Two recent publications offer different assessments of the career of t

Question

Two recent publications offer different assessments of the career of the famous British nurse Florence Nightingale. A book by Anne Summers seeks to debunk the idealizations and present a reality at odds with Nightingale's heroic reputation. According to Summers Nightingale's importance during the Crimean War has been exaggerated: not until near the war's end did she become supervisor of the female nurses. Additionally, Summers writes that the contribution of the nurses to the relief of the wounded was at best marginal. The prevailing problems of military medicine were caused by army organizational practices, and the addition of a few nurses to the medical staff could be no more than symbolic. Nightingale's place in the national pantheon, Summers asserts, is largely due to the propagandistic efforts of contemporary newspaper reporters.

By contrast, the editors of a new volume of Nightingale's letters view Nightingale as a person who significantly influenced not only her own age but also subsequent generations. They highlight her ongoing efforts to reform sanitary conditions after the war. For example, when she learned that peacetime living conditions in British barracks were so horrible that the death rate of enlisted men far exceeded that of neighboring civilian populations, she succeeded in persuading the government to establish a Royal Commission on the Health of the Army. She used sums raised through public contributions to found a nurses' training hospital in London. Even in administrative matters, the editors assert her practical intelligence was formidable: as recently as 1947 the British Army's medical services were still using the cost-accounting system she had devised in the 1860's.

I believe that the evidence of her letters supports continued respect for Nightingale's brilliance and creativity. When counseling a village schoolmaster to encourage children to use their faculties of observation she sounds like a modern educator. Her insistence on classifying the problems of the needy in order to devise appropriate treatments is similar to the approach of modern social workers. In sum, although Nightingale may not have achieved all other goals during the Crimean War, her breadth of vision and ability to realize ambitious projects have earned her an eminent place among the ranks of social pioneers.

1. The passage is primarily concerned with evaluating

(A) the importance of Florence Nightingale's innovations in the field of nursing
(B) contrasting approaches to the writing of historical biography
(C) contradictory accounts of Florence Nightingale's historical significance
(D) the quality of health care in nineteenth-century England
(E) the effect of the Crimean War on developments in the field of health care

2. According to the passage, the editors of Nightingale's letters credit her with contributing to which of the following?

(A) Improvement of the survival rate for soldiers in British Army hospitals during the Crimean War
(B) The development of a nurses' training curriculum that was far in advance of its day
(C) The increase in the number of women doctors practicing in British Army hospitals
(D) Establishment of the first facility for training nurses at a major British university
(E) The creation of an organization for monitoring the peacetime living conditions of British soldiers

3. The passage suggests which of the following about Nightingale's relationship with the British public of her day?

(A) She was highly respected, her projects receiving popular and governmental support.
(B) She encountered resistance both from the army establishment and the general public.
(C) She was supported by the working classes and opposed by the wealthier classes.
(D) She was supported by the military establishment but had to fight the governmental bureaucracy.
(E) After initially being received with enthusiasm, she was quickly forgotten.

4. The passage suggests which of the following about sanitary conditions in Britain after the Crimean War?

(A) While not ideal, they were superior to those in other parts of the world.
(B) Compared with conditions before the war, they had deteriorated.
(C) They were more advanced in rural areas than in the urban centers.
(D) They were worse in military camps than in the neighboring civilian populations.
(E) They were uniformly crude and unsatisfactory throughout England.

5. With which of the following statements regarding the differing interpretations of Nightingale's importance would the author most likely agree?

(A) Summers misunderstood both the importance of Nightingale's achievements during the Crimean War and her subsequent influence on British policy.
(B) The editors of Nightingale's letters made some valid points about her practical achievements but they still exaggerated her influence on subsequent generations.
(C) Although Summers' account of Nightingale's role in the Crimean War may be accurate, she ignored evidence of Nightingale's subsequent achievement that suggests that her reputation as an eminent social reformer is well deserved.
(D) The editors of Nightingale's letters mistakenly propagated the outdated idealization of Nightingale that only impedes attempts to arrive at a balanced assessment of her true role.
(E) The evidence of Nightingale's letters supports Summers' conclusions both about Nightingale's activities and about her influence.

