Historians remain divided over the role of banks in facilitating eco

Hi VIBHOJAIN,

Please refer this link:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/historians-remain-divided-over-the-role-of-banks-in-facilitating-eco-222700.html#p1968553



Let me know if you still have doubts.
Thanks.

Question 1

To answer general questions like this one, it’s good to first break down the structure of the passage as a whole:

Paragraph 1:

• The author describes the lack of consensus (“Historians remain divided”) regarding a certain topic (“the role of banks in facilitating economic growth in the United States in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries”).
• The author then presents the argument of scholars who believe that “banks played a minor role in the nation’s growing economy.”

Paragraph 2:

• The author presents the argument of different scholars who contend that banks played a large role--that “banks were crucial in transforming the early national economy.”
• The key phrase here is “in contrast”--we have two opposing arguments.
• By presenting these two opposing arguments, the author supports the statement that "historians remain divided."

Now let’s now go through each choice, keeping in mind that we are looking for the primary purpose of the passage.


The southern banks are mentioned as an exception to the general opinion (held by some scholars) that banks played a large role--so it's a detail about one of the two opposing views presented in the passage. But this detail is presented within a much broader context that revolves around the division among historians.

While the passage does mention the role played by southern banks, the primary purpose of the passage is about the division between historians, not about comparing southern banks to other banks in the US.

Let's eliminate (A).


First, we know that the passage discusses two interpretations of the role played by banks, not just one. Second, the author does not evaluate (or reevaluate) either of those interpretations. Instead, the author simply provides a summary of each.

We can get rid of (B).


Here the key words are present, different, and interpretations. In he first sentence of the passage, the author claims that "historians remain divided." Elaborating on this statement, the author shows us (or presents) two fundamentally different scholarly positions (interpretations): 1) that banks played a minor role and 2) that banks played large role.

The overarching goal is to show the reader that there are different interpretations when it comes to the role played by banks.

(C) seems pretty accurate, so let's keep it for now.


The passage does mention the increasing number of banks in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (lines 19-22). And the passage does state that this increase affected the American economy. But does the passage analyze how this increase affected the American economy? Not really.

The author simply presents two opposing views. The increasing number of banks in the late 18th and early 19th centuries is relevant to one of those views, but this detail does not represent the overall purpose of the passage.

(C) was a much better choice, so let's get rid of (D).


You might be tempted by this answer because the author discusses scholarly opinions and introduces the second opinion as being supported by a “growing number of historians.” Sure, this suggests some change over time, but the author doesn't examine or focus on that change.

Instead, the author focuses on the different opinions held by historians. We can eliminate (E).

By process of elimination, (C) is our answer.

I hope that helps!

GMATNinja,

To be clear is the suggestion here that E is wrong solely because of its use of "support"? The rest of E is correct to me. In fact, it's taken verbatim:
"...expansion and democratization of credit in the early nineteenth century became the driving force of the American economy" (according to Paul Gilje)

Would you also be able to comment whether on the exam, the "Lines" (e.g. Line 5) are numbered? I see references to specific lines in the answer choices so are we supposed to figure that out on our own?

Question 5

As you suggested, the problem with (E) is that the final sentence does not SUPPORT the idea that the expansion of credit became the driving force of the American economy. Rather, it LIMITS, or qualifies, that claim by saying that the expansion of credit did not have as large of an impact in the South. For that reason, we can eliminate (E).

One thing to be careful about on question 5 is “word-matching.” Just because an answer choice contains terminology or language borrowed from the passage does not mean that the answer choice is correct. This is actually something to be mindful of on all CR/RC questions. As silly as it may sound, be sure to understand the meaning of an answer choice and not just match words with the passage.

The lines on the GMAT will not be numbered, but if you are asked a question about a particular sentence, word, or phrase found in the passage, the test will often indicate where that is found in the passage, typically by highlighting it. Pretty!

I hope that helps!

Can some explain 422 and 423. I've selected option B for both the questions.

I think if you read page1 , you would find why you falter in Q422 ( qualifies means limits and that's key to the question) . read post1, post2

423: atpost3
( the key to understand this questions is : to banks were seen as monopolistic institutions controlled by an elite group of planters.

