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Help me with Q.3
Thanks in advance
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SajjadAhmad Is the OA for Question 2 incorrect? Could you also please help with the official explanations for all three questions?
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Are you sure this a 700 level passage, solved within 4 mins all 3 correct. Great passage though, similar to to the real deal.
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Are you sure this a 700 level passage, solved within 4 mins all 3 correct. Great passage though, similar to to the real deal.

Hello richirich

Great work if you got all correct in 4 minutes. Below is the difficulty level.

Question #1: 550
Question #2: 750
Question #3: 700

Good Luck
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sk7075
Help me with Q.3
Thanks in advance
"Since 1900, a large number of definitions of art have emerged, each covering a sector of accepted creative and critical practice but none, apparently, applicable to the whole of what is accepted as art by the art world"

It is an inference question, none applicable to the whole art world meaning it is "diverse", they have no concrete and uniform definition of what exactly is art, since 1900 means the twentieth century, lot of clues if you read carefully.

Hope it helps.
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Choice B, in Question 3 is a finely laid out trap and I see a lot of people fell for it, including me.
Based on my understanding of the passage, I had C as the answer but then I made the mistake of scanning for "keywords" and fell for the trap.

Key Takeaway: Locator words/Keywords can be a great aid, but can also be used by GMAC to lay traps, so if you find a conflict between your judgement/understanding of the passage and your technical tools, think twice before choosing the latter.
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Quote:
2) The passage is most relevant to which of the following areas of study?

A) The history of aesthetics
B) The history of literature
C) The sociology of art
D) The psychology of art
E) The sociology of aesthetics
VeritasKarishma GMATNinja
This passage is mostly revolving around art.

Since 1900, a large number of definitions of art .........
Not only do contemporary definitions of art fail to agree on .......
because it suggests that the way in which artists and art critics talk and think about works of art does.......

Quoting a statment about aesthetics doesn't make passage relevant to the "history of aesthetics".
Please explain this question.
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SajjadAhmad Is the OA for Question 2 incorrect? Could you also please help with the official explanations for all three questions?


Hi harshbirajdar,

2) The passage is most relevant to which of the following areas of study?

A) The history of aesthetics
B) The history of literature
C) The sociology of art
D) The psychology of art
E) The sociology of aesthetics

Correct Answer: A
Explanation: as mentioned in the passage: "This concept runs directly counter to the deeply ingrained insight of modern aesthetic thought that art cannot be reduced to rule and cannot be evaluated using a set of rules reducible to a formula. The Greek concept predominated until the middle of the eighteenth century, when the French aesthetician Charles Batteux heralded the idea that what distinguishes the arts from the crafts and the sciences is the arts’ production of beauty.", implying that author traces the history of art as aesthetic back to the Greeks. Aesthetics, in general are principles pertaining to appreciation of beauty or art. Other options have not been discussed in the passage, making A the best choice.


Thanks.

Hi bm2201,
I had query in Q2. Your explanation helped. Thanks :)
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Quote:
2) The passage is most relevant to which of the following areas of study?

A) The history of aesthetics
B) The history of literature
C) The sociology of art
D) The psychology of art
E) The sociology of aesthetics
VeritasKarishma GMATNinja
This passage is mostly revolving around art.

Since 1900, a large number of definitions of art .........
Not only do contemporary definitions of art fail to agree on .......
because it suggests that the way in which artists and art critics talk and think about works of art does.......

Quoting a statment about aesthetics doesn't make passage relevant to the "history of aesthetics".
Please explain this question.

First of all, let me say that it is a difficult question.

Aesthetics involves the measure of beauty in arts. This is the exact definition of aesthetics from dictionary.com

- the branch of philosophy dealing with such notions as the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the comic, etc., as applicable to the fine arts, with a view to establishing the meaning and validity of critical judgments concerning works of art, and the principles underlying or justifying such judgments.

Now notice ancient Greeks, middle of 18th century, 1900s, till 20th century, contemporary...

So a history of aesthetics course is quite likely to have this passage in it.

Sociology and psychology are related to society and human behaviour respectively. They don't seem very relevant.

Answer (A)
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I am afraid if this passage is really from GMAT Prep, I found this passage in 800Score free course also, I have added question#4-9. Let us know in the reply if you know about the source of this passage.

Thank you
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Hey Sajjad1994 great work man! This was an amazing read!

I solved this in 15 mins with a score of 7 correct and 2 incorrect (Qs # 2 and 6).

If possible, can someone please post the official explanations or a detailed explanation for all questions, specifically for Q#3-6? :)
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I am posting the explanation (Available at 800Score) of the two toughest questions, the question number 2&6.