6. Which of the following is an assumption underlying the author's assessment of Nightingale's creativity?

(A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale's day did not normally emphasize developing children's ability to observe.
(B) Nightingale was the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime.
(C) No educator before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques.
(D) Until Nightingale began her work, there was no concept of organized help for the needy in nineteenth-century Britain.
(E) The British army's medical services had no cost-accounting system until Nightingale devised one in the 1860's.

7. In the last paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with

(A) summarizing the arguments about Nightingale presented in the first two paragraphs
(B) refuting the view of Nightingale's career presented in the preceding paragraph
(C) analyzing the weaknesses of the evidence presented elsewhere in the passage
(D) citing evidence to support a view of Nightingale's career
(E) correcting a factual error occurring in one of the works under review

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This passage is discussed in detail at the below mentioned link
two-recent-publications-offer-different-assessments-of-the-146026.html

Two recent publications offer different assessment of the career of the famous British nurse Florence Nightingale. A book by Anne Summers seeks to debunk the idealizations and present a reality at odds with Nightingale’s heroic reputation. According to Summers, Nightingale’s importance during the Crimean War has been exaggerated: not until near the war’s end did she become supervisor of the female nurses. Additionally, Summers writes that the contribution of the nurses to the relief of the wounded was at best marginal. The prevailing problems of military medicine were caused by army organizational practices, and the addition of a few nurses to the medical staff could be no more than symbolic. Nightingale’s place in the national pantheon, Summers asserts, is largely due to the propagandistic efforts of contemporary newspaper reporters.
By contrast, the editors of a new volume of Nightingale’s letters view Nightingale as a person who significantly influenced not only her own age but also subsequent generations. They highlight her ongoing efforts to reform sanitary conditions after the war. For example, when she learned that peacetime living conditions in British barracks were so horrible that the death rate of enlisted men far exceeded that of neighboring civilian populations, she succeeded in persuading the government to establish a Royal Commission on the Health of the Army. She used sums raised through public contributions to found a nurses’ training hospital in London. Even in administrative matters, the editors assert, her practical intelligence was formidable: as recently as 1947 the British Army’s medical services were still using the cost-accounting system she had devised in the 1860’s.
I believe that the evidence of her letters supports continued respect for Nightingale’s brilliance and creativity. When counseling a village schoolmaster to encourage children to use their faculties of observation, she sounds like a modern educator. Her insistence on classifying the problems of the needy in order to devise appropriate treatments is similar to the approach of modern social workers. In sum, although Nightingale may not have achieved all of her goals during the Crimean War, her breadth of vision and ability to realize ambitious projects have earned her an eminent place among the ranks of social pioneers.

Q1. Which of the following is an assumption underlying the author’s assessment of Nightingale’s creativity?
(A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale’s day did not normally emphasize developing children’s ability to observe.
(B) Nightingale was the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime.
(C) No educator before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques.
(D) Until Nightingale began her work, there was no concept of organized help for the needy in nineteenth-century Britain.
(E) The British Army’s medical services had no cost-accounting system until Nightingale devised one in the 1860’s.

Q2. The passage is primarily concerned with the evaluating-
(A) the importance of Florence Nightingale's innovations in the field of nursing
(B) contrasting approaches to the writing of historical biography
(C) contradictory accounts of Florence Nightingale's historical significance
(D) the quality of health care in nineteenth-century England
(E) the effect of Crimean War on developments in the field of health care

Q3. In the last paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) summarizing the arguments about Nightingale presented in the first two paragraphs
(B) refuting the view of Nightingale's career presented in the preceding paragraph
(C) analyzing the weaknesses of the evidence presented elsewhere in the passage
(D) citing evidence to support a view of Nightingale's career
(E) correcting a factual error occurring in one of the works under review.

Come on come on ---- come fast as can

PS - how can I put the official answers for all these questions unrevealed? It allows me only 1

(The official answers are marked in white to obscure the direct view)

Q1 - A
Q2 - C
Q3 - D

Show Answer Question #1

Official Answer

C

Show Answer Question #2

Official Answer

E

Show Answer Question #3

Official Answer

A

Show Answer Question #4

Official Answer

D

Show Answer Question #5

Official Answer

C

Show Answer Question #6

Official Answer

A

Show Answer Question #7

Official Answer

D

Drill more questions that test the same idea in GMAT Club Timed Quiz → Free.

