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2) This is a troublesome one, as I'm not sure it's possible to predict the answer based on the text alone. It's very helpful to have some outside understanding of what the passage is getting at. For this reason, I don't think this question would make it into the real GMAT. Still, while the passage doesn't really supply additional information to support our decision, we might get the right answer by understanding that "theater" is being used metaphorically to mean "context." The idea is that the "theater of culture" is the broader context in which both disciplines are trying to understand humans. With this understanding, (D) is the only choice that works.

Note that (A) - (C) are very specific and do not clearly point to practices of both disciplines. (E) seems to be pointing to the author's main point--that there is not such a clear divide between disciplines in terms of spoken vs. written language--but the author never says that both aspects must be used by the same scientists, and in any case, this idea doesn't connect to the phrase "theater of culture."
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3) The author is disputing the idea that the presence of data means that a society will be studied by historians rather than anthropologists.

A) opposite
B) "Not important" is too extreme. The presence of written data can still be important--it just doesn't stop us from doing anthropology.
C) opposite and very extreme--you could probably cross this answer choice out without even reading the passage!
D) there's no support for this
E) Exactly. Anthropologists can study a society whether or not it has writing.
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Relatively short passage but tricky questions to go with it. 3 min 25 sec and two out of three correct.

Summary & Main point: Anthropology and History are considered to be different but are not. Then a whole bunch of similarities and ways they are connected ending with examples. Ending with the bigger purpose of both is "studying the vast human culture" and neither can live without the other ( Harry Potter reference here :-P ) to end it. Great short passage.

Primary purpose - history and antrho are similar even if they seem to be different
1) The primary purpose of this passage is to

A) mediate a contentious dispute between two disciplines HOLD WRONG - there is no contentious dispute ( fight ) between the two. Here it is very important to understand the meaning of the word contentious
B) describe the underlying connections between two different academic fields Bingo - connections are shown to show the similarity between the two fields
C) delineate the ways in which anthropology and history diverge Opposite
D) argue that the essential difference between history and anthropology lies in the presence or absence of written documents Opposite - this is what the passage tries to refute
E) criticize anthropologists for failing to acknowledge the contributions of historians BS Option

Detail question
2) The author uses the phrase "theater of culture" in paragraph two to describe

A) the richness and complexity of oral traditions as compared to the written traditions of the west TRAP choice - first few words are what we are looking for but there is no compari written traditions of the west that we want to signify here
B) the momentous historical events and epochs that anthropologists have previously ignored WRONG - BS option
C) the artistic and religious aspects of a pre-literate society that are used to piece together its history Nah
D) the contextual beliefs and behaviors that must be studied in order to arrive at a more complete understanding of human nature BINGO - the theatre of culture is precisely this
E) the necessity for social scientists to consider the spoken word as well as written documents in their study of society Maybe true but unrelated to the question

Another detail question
3) According to the author, the presence of written data is

A) useful in addressing the confusion between anthropology and history BS Option - there is no confusion
B) not important, because historians have described the history of cultures who have never had a written language "NOT IMPORTANT" is too strong hence wrong
C) the single essential element used in determining whether a culture can be subjected to study by historians Precisely what the author refutes with example given of Hulu tribe
D) functions as an important check on the techniques and methods used to assess cultures in Africa and Oceania Nope
E) not a consideration in determining whether a society is appropriate for anthropological study Bingo - this is what the author mentions... both history and anthro study culture of civilizations that both use and which don't use written text

Best,
Gladi
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Got 2 out of 3

3) According to the author, the presence of written data is

A) useful in addressing the confusion between anthropology and history
B) not important, because historians have described the history of cultures who have never had a written language
C) the single essential element used in determining whether a culture can be subjected to study by historians
D) functions as an important check on the techniques and methods used to assess cultures in Africa and Oceania
E) not a consideration in determining whether a society is appropriate for anthropological study
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Please explain Q6 why A is correct and E incorrect? should not both these field should study social interaction of human?
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Why Question 6 is A? Not E?

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junii
Please explain Q6 why A is correct and E incorrect? should not both these field should study social interaction of human?

RanonBanerjee
Why Question 6 is A? Not E?

Explanation

6) Which of the following statements, if true, would most seriously weaken the author's assertion that history and anthropology are interrelated?

Difficulty Level: 700

Explanation

According to my limited knowledge here is how I took this question. This is like of CR weaken question so we can put in our CR strategies here. Read the choices one by one.

A. Historians find the study of human social interactions to be of no value in achieving an understanding of human nature.

In the first look, I would like to keep this option and I am not very much convinced until I find nothing better than this. Keep reading the other options.

B. The overlap of history and anthropology has allowed for greater accuracy in the study of some cultures.

This is clearly opposite to what we are looking for, this option rather strengthens the author's point of view that history and anthropology are interrelated. This is clearly out.

C. Because anthropology studies cultures without written documents, knowledge about such cultures have been difficult to verify.

First of all, this is not hard a fast rule (According to the passage) that anthropology studies cultures without written documents, and second, we are not going to debate on the verifiable information. This is also out.

D. Some historical documents uncovered in the 19/Us were subsequently used by both anthropologists and historians.

The first indication of the false choice is the first quantity word used in this choice is "some" and this is an example of the extreme answer which normally tries to trap us by the use of quantity words such as most, more, minimum, maximum, some, few, etc.

E. The anthropologist's emphasis on information not expressed consciously is clearly separate from the historian's interest in specific, concrete events.

This looks promising but is false and the reason is the text in red which makes it extreme to consider. The passage never puts weight on that the anthropologist's emphasis on information not expressed consciously. Although at one place the passage discusses this it does not make this a rule to decide the difference between them both, also the second Red part of this choice is also extreme according to the passage.

Now read option A once again and it looks better than all other four.

Answer: A
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Hi! Is is possible to explain 4&5 question? Thank you!
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