Recent feminist scholarship concerning the United States in the 1920’s

Official Explanation

RC04200.01-40

4. It can be inferred from the passage that recent scholars cite the words of Jane Addams primarily in order to

(A) suggest that women’s achievement of suffrage brought about changes in government that were not taken into account by early interpretations
(B) point out contradictions inherent in the goals of the women’s suffrage movement
(C) show why a women’s voting bloc was not formed when women won the right to vote
(D) emphasize the place of social reform movements in the struggle for suffrage for women
(E) suggest that the old view of women’s suffrage was inappropriate

Inference

The scholars cite the words of Jane Addams to suggest that it is no more appropriate to ask whether women's suffrage was a failure than to ask whether suffrage in general is a failure. The clear implication is that it is inappropriate to ask either question, presumably because suffrage has value in and of itself.

A. The scholars do not dispute the claim that women's suffrage failed to bring about significant changes in government. The point of Addams's statement is that it is inappropriate to call women's suffrage into question simply because it does not bring about all desired changes.

B. The scholars suggest no inherent contradictions in the goals of the women's suffrage movement. Even if such a claim had been made, there is little relation between that claim and Jane Addams's statement.

C. The scholars accept the earlier interpretation's assertion that a women's voting bloc was not formed; however, the scholars offer no explanation as to why such a bloc was not formed.

D. While it may be true that social reform movements played a significant role in the struggle for suffrage for women, this particular quotation does not convey that idea.

E. Correct. The old view suggested that in many ways the women's suffrage movement was a failure because it had failed to attain certain goals that had been associated with women's suffrage. The scholars quote Addams to suggest that this view is inappropriate: women's suffrage should no more be considered a failure for failing to reach all of its goals than suffrage in general should be considered a failure for failing to reach all of its goals.

The correct answer is E.

Official Explanation

RC04200.01-60

6. The “new scholarship” mentioned in the first paragraph suggests which of the following concerning the “promises” mentioned in lines 4–5?

(A) Failure to keep these promises is not a measure of the success of the suffrage movement.
(B) Failure to keep these promises caused the feminist movement to lose cohesiveness during the 1920s.
(C) Failure to keep these promises led recent feminist scholars to reevaluate the success of the suffrage movement.
(D) These promises included securing for women the right to hold office and the right to serve on juries.
(E) These promises were of little importance in winning suffrage for women.

Inference

The passage indicates that new scholarship disputed a long-held view that because certain promises of the women's suffrage movement—e.g., that a women's voting bloc would form; that the women's vote would bring about moral, corruption-free governance—went unkept, the movement was a failure. This scholarship rejected the view that unkept “promises” suggested a failure of the movement.

A. Correct. As indicated above, the new scholarship rejected the notion that the failure to keep these promises was a reasonable measure of the success or failure of the suffrage movement.

B. The second paragraph of the passage explains the new scholarship's view that the feminist movement lost its cohesiveness in the 1920s. However, there is no suggestion that a failure to keep the promises of the suffrage movement was actually a cause of this.

C. The new scholarship reevaluated the success of the suffrage movement. However, this scholarship did not suggest that it did so because the suffrage movement failed to keep its promises.

D. There is nothing in the passage to indicate that the new scholarship suggests that these promises include securing the right to hold office and the right to serve on juries for women.

E. There is nothing in the passage to suggest either that the promises were of little importance in winning suffrage for women or even that this new scholarship believed that they were.

The correct answer is A.

Official Explanation

RC04200.01-50

5. It can be inferred that the analyses of the author of the passage and the scholars mentioned in lines 20–23 differ with regard to which of the following?

(A) The criteria they use to evaluate the success of the feminist movement during the 1920s
(B) Their interpretations of the “promises” of the suffragist movement
(C) The suggestions they make for achieving feminist goals
(D) Their definitions of what constitutes a legislative victory
(E) Their estimations of the obstacles preventing women’s having achieved a voting bloc in the 1920s

Inference

The author of the passage mentions ways in which the new scholarship mentioned in the first paragraph sees the 1920s as a period of decline for the feminist movement. For example, these scholars suggest that after the mid-1920s, few successes could be claimed by feminist reformers: little could be seen in the way of legislative victories.

