Tocqueville, apparently, was wrong. Jacksonian America was not a fluid

Even though this is a GRE passage, we can treat it like it's a GMAT passage. To start, let's take some notes on this passage, identifying the Topic, Scope, Author's POV, and overall Purpose.

The first sentence of any passage will almost always lay out the topic:

Tocqueville, apparently, was wrong.

So, it seems like our topic is going to be "Tocqueville," but then the 2nd sentence elaborates on what the author is really going to focus on:

Jacksonian America was not a fluid, egalitarian society where individual wealth and poverty were ephemeral conditions.

Oh, okay, so it's not just "Tocqueville," and in fact we would not want to choose that as our topic.

Pro-Tip: The topic of the passage is NOT something that is only mentioned once! Look for nouns that repeat throughout the passage!

Topic: Jacksonian America

The 3rd sentence of the passage lays out the scope. Scope = what the author chooses to focus on regarding the topic. We understand he wants to discuss "Jacksonian America," but in what context?

At least so argues E. Pessen in his iconoclastic study of the very rich in the United States between 1825 and 1850.

Scope: Pessen's argument

From just the first three sentences we understand that this passage is about a specific time in American history, and it is about one specific scholar's argument about that time period. This is not an uncommon topic/scope relationship.

It reminds me of this passage: https://gmatclub.com/forum/jon-clark-s- ... 88689.html
And this passage: https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-its-1903- ... 91506.html

Next, we want to ignore the petty details and look for keywords that reveal the author's point of view. Not Pessen's POV, but our author's!

Notice the language: "refreshingly", "overestimates"

Though the author does praise Pessen a little bit at the beginning, he ends with a big criticism.

Author's POV: mostly (-) about Pessen

Finally, consider whether this is an informational or persuasive passage. What is the author's purpose? To simply provide facts, or to express emotion? Since we can tell he isn't totally buying Pessen's argument, this is more of a persuasive passage with a negative tone.

Purpose: to persuade (-)

Putting our notes together, we have:

Topic: Jacksonian America
Scope: Pessen's argument
Author's POV: mostly (-) about Pessen
Purpose: to persuade (-)

Doing most of the hard work up front makes the questions a LOT easier. For example, the 2nd question is easy since we noticed the word "refreshingly" being associated with the statistics. Even though the author was overall negative about Pessen, when it came to the statistics, that was the one aspect that our author praised, so "laudatory" is the best word.

For the 3rd question, the Main Idea question, we can quickly eliminate (B) and (D). (B) focuses entirely on Tocqueville, which for reasons already discussed, is not the topic of the ENTIRE passage. (D) doesn't offer a point of view, or mention Pessen.

Between (A), (C), and (E), (A) and (C) are openly praising Pessen, which doesn't fit with the final sentences that made it clear our author was not on board with Pessen's conclusion. Therefore, the correct answer is (E).

Remember, that for most RC questions, you don't need to understand every sentence in the passage, but you will have to have a strong graps of what the author is focusing on and how he feels about what is being discussed.