I was pretty clear after reading these posts. Its better you mention specific doubts, if any.

It seems like a very trivial doubt that I have, but want to go ahead and post it anyways.

In the first question, It asks about the primary PURPOSE of the passage. I can't help but think that the OA would have been more fitting had the question asked for the MAIN IDEA instead of the PURPOSE. I was confused between B and C, but marked B thinking that B is talking more about the purpose rather than C. C was of course the MAIN IDEA of the passage. Anyone can clarify on this doubt please ? Thanks for the help

It took me 14 minutes to solve the passage but I got it all correct! For the first time in my GMAT journey!

Hello, dipen22. It sounds as if you read too much into the phrasing of a patent question: main idea and primary purpose are used synonymously in these "big picture" questions. (I have also seen central idea, but probably on a different test.) As you continue to practice, you will get a feel for the different question types, to the point that you will be able to engage directly with the answer choices (i.e. without pondering what the question stem is driving at). Just learn from this one and apply that knowledge to similar questions you may encounter down the line.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

C. present different interpretations of the role played by banks in the American economy during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

Congratulations, jarbit. I know the thrill of such an achievement. At first, I thought many RC questions had arbitrary answers, but once I took it upon myself to dissect the answer choices and get to the bottom of what, exactly, made each one incorrect or less debatable, I started to get more questions correct. With consistent results, you learn to trust your methods, so keep it up.

- Andrew

Primary purpose questions ask WHY the author wrote the passage. For example, did he/she contrast some opposing viewpoints? Or propose a solution to a problem? Or examine a scholarly opinion?

Main idea questions, in contrast, ask WHAT the author believes. In other words, what is the actual conclusion presented in the passage?

So to find the primary purpose of this passage, you have to ask yourself WHY the author wrote it in the first place. The easiest way to determine the primary purpose is to break the passage up into paragraphs and see why the author included each one.

Take a look at the passage breakdown and explanations of the answer choices in this post and see whether that clears up (B) and (C).

I hope that helps a bit!

QQ:

I didn't use the per question timer for this one; used a stopwatch instead.11.25 sec. include reading the passage and at the same time making notes and then answering the questions. got 4/5. Now, for a passage of this length, how much time would you recommend to be spent overall? and how to reduce that without having to trade off the accuracy. Ideally, I try to do that whole thing in/under 8 but I find it really difficult to achieve and end up getting 50% or more questions incorrect.

thanks in advance for the help. appreciate it (:

Posted from my mobile device

This is a tough question with no "one size fits all" answer. You're exactly right that if you rush through the passage and questions in order to lower your time, your accuracy is going to suffer.

So how do you maintain high accuracy while lowering your time? The answer is different for every student, but the key is to look for inefficiencies in your approach and then cut those things out. Here are some common examples of inefficient approaches:

1) Rushing through your first read-through of the passage, and then having to re-read the entire thing when you get to the questions.
2) Getting really bogged down in the details of the passage during your first read-through. You'll probably forget those details anyway, so this is a waste of time!
3) Spending way too much time on a particular question that you really don't understand.

There are many other things that could be bloating your time, but you can see even from these examples that the solution depends on the specifics of your problem. If you recognize yourself in 1), then you'll have to slow down on your initial passage read-through to gather key information. For 2), you should focus more on the high-level structure of the passage, and then come back to the details later. For 3), you should learn to guess and move on from questions that are completely stumping you. Many of our students have a combination of these and other factors, and the recipe for success looks different for each student.

For more on a recommended approach to RC, check out this article or our RC videos. Those might give you some insight into the inefficiencies in your own process.

I hope that helps!

Thanks, GmatNinja !! you're right. I'd say, I do identify as someone who gets stuck with details. Especially when the passage talks about certain theory/findings and starts giving examples, running 7-8 lines of the passage, and consequently I end up spending a lot of time on a question which does asks about those examples. OfCourse, I don't remember them, so I am rushing back to the passage skimming through the passage, trying to find that one trigger word. It's a vicious cycle. I guess, all this could be sorted out if you take that one accurate read.

EducationAisle please could you explain the Q5. (D) "qualifies a claim"