PS - how can I put the official answers for all these questions unrevealed? It allows me only 1

(The official answers are marked in white to obscure the direct view) Q1 - A Q2 - C Q3 - D

CharuKapoor · Accepted Answer

Nice Passage. I'll try to explain the questions I got right -

1. The passage is primarily concerned with evaluating 
(A) the importance of Florence Nightingale's innovations in the field of nursing 
(B)  contrasting  approaches to the writing of historical biography 
(C)  contradictory  accounts of Florence Nightingale's historical significance 
(D) the quality of health care in nineteenth-century England 
(E) the effect of the Crimean War on developments in the field of health care

This is a 'General' category question. FYI - Manhattan focusses on 2 categories
1. General - One can answer this based on first read/ one does not need to re-read the passage/ One needs to understand the structure here.
2. Specific - One might need to re-read the passage and hunt for 'specific' information.

After reading the passage, I understood the structure to be something like this -
Main point lies in first sentence -  Two recent publications  offer  different assessments of the career  of the famous British  nurse Florence Nightingale .
1st Para - Book by Anne Summers feels importance of Nightingale during the Crimean War has been exaggerated. -ve tone.
2nd Para - Nightingale's letters tell us this is not the case - +ve tone.
3rd Para - Author's own view. +ve tone

Based on this one can easily eliminate A, D and E. B and C attract because of words - contrasting and contradictory. But contrasting approaches to the writing of historical biography ?? Really !! There's no writing of a biography involved.

C. Contradictory accounts of Florence Nightingale's historical significance. Re-read the first sentence and one can get it - different assessments of the career of the famous British nurse Florence Nightingale.

Hence Ans is C 
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2. According to the passage, the editors of Nightingale's letters credit her with contributing to which of the following? 
(A) Improvement of the  survival rate for soldiers in British Army hospitals  during the Crimean War -  very tempting but not mentioned. 
(B) The development of a nurses' training curriculum that was far  in advance of its day  -  It's never mentioned it was advance of it's day 
(C) The increase in the number of women doctors practicing in British Army hospitals -  Not mentioned 
(D) Establishment of the  first facility for training nurses  at a major British university -  We do not know whether it was first or not 
(E) The creation of an organization for monitoring the peacetime living conditions of British soldiers -  Bingo. Remember the Royal Commission. CORRECT

This is a specific category question and we know we need to refer back to second para.
Highlighted words are the basis of elimination of these coices. 
Hence Ans is: E

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3. The passage suggests which of the following about Nightingale's relationship with the British public of her day?
(A) She was highly respected, her projects receiving popular and governmental support. -  CORRECT 
(B) She encountered resistance both from the army establishment and the general public. -  Not mentioned 
(C) She was supported by the working classes and opposed by the wealthier classes. -  We do not know 
(D) She was supported by the military establishment but had to fight the governmental bureaucracy. -  Not mentioned 
(E) After initially being received with enthusiasm, she was quickly forgotten. -  We do not know

This is a General question and easy one.
Overall tone of passage in her favor is +ve. - her breadth of vision and ability to realize ambitious projects have earned her an eminent place among the ranks of social pioneers. 
Hence Ans: A

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4. The passage suggests which of the following about sanitary conditions in Britain after the Crimean War?
(A) While not ideal, they were superior to those in other parts of the world.
(B) Compared with conditions before the war, they had deteriorated.
(C) They were more advanced in rural areas than in the urban centers.
 (D) They were worse in military camps than in the neighboring civilian populations.  CORRECT
(E) They were uniformly crude and unsatisfactory throughout England.

Specific question. Read Para 2.
They highlight her ongoing efforts to reform sanitary conditions after the war. For example, when  she learned that peacetime living conditions in British barracks were so horrible that the death rate of enlisted men far exceeded that of neighboring civilian populations,

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7. In the last paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) summarizing the arguments about Nightingale presented in the first two paragraphs.  The author is not summarizing. 
(B) refuting the view of Nightingale's career presented in the preceding paragraph.  No. Author's tone supports 2nd para. 
(C) analyzing the weaknesses of the evidence presented elsewhere in the passage.  The author does not analyze the weakness. 
(D) citing evidence to support a view of Nightingale's career.  CORRECT 
(E) correcting a factual error occurring in one of the works under review.  The author does not correct a factual error.

A, B, C and E can be eliminated immediately.