The author points out actual gains for women, for example, the establishment by women's organizations of broader opportunities for women, striving to secure for women the full entitlements of citizenship, including the right to hold office and the right to serve on juries. The author thereby appears to counter these scholars' suggestion that the 1920s was a period of decline by suggesting other criteria that can be used to evaluate the attainments of the 1920s feminist movement.

A. Correct. As discussed above, the author applies different criteria from those attributed to the scholars mentioned in the second paragraph in evaluating the success of the feminist movement during the 1920s.

B. The author presents these scholars' discussion of these “promises” in the first paragraph; the author does not appear to disagree with the scholars' assessment.

C. The passage does not discuss any suggestions that these scholars have made about how to achieve feminist goals.

D. The passage mentions legislative victories but offers no definition of the term.

E. Nowhere does the passage discuss obstacles preventing the formation of a voting bloc in the 1920s.

The correct answer is A.

Official Explanation

RC04200.01-10

1. The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) providing evidence indicating that feminist reformers of the 1920's failed to reach some of their goals
(B) presenting scholarship that contrasts suffragist "promises" with the historical realities of the 1920's
(C) discussing recent scholarship concerning the achievements of women's suffrage during the 1920's and presenting an alternative view of those achievements
(D) outlining recent findings concerning events leading to suffrage for women in the 1920's and presenting a challenge to those findings
(E) providing support for a traditional view of the success of feminist attempts to increase gender consciousness among women during the 1920's

Main idea

To understand the primary concern of the passage requires a clear understanding of the passage as a whole. This passage discusses recent scholarship concerning the 1920s that challenges an earlier interpretation in which the women's suffrage movement during the 1920s was considered a failure because it had not achieved long-term political goals. The scholars responsible for this earlier interpretation present the 1920s as a period of decline, and the passage presented here challenges this assessment.

A. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing how recent scholarship challenged an earlier assessment of the women's suffrage movement. The passage provides no specific evidence indicating that feminist reformers of the 1920s failed to reach their goals.

B. Although the passage refers to the unkept “promises” of the women's suffrage movement, the passage does not present scholarship that contrasts such a “promise” with the historical realities of the 1920s.

C. Correct. The passage discusses recent scholarship concerning the achievements of women's suffrage. In the final paragraph, the passage presents an alternative view of those achievements.

D. The passage does not outline findings regarding what led to suffrage for women. The passage's focus is on scholarship regarding what followed women gaining suffrage.

E. The passage does not provide support for a traditional view of 1920s feminists' success at increasing gender consciousness among women. In fact, the passage conflicts with the traditional view by suggesting that, during the 1920s, there existed intense activism aimed at increasing autonomy for women.

The correct answer is C.

Dear Kezia9,

I'm happy to respond.

My friend, as obvious as this might sound, the very best way to improve on GMAT Reading Comprehension is to read. This is especially true for non-native speakers. Yes, there are a few strategies that may help a little, but the big difference-maker is whether you are willing to put in all the time and effort to develop a rigorous daily habit of reading. If English is not your first language, then I would suggest an hour a day--that's a hour over and above any time you are devoting to GMAT preparations. First and foremost, read business news. Become conversant in all the major issues facing the business world today: in addition to reading practice, this will give you a fabulous background for business school. Also, read academic material, in fields that are not familiar to you: force yourself to read material that uses jargon that you've never heard before. For more recommendations, see this blog post:
How to Improve Your GMAT Verbal Score

You can make substantial improvements if you are really serious about bringing the best of yourself to the GMAT.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

Official Explanation

RC04200.01-20

2. It can be inferred that the author of the passage disagrees with the "new scholarship" mentioned in lines 6-7 regarding the

(A) degree to which the "promises" of the suffrage movement remained unkept
(B) degree to which suffrage for women improved the morality of governance
(C) degree to which the 1920's represented a period of decline for the feminist movement
(D) degree of legislative success achieved by feminist reformers during the 1920's
(E) accuracy of the view that a women's voting bloc did not materialize once suffrage was achieved

Inference

In the final paragraph of the passage, the author offers several points to counter the claim made by the new scholarship that the 1920s were still, in some ways, a period of decline.

