



That the map makers are not using their own firsthand observations is confirmed by the following statement:
[i]accordingly, the accuracy of these maps is especially dependent on the mapmakers' own interpretive abilities.[i]

This means that the map makers have to interpret the output of other people in order to produce accurate maps. If they were using their own firsthand observations, then no "interpretive ability" would be necessary.

RonTargetTestPrep

Can you throw some light on option B for Q-4?
How do we know that taped conversations were used in making the maps.
Can you please elaborate on this part?

GMATNinja / karishma - can you please explain Question 1, it is suppose to be easy but I was torn between option C and D.

Is this a Main Point question or Purpose question? I usually go by Maximum real estate for Main Point question and for "Purpose" question, the answer usually lies around the first pivot of the passage (e.g. However, But etc.) again, Purpose depends why the passage wrote the passage.

I was also confused with the first word of the answer choice - "argument". Where in the passage does the author "Argues"? How to justify this word?

Thanks.

For question No 3 - The question is talking about MOST. And most weren't first-hand observations (para 1). Many (at least 2) were (para 2), but as the question asks about the most - the correct answer will be weren't first-hand observations.