I got 5th and 6th wrong.
Hope this helps !!

VeritasPrepRon · Answer

6. Which of the following is an assumption underlying the author's assessment of Nightingale's creativity?

Original:
(A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale's day did not normally emphasize developing children's ability to observe.
(B) Nightingale was the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime.
(C) No educator before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques.
(D) Until Nightingale began her work, there was no concept of organized help for the needy in nineteenth-century Britain.
(E) The British army's medical services had no cost- accounting system until Nightingale devised one in the 1860's.

Let's review how to attack assumption questions. The best strategy is to employ the Assumption Negation Technique, whereby you negate the stated assumptions and discover which cause the entire argument to fall down. If the argument still stands, then the assumption wasn't necessary. This is the best way to evaluate assumptions that all seem reasonable at first glance.

Negated:
 A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale's day DID normally emphasize developing children's ability to observe: Negated, this destroys the entire premise that Nightingale had a heightened sense of creativity. In effect, every child already was subjected to what Nightingale proposed, hence her creativity was somewhere between bland and non-existant. 
B) Nightingale was NOT the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime: Others had noticed before, but no one did anything. Argument still stands.
C) SOME educators before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques: Some people already had done this, but what techniques? Same as Nightingale? Different techniques? Could easily be true and the argument holds. 
D) Until Nightingale began her work, there WAS already the concept of organized help for the needy in ninteenth century Britain: There was a concept but Nightingale expanded upon it, argument still holds.
E) The British army's medical services had AN cost-accounting system until Nightingale designed one in 1860s: They had one, but Nightingale's was better. Same concept as D.

Once you negate all the options, it becomes clear that only A is required for Nightingale's creativity to be praised. The others could be false and her creativity could still be highly lauded. In assumption questions, the wording used can often be more important than how much the assumption strengthens the text. You're looking for the necessary assumption, not the strongest. 
Hope this helps!
-Ron

pr90 · Answer

Ron

Thanks for the reply!
I selected the answer as E. My logic was the following:
The paragraph starts with "I believe that the evidence of her letters supports continued respect for Nightingale's brilliance and creativity."
So the creativity that the author mentions should be due to something mentioned in the letters. And the last point in the previous paragraph about the letters was about the cost accounting system. Also its not given anywhere that they had a cost accounting system before Nightingale devised one.

Can you explain why this logic may be faulty?

VeritasPrepRon · Answer

Hey PR90, sure thing! The reason is that the assumption can be false, and Nightingale's creativity is still fantastic. The assumption is that they had no cost-accounting system before 1860, in which case Nightingale helped them out tremendously by designing one for them. Conversely, though, they could have already had such a system, but it was terrible. Imagine they had a system which assigned a snail for every soldier injured, and used an abacus to keep track of money owed. Then anytime someone came in, they could move the numbers on the abacus and everyone would lose track of the accounting process. Or the snails could just sneak away when no one is looking. If such a terrible system were in place, then Nightingale's revolutionary ideas of "using a pen and paper" and whatever other wizardry she came up with would make her seem like a genius by comparison.

In essence, it isn't necessary that NO system existed before Nightingale's input, only that the system was inefficient. (I mean, snails? Who does that!?) Don't let the placement of the information in the text sway your decision, it's not where the information is placed in the text, it's how it related to the overall point.

Hope this helps!
-Ron

JarvisR · Answer

My 2 cents on Q7 as I got it wrong.
7. In the last paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) summarizing the arguments about Nightingale presented in the first two paragraphs
(D) citing evidence to support a view of Nightingale's career
Why is it D and not A?
  Para1:
Negative view
Para2:
Positive view
Para3:  
I believe that the evidence of her letters supports continued respect for Nightingale's brilliance and creativity. ...... In sum, although Nightingale may not have achieved all other goals during the Crimean War, her breadth of vision and ability to realize ambitious projects have earned her an eminent place among the ranks of social pioneers.
 Asserting the + view from Para 2, author summarizes the overall discussion and present his view(3rd view) and not the view from the first para.Hence D is a better option compared to A.

pocoyama · Answer

For Q7, the word "argument" makes A incorrect. If the author is summarizing the argument, the author should not say, "I BELIEVE" because when someone is summarizing argument, I don't care about her or his opinion; I care about the facts. For example, when you are taking notes from a meeting, you don't write down, "I believe he said this and that but I think she said this and that." What they say are all facts and they are not what you believe or think. After the arguments, of course, you can conclude your opinion and say, I believe...