A. Both the author and this new scholarship question the claims of the earlier interpretation that the “promises” of the women's suffrage movement were unkept.

B. There is no indication of agreement or disagreement between the author of the passage and this new scholarship about how much women improved the morality of governance in the 1920s.

C. Correct. In the final paragraph, the author gives a counterpoint to the claim of the new scholarship that the 1920s, in some ways, represented a period of decline for the feminist movement.

D. Nothing in the passage supports the claim that the author disagrees with the new scholarship regarding the degree of legislative success achieved by feminist reformers. Note that none of the achievements discussed in the final paragraph are indicated to be legislative successes.

E. While the author of the passage mentions the new scholarship's claim that a women's voting bloc failed to materialize once suffrage was achieved, the author does not explicitly disagree with this statement.

The correct answer is C.

Official Explanation

RC04200.01-30

3. The purpose of the second paragraph of the passage is to

(A) suggest a reason why suffragist "promises" were not kept
(B) contrast suffragist "promises" with the reality of the 1920's
(C) deplore the lack of successful feminist reform in 1920's
(D) explain a view held by feminist scholars
(E) answer the question asked by Jane Addams

Evaluation

The second paragraph of the passage describes certain views presented in the recent feminist scholarship discussed in the first paragraph. In the first paragraph, this new scholarship is described as challenging earlier interpretations that suggested that “promises” of the women's suffrage movement had not been kept.

Though this new scholarship argues that it is a mistake to view women's suffrage as a failure, the scholarship nonetheless does, in some ways, present the 1920s as a period of decline. The second paragraph of the passage explains precisely how the scholars present such a view.

A. Both the author and the new scholarship discussed in the passage reject the interpretation that suffragist “promises” remained unkept.

B. The second paragraph does not present a contrast between the reality of the 1920s and the suffragist “promises.” This paragraph does present ways in which the new scholarship saw the 1920s as a period of decline. However, both the author and this new scholarship argue that it is improper to interpret the results of women's suffrage in the 1920s as unkept “promises.”

C. As noted in the third paragraph, the author sees successful feminist reform in the 1920s. It is therefore incorrect to suggest that the author intends the second paragraph to deplore a lack of successful feminist reform during this period.

D. Correct. As discussed above, the second paragraph explains how this new scholarship presents the 1920s as a period of decline.

E. Jane Addams's question was rhetorical; there is no answer to this question in the passage.

The correct answer is D.

Hello, everyone. I happened across this passage in my studies today, and, after working through the question set, I can appreciate why, according to the timer statistics for each question, fewer than three out of every hundred people should be able to pass through the gauntlet unscathed. Because I do not see a full treatment of each question provided by an Expert, I will share my thoughts for the curious reader. Just check out the spoiler to a given question for my analysis.

QUESTION ONE



QUESTION TWO



QUESTION THREE



QUESTION FOUR



QUESTION FIVE



QUESTION SIX



This was quite an undertaking, possibly my second lengthiest post ever (behind my eight-question full analysis of another difficult RC passage). But if it helps a few readers go from decent to spectacular at tackling RC questions, or if a few more people can get through all six questions without a blemish, so much the better.

Good luck with your studies, everyone.

- Andrew

9 mins. All correct.

P1: RF scholarship challenge earlier interpretations. (but no where in the passage they compared the differences. They just challenged the views.)
P2: Though RF scholars disagree with assessment of earlier scholars, they agree that 20's was a period of decline for feminist movement. [view held by RFS]
P3: Author mentions that things were not that bad and that there was intense activism during the period.

Q1:
B. presenting scholarship that contrasts suffragist "promises" with the historical realities of the 1920's
C. discussing recent scholarship concerning the achievements of women's suffrage during the 1920's and presenting an alternative view of those achievements.
Why C over B:
contrasts suffragist "promises" with the historical realities of the 1920's.

Q3:
D. explain a view held by feminist scholars

Question 2

Let's take a look at what we can take from the passage that would be helpful in answering this question.

