Correspondences were a method of thought and expression used originall

Hi Andrew and everyone else in forum.
Regarding the question :
Hello, sjuniv32. Let me begin by asking, where did you first encounter this question? (Was it on this site, or somewhere else?)
I am not sure if it is answered. But this passage is from GMAT Prep Question Pack -2.
I have also found this very difficult.

Any insights by expert is GMAT passages are becoming more difficult.

Hello, Anki2609. I am not sure if that last line was meant to be a question, but if so, I do not think RC passages are getting any tougher. When I see some older passages from the paper tests that were five or six paragraphs long and had eight or nine questions attached, I consider myself lucky that passages these days tend to be shorter and include half as many questions. Some passages will prove more challenging than others to any given individual. Someone else might find this passage easy but then stumble on a science passage that you find less challenging. That is just the nature of reading.

Thank you for clarifying the source. (I see that someone fixed the tags to indicate a single source.)

- Andrew

The questions featured in Question Pack 2 aren't new at all -- they're retired questions, some of which appeared in pre-2002 editions of the official guide or in the old paper tests from the 1990s. So if you find the QP2 questions to be unusually funky, you probably don't need to lose any sleep over them.

More broadly: the GMAT is a standardized exam, and the whole point is that it's possible to compare scores for people who take the exam years apart. In other words, a 700 in 2017 means the same thing as a 700 in 2022. Rumors periodically circulate that the test is "getting harder", but that simply isn't ever the case -- the exam is the same as it's been for a very, very long time. Obviously, some passages and questions are harder than others, but those differences in difficulty are baked into the scoring algorithm, anyway.

I hope that helps a bit!

This passage is actually a part of the "GMAT official practice question set 2". You will find it under the reading comprehension practice questions if you choose level of difficulty as "Hard".

I see a lot of people asking for the source - figured I'd help.

Question 4

The author implies medieval correspondences were more than mere figures of speech because they

A) were laden with historical associations
B) were used in a wide variety of contexts
C) enabled medieval people to grasp new ideas
D) enabled medieval thinkers to base their faith in an ordered universe on an endless accumulation of minutiae
E) expressed what were thought to be figurative relationships between abstract qualities

The correct answer is (D), "enabled medieval thinkers to base their faith in an ordered universe on an endless accumulation of minutiae."

Here's why the other options are incorrect:

A) Historical associations might have been a part of medieval correspondences, but the primary reason for their significance was their role in explaining and understanding the order of the universe, not their historical associations.

B) While medieval correspondences were indeed used in various contexts, their significance lay in their ability to convey deeper insights about the universe, not just in their versatility.

C) Medieval correspondences were more about reinforcing existing beliefs and understanding the world's order rather than grasping entirely new ideas.

E) The relationships expressed through medieval correspondences were not merely figurative but were believed to represent real and objective connections between elements in the world. They were not seen as abstract or symbolic in the same way modern metaphors often are.

Option (D) is the best choice because it correctly captures the idea that medieval correspondences served a significant purpose in helping thinkers maintain faith in the ordered nature of the universe by meticulously examining and accumulating details that supported their beliefs.

Question 3

In comparison to modern metaphors, the author finds Elizabethan correspondences to be

A) less realistic because they were based on abstract reasoning
B) more elaborate because they were used only on formal occasions
C) less figurative because they were felt to explain an objective relationship
D) more closely attuned to the period in which they originated
E) more precise because they were based on mathematical models

The answer is (C) "less figurative because they were felt to explain an objective relationship."

The passage describes Elizabethan correspondences as less figurative because they were believed to represent real and objective relationships between different elements in the world. The Elizabethans thought that these correspondences revealed deeper truths about the world's order. This is contrasted with modern metaphors, which are often more symbolic and not taken as literal representations of objective relationships.

Now, let's look at why the other options are incorrect:

A) The passage doesn't suggest that Elizabethan correspondences were less realistic because they were based on abstract reasoning. It doesn't make a direct comparison between modern metaphors and Elizabethan correspondences in terms of realism.

B) The passage doesn't mention the frequency of use (only on formal occasions) as a factor in comparing Elizabethan correspondences to modern metaphors.

D) The passage doesn't provide information about whether Elizabethan correspondences were more closely attuned to their period of origin compared to modern metaphors.

E) The passage doesn't indicate that Elizabethan correspondences were more precise due to mathematical models. In fact, it suggests that the mathematical detail of correspondences became less apt during the Elizabethan era.

Question 2

With which of the following statements concerning the Elizabethan Age would the author be most likely to agree?

A) Elizabethan knowledge about the world had outstripped the capacity of prevailing modes of thought to explain it.
B) Elizabethan knowledge had not developed to the point where it would require a scientific revolution to explain new facts.
C) The Elizabethan Age was more interested in creating a scientific image of the world than in depicting the world poetically.
D) The Elizabethan Age allowed knowledge about the world to develop gradually and was not surprised by new or strange information.
E) Elizabethans continued to think of the world in medieval ways despite the accumulation of new and strange information.

The author would most likely agree with option A: "Elizabethan knowledge about the world had outstripped the capacity of prevailing modes of thought to explain it."

This aligns with the main idea of the passage, which suggests that during the Elizabethan Age, there was a shift in the way people thought about the world, and the prevailing modes of thought, such as correspondences, were no longer sufficient to explain the accumulating knowledge about the world. The passage discusses how the Elizabethans were caught between the old medieval ways of thinking and the need to make sense of new and strange information. Therefore, option A reflects this idea of knowledge outstripping the capacity of existing thought patterns.

The other options are less aligned with the passage:

B) This option suggests that Elizabethan knowledge had not developed to the point of requiring a scientific revolution, which is not the main focus of the passage.

C) The passage doesn't emphasize the creation of a scientific image but rather the shift in thinking.

D) While the passage discusses the Elizabethans grappling with new information, it doesn't specifically suggest that they were not surprised by it.

E) The passage suggests that the Elizabethans were caught between old and new ways of thinking, not that they continued to think in purely medieval ways.

is the vocabulary seen in the passage common in gmat questions - all official questions i have come across have a more simpler approach on the vocabulary and a more complex one on comprehension.

source?

­This is apparently a passage from the mba.com online question packs (thanks to HSWorNothing for remembering where this one can be found!). So it's a legit, official passage that presumably appeared on actual GMAT exams.

Generally speaking, the GMAT does tend to avoid overly complex vocabulary. That said, you'll inevitably struggle on occasion. When that happens, do you best to figure out the meaning given the context and then move on! Even if you aren't sure about that one little detail, you should, hopefully, still be able to figure out the overall structure and purpose of the passage.

I hope that helps a bit!