Clearly, "In sum, ~~~~" is the author's OPINION or VIEW rather than the summary of ARGUMENT. So the author does have a view, and what he is doing in the last paragraph is to cite all of the arguments presented and supporting his view by them, making D the right answer.

Hope this helps!

pikolo2510 · Answer

hi  GMATNinja

Can you let us know your thoughts on Q7?

7. In the last paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) summarizing the arguments about Nightingale presented in the first two paragraphs
(B) refuting the view of Nightingale's career presented in the preceding paragraph
(C) analyzing the weaknesses of the evidence presented elsewhere in the passage
(D) citing evidence to support a view of Nightingale's career
(E) correcting a factual error occurring in one of the works under review

Skywalker18 · Answer

Hi pikolo2510,

7.In the last paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with

(A) summarizing the arguments about Nightingale presented in the first two paragraphs - The author presents new evidence to support Nightingale's work -- which also was praised in second para but summers in first para tried to debunk Nightingale and stated that her contribution was marginal
(B) refuting the view of Nightingale's career presented in the preceding paragraph - The author does not mention refute Summers' view
(C) analyzing the weaknesses of the evidence presented elsewhere in the passage - No weakness in earlier evidence is mentioned
(D) citing evidence to support a view of Nightingale's career - Correct
(E) correcting a factual error occurring in one of the works under review - The author does not correct any factual errors .

Answer D

GMATNinja · Answer

In the final paragraph, the author says that Nightingale's letters support respect for her brilliance and creativity. The author then cites the following example: "When counseling a village schoolmaster to encourage children to use their faculties of observation she sounds like a modern educator."

The inference is that Nightingale was promoting an educational philosophy (encouraging children to use their faculties of observation) that was ahead of her time (i.e. a philosophy that would later be adopted by modern educators). If Nightingale came up with this approach on her own, then that would certainly support the idea that she was creative.

However, if educational philosophy in Nightingale's time normally emphasized children's ability to observe, then Nightingale would NOT have been coming up with a creative educational philosophy. Instead, she would have simply been  promoting  something that had already been created.

Without (A), the evidence does NOT support that Nightingale was creative, so (A) is the best answer.

GMATNinja · Answer

In order to answer this question, we need a clear understanding of the different interpretations AND where the author stands.

P1 gives us one interpretation by Summers: Nightingale's importance during the Crimean War has been exaggerated, and the contribution of nurses to relieving the wounded in this conflict was marginal at best. 
 P2 gives us a contrasting interpretation drawn from Nightingale's letters: Nightingale had a huge influence on contemporary and future generations, with regards to administration and training. 
 P3 very clearly gives us the author's take: The author accepts P1 and P2, but believes that Nightingale deserves continued respect when the sum of her life's work is considered. The author believes that Nightingale's positive contributions to education and social work far outweigh her lack of accomplishment during the Crimean War.

Now let's take a look at our choices:
 
This is very tempting, but does the author ever claim that Summers  misunderstood  these things? No. The author doesn't reject what is presented in P1 and doesn't question Summers' understanding of what Nightingale achieved or didn't achieve during the Crimean War. The author even admits that "Nightingale may not have achieved all other goals during the Crimean War" in P3. Choice (A) mischaracterizes the author's assessment of Summers' argument, so eliminate it.

Nope. The author definitely accepts "the evidence of her letters," as stated in the first sentence of P3. At no point does the author say that Nightingale's letters exaggerated her influence on subsequent generations. Eliminate (B).

This is much closer to what we've read. The author does admit that Summers' account may be accurate. But the author also agrees with the importance of Nightingale's subsequent achievement, and the author states that "her breadth of vision and ability to realize ambitious projects have earned her an eminent place among the ranks of social pioneers." (C) is a spot-on match with the structure and language used by the author, so we'll keep it around.

The author never says that the editors of Nightingale's letters were mistaken, and spends all of P3 explaining why the letters contribute to a more complete picture of Nightingale's accomplishments. Eliminate (D).

This couldn't be further from what the passage tells us. P2 definitely does not support P1. Eliminate (E).