This question can be solved by looking at the contrasting views of this "new scholarship" presented in the second and third paragraphs. In the second paragraph, we're given the view of the scholars involved in the "new scholarship". We're told that:

• "these scholars still present the 1920’s as a period of decline" for the feminist movement
• the movement "lost its cohesiveness, and gender consciousness waned"
• by the middle of the 1920s, the movement could claim few successes and little legislative progress had been made

It is not until the final paragraph that we are given the author's view on this scholarship. This paragraph says there was "intense activism aimed at achieving increased autonomy for women" in the 1920s, and we're given several examples of the wider aims and specific goals of this activism.

Using this information, we're asked to infer which of the answer choices illustrates the author's disagreement with this "new scholarship".

Let's take a look at each answer choice in turn and see which we can eliminate based on the information above. Looking at (A) first:

The author's disagreement with the scholarship, as described in the third paragraph, doesn't mention the "promises" of the movement. The author appears to dispute the degree of effort being made by those in the feminist movement, not the output of their work.

Therefore, the author is not disputing whether the "promises" of the movement remained unkept and we can rule out (A).

Now, let's look at (B):

As mentioned in the explanation for (A), the author appears to dispute the effort being made by the feminists of the 1920s. They do not dispute the outcomes achieved by the feminist movement in this decade.

The author is not disputing the effects that suffrage for women had on the morality of governance. (B) is not the answer to this question.

(C) tells us:

While the second paragraph tells us the scholars presenting the new scholarship "still present the 1920’s as a period of decline" for the feminist movement, the author appears to dispute this in the third paragraph.

In this paragraph, the author tells us that "there was intense activism" among the women in the movement. They go on to provide examples of the aims of this activism, and some of the specific goals pursued by women in this decade.

The striving for equal opportunities presented by the author in the third paragraph suggests they see the women in the movement as continuing to work hard. This gives the impression that the author does not believe the movement was in decline or that gender consciousness had waned.

(C) looks good for now, let's hold onto it while we look at (D) and (E).

(D) says:

The author does not mention any legislation passed, or attempted to be passed, by feminist reformers during the 1920s in the third paragraph. Therefore, we don't know the author's views on the degree of legislative success achieved by the reformers in this decade.

Since we don't know the author's views, we cannot say this is the reason why the author disagrees with the new scholarship. Let's eliminate (D).

Finally, (E) tells us:

Similarly to some of the other answers, there is no mention of the presence or lack of a women's voting bloc in the third paragraph where the author gives his views. Since there is no mention of a women's voting bloc in this paragraph, we cannot know the author's views on the accuracy of the view mentioned in (E).

If we don't know the author's views, we cannot say this is the reason why they disagree with the new scholarship. Let's cross out (E).

This leaves us with (C) as the only answer that hasn't been eliminated -- therefore, (C) is our answer.

I hope that helps!

Let’s understand the passage first. Mind you, when I say “understand”, I mean let’s skim through the passage to look for the topic sentence, transitional words and other cues about the flow of the information. We can always scan the passage later for details depending on what the questions ask of us.



1. The passage is primarily concerned with

A primary purpose question asks you to infer why the author has written the essay. Our “map” has told us that the purpose of the passage is to talk about the views of the recent feminist scholars about the women’s suffrage movement. They have challenged a few views and have introduced their own view. The answer should reflect this. Let’s check…

A. providing evidence indicating that feminist reformers of the 1920's failed to reach some of their goals The passage states that some of the goals were not reached. But the author hasn’t written this passage to provide any evidence. Eliminate!

B. presenting scholarship that contrasts suffragist "promises" with the historical realities of the 1920's The recent scholars have challenged the earlier interpretations. One can even say that they have mentioned historical realities of the 1920’s. But the passage has not presented any scholarship. Eliminate!

C. discussing recent scholarship concerning the achievements of women's suffrage during the 1920's and presenting an alternative view of those achievements This is exactly what our map indicates. Select!

D. outlining recent findings concerning events leading to suffrage for women in the 1920's and presenting a challenge to those findings No recent findings have been referred to in the passage. Neither has the author challenged any findings. The passage is talking about the views of recent feminist scholars. Eliminate!