Official Explanation

2. The passage is most relevant to which of the following areas of study?

Difficulty Level: 750

Explanation

Since the passage traces the definition of art from ancient Greek times to the present, the most appropriate area of study to which this passage belongs is history of aesthetics. Aesthetics are principles pertaining to appreciation of beauty or art. The passage offers no information about psychology or sociology, the study of the structures of human society. The answer requires that the passage be read in depth and then an inference be drawn from it.

Answer: A

6. According to the passage, which of the following objections to using “beauty” as the criterion for defining and appraising art emerged in the twentieth century?

Difficulty Level: 750-800

Explanation

Regarding Statement I and II, the author says in the first paragraph that “some critics argued that ‘beauty’ was a highly ambiguous term, far too broad and indefinite for the purpose of defining or evaluating art, while, on the other hand, many artists expressly repudiated ‘beauty’ because of its too-narrow associations with an outmoded view that art was beautiful and therefore should not be evaluated or analyzed, but should merely be appreciated.” However, Statement III can be ruled out; the author objects to using “beauty” as the criterion for defining and appraising art that emerged in the 20th century. Not only does the author object to using “beauty” as a defining word for art, but he or she believes that past definitions of art are no longer valid anyway. Hence, (C) is the correct option. The answer is directly available from the first paragraph but it needs validation of multiple points.

Answer: C
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Sajjad1994
I am posting the explanation (Available at 800Score) of the two toughest questions, the question number 2&6.



6. According to the passage, which of the following objections to using “beauty” as the criterion for defining and appraising art emerged in the twentieth century?

Difficulty Level: 750-800

Explanation

Regarding Statement I and II, the author says in the first paragraph that “some critics argued that ‘beauty’ was a highly ambiguous term, far too broad and indefinite for the purpose of defining or evaluating art, while, on the other hand, many artists expressly repudiated ‘beauty’ because of its too-narrow associations with an outmoded view that art was beautiful and therefore should not be evaluated or analyzed, but should merely be appreciated.” However, Statement III can be ruled out; the author objects to using “beauty” as the criterion for defining and appraising art that emerged in the 20th century. Not only does the author object to using “beauty” as a defining word for art, but he or she believes that past definitions of art are no longer valid anyway. Hence, (C) is the correct option. The answer is directly available from the first paragraph but it needs validation of multiple points.

Answer: C

some critics argued that ‘beauty’ was a highly ambiguous term, far too broad and indefinite for the purpose of defining or evaluating art, while, on the other hand, many artists expressly repudiated ‘beauty’ because of its too-narrow associations with an outmoded view that art was beautiful and therefore should not be evaluated or analyzed, but should merely be appreciated.

This portion is not part of given passage, may be 800scores is having somewhat different passage.
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Quote:
some critics argued that ‘beauty’ was a highly ambiguous term, far too broad and indefinite for the purpose of defining or evaluating art, while, on the other hand, many artists expressly repudiated ‘beauty’ because of its too-narrow associations with an outmoded view that art was beautiful and therefore should not be evaluated or analyzed, but should merely be appreciated.

This portion is not part of given passage, may be 800scores is having somewhat different passage.

I have updated the text of the passage, please read it again and let me know if this is related with the questions or not.

Thank you
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Sajjad1994
Quote:
some critics argued that ‘beauty’ was a highly ambiguous term, far too broad and indefinite for the purpose of defining or evaluating art, while, on the other hand, many artists expressly repudiated ‘beauty’ because of its too-narrow associations with an outmoded view that art was beautiful and therefore should not be evaluated or analyzed, but should merely be appreciated.

This portion is not part of given passage, may be 800scores is having somewhat different passage.

I have updated the text of the passage, please read it again and let me know if this is related with the questions or not.

Thank you

Hi there I'm still a little unsure as to why statements I and II can be accepted as objections in the twentieth century. From my interpretation, these objections only surfaced in the "present century", as stated in the earlier part of the sentence in which the objections are stated.

"This idea lasted until the beginning of the present century" --> The preceding idea that beauty was the criterion for assessing art was accepted all the way to the present century (21st century). Doesn't this mean that at the time of the 20th century, the idea of beauty was yet to be objected?
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GMATNinja, VeritasKarishma, can you please help explain the difference between The sociology of art and The sociology of aesthetics?
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GMATNinja, can you please explain why B should be eliminated for Q3? In the last par, element of irrationality has been discussed. It suggests that the way in which artists and art critics talk and think about works of art does not correspond with the way in which they actually distinguish those things that they recognize as works of art from the things that they do not so recognize. Based on these lines, I thought B may also be an answer choice for Q3.
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