I hope this helps!

KarishmaB · Answer

7. In the last paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with

(A) summarizing the arguments about Nightingale presented in the first two paragraphs

When the author says "although Nightingale may not have achieved all other goals during the Crimean War," he is conceding a point to the opposition but in the entire paragraph he presents data to support that she deserves her reputation. 
Paragraph 1 says that her reputation is exaggerated and no nurse could have made much difference. Paragraph 2 says that she influenced her own age and later generations. Paragraph 3 says that Nightingale deserves her reputation by giving more evidence. He does concede a point to the opposition but goes to establish his own position. So last paragraph is not just a summary of what he discussed in the two paragraphs above.

(B) refuting the view of Nightingale's career presented in the preceding paragraph

He supports the view discussed in the preceding paragraph.

(C) analyzing the weaknesses of the evidence presented elsewhere in the passage

He doesn't analyse weakness of any previous evidence.

(D) citing evidence to support a view of Nightingale's career

He supports the view that Nightingale was a social pioneer and he uses paragraph 3 to cite evidence supporting his view. Correct.

(E) correcting a factual error occurring in one of the works under review

Not correct.

Answer (D)

GraceSCKao · Answer

GMATNinja ,

Thank you for answering this question! I feel a bit confused about the option (A). Even though the author does not explicitly say that Summers "misunderstood" the importance of Nightingale nor does he reject Summers' accounts of Nightingale, the author does kind of imply that Summers does not get the importance either in the last paragraph.

I have two specific questions:

1. If the option (A) were revised into "Summers misunderstood Nightingale's subsequent influence on British policy," would it be a correct answer? In the original option (A), the first part (the importance of Nightingale's achievements in the war) is not okay but the second part seems acceptable.

2. Does "do not understand" share the same meaning of "misunderstand"? This may be a basic question, but I hope to confirm. "Misunderstand" means "think you have understand something when you have not," according to the dictionaries. I think the use of the word "misunderstand" is too strong to be correct here, but if it were replaced with "do not understand" or "is not clear," would the option (A) deserve more consideration?

Finally, I have one question about the correct answer (C).

I also chose (C) but feel very doubtful about the use of the word "ignore." How can we be sure that Summers ignored Nightingale's subsequent achievement? It is possible that Summers is aware of these "accomplishments" but she think that they are not worth mentioning or they are just not great enough to offset Nightingale's insufficient contribution during the war.

I know that GMAT RC questions test stated ideas and inferred ideas, but I am not sure which type this question is. If it were a "according to the passage" type question, (C) should be out as the author never explicitly says that Summmers "ignored" the evidence. If it is an inference question, I could accept (C) as the correct answer. But the question stem does not have such hints as "suggest" or "could be inferred that." 
Could you provide some suggestions? Many thanks!

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 5 
 
Great questions! I'll run through them one-by-one:

1. On the proposed rewrite of option (A): you're correct that the main issue with (A) is the bit about the Crimean War -- the author never really disagrees with Summers on that point, and even implies that Summers is right. So, the author likely wouldn't think that Summers "misunderstood" that issue.

If you remove that piece of the answer choice, then yes, you could argue that (A) would be correct. However, it's not the best practice to experiment with alternate answer choices -- instead, just evaluate the ones that are given to you, and eliminate based on their exact wording.

2. That's an interesting point about "misunderstand" vs. "not understand," -- there is a subtle difference in meaning, as you've suggested. To "misunderstand" something means that you  think  you understand that thing, but you're mistaken. To "not understand" something could potentially mean the same thing, but could also mean that you ARE fully aware that you don't "get it".

This distinction really doesn't have an impact on (A) -- either way, the author doesn't think that Summers is necessarily wrong about Nightingale's role in the Crimean War. So, (A) would still be off even if "misunderstand" was softened to "did not understand."

3. Regarding (C): you're barking up the right tree by looking at the exact language of the question. Question 5 asks us to find the answer choice with which the author " would  most likely agree ." In other words, we're  not  looking for something that is explicitly stated in the passage, but something that is  likely  given what we know about the author's argument.

In the first paragraph, the author introduces Summers' view: she thinks that Nightingale's "place in the national pantheon... is largely due to the propagandistic efforts of contemporary newspaper reporters." To support this view, Summers discusses Nightingale's role in the Crimean War.