E. providing support for a traditional view of the success of feminist attempts to increase gender consciousness among women during the 1920's The traditional view does not say that feminist attempts to increase gender consciousness among women during the 1920's was a success. This option doesn’t even make sense! Eliminate!


2. It can be inferred that the author of the passage disagrees with the "new scholarship" mentioned in lines 6-7 regarding the

To answer this question let’s simplify the info needed. Keep in mind that just because the question specifies lines 6-7, does not mean that the views of the new scholarship is only mentioned there. The “new scholarship” in line 6-7disputes long-held views and even feel that the 1920’s presented a period of decline. However, in the third paragraph, the author with the use of “however” implies that he disagrees with the new scholarship’s view and that he feels that this decade saw intense activism aimed at achieving increased autonomy. In other words, the author feels that the 1920’s was not as much a period of decline as the new scholarship has pointed out. The answer choice should reflect this.

A. degree to which the "promises" of the suffrage movement remained unkept The author has not expressed any disagreement with reference to this point. Eliminate!

B. degree to which suffrage for women improved the morality of governance The author has not expressed any disagreement with reference to this point. Eliminate!

C. degree to which the 1920's represented a period of decline for the feminist movement Bingo! The author feels that the 1920’s was not as much a period of decline as the new scholarship has pointed out.

D. degree of legislative success achieved by feminist reformers during the 1920's The author has not expressed any disagreement with reference to this point. Eliminate!

E. accuracy of the view that a women's voting bloc did not materialize once suffrage was achieved The author has not expressed any disagreement with reference to this point. Eliminate!


3. The purpose of the second paragraph of the passage is to

To identify the purpose of the second paragraph, we need to trace the flow of the information. The first paragraph is presenting the view of the new scholars and so is the second paragraph. The answer should reflect this.

A. suggest a reason why suffragist "promises" were not kept Trick option alert! The fact that the 1920’s were a period of decline might have been the reason why the promises were not kept. But his is not what the question is asking. The question is asking why the author wrote this paragraph. Eliminate!

B. contrast suffragist "promises" with the reality of the 1920's The second paragraph refers to the 1920’s but it does not contrast suffragist "promises" with the reality of the 1920's. Eliminate!

C. deplore the lack of successful feminist reform in 1920's This paragraph does present the feminist reform in a negative light, but the author has not written this paragraph with this intention. He has clearly just presented the views of the new scholarship. Eliminate!

D. explain a view held by feminist scholars Select!

E. answer the question asked by Jane Addams Just because jane Addams has been mentioned at the end of the first paragraph does not mean that the next paragraph is answering the question that she asked in the earlier paragraph. Eliminate!


4. It can be inferred from the passage that recent scholars cite the words of Jane Addams primarily in order to

Let’s trace the flow of information to understand why Jane Addams was mentioned. The second last sentence of the Jane Addams paragraph says “These feminist scholars also challenge the old view that pronounced suffrage a failure for not delivering on the promise that the women’s vote  would bring about moral, corruption-free governance.” Jane Addams’ questions implies that suffrage in general isn't failing and that the success of suffrage shouldn't be assigned to one key goal - a moral, corruption-free governance. Her words have been mentioned to elaborate on the fact that feminist scholars challenged the old view about women suffrage and to point out

A. suggest that women’s achievement of suffrage brought about changes in government that were not taken into account by early interpretations No connection at all. Eliminate!

B. point out contradictions inherent in the goals of the women’s suffrage movement No connection at all. Eliminate!

C. show why a women’s voting bloc was not formed when women won the right to vote A lot of people choose this option because “women’s voting bloc” looks so familiar. But no connection at all. Eliminate!

D. emphasize the place of social reform movements in the struggle for suffrage for women No connection at all. Eliminate!

E. suggest that the old view of women’s suffrage was inappropriate Exactly what our analysis says! Select!



5. It can be inferred that the analyses of the author of the passage and the scholars mentioned in lines 20–23 differ with regard to which of the following?

This is as good as a repetition of Question no. 2. The scholars feel that the 1920’s presented a period of decline. However, in the third paragraph, the author with the use of “however” implies that he disagrees with the new scholarship’s view and that he feels that this decade saw intense activism aimed at achieving increased autonomy. In other words, the author feels that the 1920’s was not as much a period of decline as the new scholarship has pointed out. The answer choice should reflect this.