Then, the author discusses another view on Nightingale, which investigates the nurse's role  after  the Crimean War. The author agrees with this view, saying that Nightingale's post-war efforts "have earned her an eminent place among the ranks of social pioneers."

So, even though the author never directly states that Summers ignored Nightingale's post-war contributions, the author would  likely  agree that Summers only considered part of the picture.

(C) is the correct answer to question 5.

I hope that helps!

KarishmaB · Answer

This is the author's assessment:

I believe that the evidence of her letters supports continued respect for Nightingale's brilliance and creativity. When counseling a village schoolmaster to encourage children to use their faculties of observation she sounds like a modern educator. Her insistence on classifying the problems of the needy in order to devise appropriate treatments is similar to the approach of modern social workers. In sum, although Nightingale may not have achieved all other goals during the Crimean War, her breadth of vision and ability to realize ambitious projects have earned her an eminent place among the ranks of social pioneers.

6. Which of the following is an assumption underlying the author's assessment of Nightingale's creativity?

(A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale's day did not normally emphasize developing children's ability to observe.

Correct. The author says that N was brilliant and creative. She illustrates that with some examples. The first one - she encourages kids to use observation (so N sounds like a modern educator). The author's assumption is that observation was not normally used by kids in N's time. Educators these days encourage kids to do that. So N was ahead of her times in her thinking.

(B) Nightingale was the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime.

Not correct. She may not have been the "first to notice". She may not even have been the first to do something about it. This is not the author's assumption.

(C) No educator before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques.

Again, the moment we read "had thought", we should ignore the option and move on. Do we know the thoughts of all educators before N? Even if the passage said that she was the first to enlist the help, we still cannot say that no one had thought of it before. They may not have been able to do it but may have thought of it.

(D) Until Nightingale began her work, there was no concept of organized help for the needy in nineteenth-century Britain.

The passage doesn't say that this concept did not exist before her. May they organised help in other way. We just know that she insisted on "classifying the problems of the needy in order to devise appropriate treatments"

(E) The British army's medical services had no cost-accounting system until Nightingale devised one in the 1860's.

Not correct. All we know is that she came up with an accounting system in 1860s which continued for decades later. There could have been another accounting system before her.

Answer (A)

GraceSCKao · Answer

Thank you GMATNinja so much for your time and response! Your reply is helpful as always.

Sometimes I am too obsessed about a single word in the option and thus become inefficient, and sometimes I let my doubts go but find out later I make an incorrect choice as I ignore the suspicious use of some words. I hope I can strike a balance one day.....

VP1030 · Answer

Why isn't option A correct for the 5th Question? Is the statement not something that is implied?

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Here's choice (A).

(A) Summers misunderstood both the importance of Nightingale's achievements during the Crimean War and her subsequent influence on British policy.

Notice that the author never says or implies that "Summers misunderstood ... the importance of Nightingale's achievements during the Crimean War." In fact, in the last paragraph of the passage, the author says the following:

"In sum, although Nightingale may not have achieved all other goals during the Crimean War ...."

So, actually, the author seems to concede that Summers may have been at least somewhat correct about the importance of Nightingale's achievements during the Crimean War.

GMATNinja · Answer

Glad we could help! And yeah, it's obviously important to pay close attention to the author's word choice. But if you find yourself spinning your wheels and overanalyzing something, it's probably time to go with whatever you've got and move on. No question is worth THAT much time.

Namangupta1997 · Answer

Hi  AndrewN

I only got question 6 wrong in this passage. I have a very specific doubt. The passage in its last paragraph says "I believe that the evidence of her letters supports continued respect for Nightingale's brilliance and creativity". Then the passage cites a piece of example/evidence of how she encouraged "children to use their faculties ".

Is the author's conclusion of Nightingale's creativity extracted from the all the relevant achievements that are already mentioned in the passage (such as her establishing Royal commission, founding training centers etc.) OR from the fact that she encouraged the children to use their faculties? Doesn't the latter portrays her more of a "modern educator" than a "creative thinker"? With that in mind I rejected A and chose D as option D is gives more of a  big picture  idea. Something as abstract as creativity should be symbolic of a series of impossible projects driven to success. Option A seems to have touched upon only one.

What did I miss?

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Two recent publications offer different assessments of the career of t

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