A. The criteria they use to evaluate the success of the feminist movement during the 1920s Exactly what our analysis says! Buzzz!

B. Their interpretations of the “promises” of the suffragist movement The analysis of the author and the scholars don’t specifically differ about this. Eliminate!

C. The suggestions they make for achieving feminist goals No such suggestions have been made. Eliminate!

D. Their definitions of what constitutes a legislative victory No such definitions have been given. Eliminate!

E. Their estimations of the obstacles preventing women’s having achieved a voting bloc in the 1920s No such estimations have been given. Eliminate!


6. The “new scholarship” mentioned in the first paragraph suggests which of the following concerning the “promises” mentioned in lines 4–5?

The first two lines of the passage clearly tell us the answer.

A. Failure to keep these promises is not a measure of the success of the suffrage movement. On the dot!

B. Failure to keep these promises caused the feminist movement to lose cohesiveness during the 1920s. This is referring to almost the opposite of what is the case. Eliminate!

C. Failure to keep these promises led recent feminist scholars to re-evaluate the success of the suffrage movement. We can’t really infer why the recent feminists re-evaluated the success of the suffrage movement. Eliminate!

D. These promises included securing for women the right to hold office and the right to serve on juries. No such references have been made. Eliminate!

E. These promises were of little importance in winning suffrage for women. The promises were made after won suffrage. So this option doesn’t even make sense here. Eliminate!

Check out Crackverbal's Reading Comprehension e-book

- Nitha Jay
GMAT Verbal SME

3rd question stumbled on whether C or D . But, Deplore is like STRONG CONTRASTING .. which is extreme he isn't contrasting everything. he says even though it had those problems it worked out well in other ways. . so answer D .

suffrage means the right to vote in political elections, it is not any kind of suffering.(as assumed by me)

Hello, vaibhav98chandel. I have written a full analysis of each question in the post just above yours. Just check out the spoilers to the different questions. Other Experts have provided their thoughts on certain questions as well. One comment I would like to make based on your short post is that the Verbal task is much more about understanding how to disfavor answers than it is learning how to identify correct answers. There is no single type of answer that will always be correct. You have to lean on contextual clues, the question stem, and the answer choices themselves to see which ones can be disproved.

If you find the RC task difficult, you might want to try combing through GMAT Ninja's Reading Comprehension Resource Collection.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

SnorLax_7

I see what you mean, but we can't assume that the author has stopped describing the scholars' view just because they don't attribute each statement directly to those scholars. When you're describing someone else's view, you may build up a complex description, and it would get very messy if you had to add "according to X" to each sentence.

For instance, an author might say something like this: "According to 2nd Amendment extremists, you should be able to carry a gun anywhere you like. Children should be able to play with guns in the streets. A doctor can take your pulse with one hand while shooting at targets with the other." Clearly all of that is meant to describe the view of the "extremists." The author doesn't believe that the examples in question are reasonable things to allow.

So how do we tell when the author's view reappears? We need some indication that there has been a shift in the text and we are moving on to a new idea. In the original passage, the line you're looking at builds directly on what was just said, with no indication that the author is agreeing with that view, refining it, or refuting it. After the paragraph break, the author clearly takes issue with the view, so it doesn't seem likely that they would agree that few successes had been achieved by reformers.

In 99.9% of the main point or primary purpose questions, answer choice with "contrast" word is wrong. This will help you a lot in saving time and improving accuracy.

this passage is hard but the questions are easy. questions are easy because there are no close answer choices, which are close in meaining and which cause us dificulty to find the correct answer choice.

the reward for hard passage is the easy questions. in this case, understanding passage is key.

but , normally, we face an easy passage with hard questions which contain close answer choices.

alway read the passage slowly to fully understand the passage. read slowly because the ideas are complex. we normally read newspaper quickly because the ideas in the newspaper are simple. but if we keep this habit of reading fast, we die. ideas in the gmat passages are complex and require slow read.

read slowly and be ready to see complex ideas.