PSAT/NMSQT Prep 2022 - Eggert M.D., Strelka A. 2022
How much do you know?
Answering PSAT reading questions
PSAT Reading
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:
· Research the answer in the passage or your big picture summary
· Predict the correct answer
· Find the one correct answer choice
How much do you know?
Directions: In this chapter, you’ll learn how best to research, predict, and find the correct answers to PSAT Reading questions. For this quiz, first take a couple of minutes to refresh your memory of this passage from chapter 11. Then, for each question (the stems of which you categorized in chapter 12), 1) research the answer in the passage text or from your big picture summary, 2) predict the correct answer in your own words, and 3) identify the one correct answer.
Questions 1—9 refer to the following passage.
Microcredit Passage Map
This passage is adapted from a 2018 article reviewing the benefits and shortcomings of a financial model called microcredit.
BIG PICTURE
Main Idea: Microcredit provides some relief for impoverished people even if it is not the total success its supporters imagined.
Author’s Purpose: To analyze the claims of microcredit advocates and critics in light of research on the subject
1. Over the course of the passage, the main focus shifts from
A. claims of success by advocates of microcredit to a complete refutation of these claims by critics of microcredit.
B.a presentation of the theory of microcredit and its advantages to anecdotal evidence of its failure.
C.claims of microcredit’s successes and failures by its advocates and critics to an evaluation of these claims based on research.
D. the success of microcredit as a financial strategy for small, impoverished villages to its failure as a worldwide business model with tens of millions of borrowers.
2. In the second paragraph, the discussion of the Bangladeshi women who manufacture bamboo stools (lines 20—28) serves mainly to
A. highlight these women’s extreme poverty.
B.critique the lending systems of traditional financial institutions.
C.prove that microcredit is especially helpful to women borrowers.
D. illustrate the theory of microlending in practice.
3. As used in line 27, “modest” most nearly means
A. small.
B.self-effacing.
C.immoderate.
D. reserved.
4. With which one of the following statements would the early advocates of microlending be most likely to agree?
A. Microlending organizations should replace traditional financial institutions in many parts of the world.
B.The growing number of female family breadwinners prompted a backlash against microlending.
C.Opening small businesses is a viable way for some people to lift themselves out of poverty.
D. Some microloans are appropriate to finance consumer spending among the desperately poor.
5. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
A. Lines 29—34 (“Advocates... poverty”)
B.Lines 39—42 (“A variety... Europe”)
C.Lines 48—55 (“Microlenders... microloans”)
D. Lines 64—70 (“Other stories... borrowed”)
6. Which one of the following is cited in the passage as a finding reached by researchers studying the efficacy of microlending?
A. Research data does not support any of the anecdotes offered by either advocates or critics of microlending.
B.Customers who receive microloans often use the money for temptation spending.
C.On average, microlending customers do not see their incomes rise after receiving a microloan.
D. Women-owned businesses benefit disproportionately from microlending.
7. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question?
A. Lines 78—80 (“They recognized... meaningfully”)
B.Lines 88—92 (“When researchers... advocates”)
C.Lines 97—100 (“Perhaps most... levels”)
D. Lines 112—118 (“In many... healthcare”)
8. As used in line 78, “cautious” most nearly means
A. discreet.
B.bashful.
C.cagey.
D. wary.
9. The author uses “temporary or seasonal unemployment, crop failures, [and] health crises” (lines 123—125) as examples of
A. economic hardships exacerbated by the spread of microlending.
B.unexpected expenses that can be offset by microloans.
C.the causes of widespread poverty in many parts of the world.
D. obstacles to those seeking a way out of grueling wage-work.
Check Your Work
1. C
Difficulty: Medium
Category: Global
Strategic Advice: For Global questions that focus on the passage’s structure, consult your big picture summary for the main idea and your paragraph notes to see how the author developed the text.
Getting to the Answer: In the passage, the author first presents the claims by both advocates and critics of microlending (paragraphs 1—4) and then turns to the results of research to evaluate those claims (paragraphs 5—9). That matches (C).
(A) leaves out the evaluation of advocates’ and critics’ claims based on research, and it is extreme in suggesting a complete refutation of the advocates’ claims. (B) also neglects the research that the author uses to evaluate the successes and failures of microcredit. (D) distorts the passage by suggesting that the reason for microcredit’s disadvantages are related to its rapid growth.
2. D
Difficulty: Medium
Category: Function
Strategic Advice: The phrase “serves mainly to” identifies this as a Function question. To predict the correct answer, check your notes for the paragraph in which the detail cited in the question stem appears and ask how the author is using the detail.
Getting to the Answer: In paragraph 2, the author defines microcredit and cites the small loan to these Bangladeshi women as an example of it. That matches (D), the correct answer.
(A) distorts the author’s purpose; the idea of microcredit arose to address the financial difficulties of people in poverty, but the author isn’t using the example to emphasize the conditions in which these women lived. (B) misuses a detail from paragraph 1; while it’s true that impoverished people weren’t able to get loans from “traditional financial institution[s],” it is not the author’s purpose to criticize standard banking systems. (C) misapplies the example in paragraph 2 to a broader point ascribed to advocates of microcredit in paragraph 3.
3. A
Difficulty: Easy
Category: Vocab-in-Context
Strategic Advice: On Vocab-in-Context questions, read the sentence in which the word from the question stem appears. The correct answer will replace the word without changing the meaning of the sentence.
Getting to the Answer: The sentence suggests that the microloan given to the Bangladeshi women allowed them to turn a small profit that they used to further grow their business. “Small” appears in (A), making it the correct answer.
(B), “self-effacing,” which means displaying humility, fits the common definition of “modest,” but doesn’t work to modify “profits.” (C), “immoderate,” which means “excessive or extreme,” suggests the opposite of “modest.” (D), “reserved,” often used to describe people who are quiet or reticent, is similar to the common definition of “modest” but can’t be used to modify “profits.”
4. C
Difficulty: Medium
Category: Inference
Strategic Advice: The phrase “most likely to agree” signals an Inference question, meaning that the correct answer follows from the passage text. In this case, the correct answer will be a statement that follows from what the passage told you about early advocates of microlending. The views and claims of the first wave of microlending advocates are laid out in paragraphs 3 and 4.
Getting to the Answer: The passage characterizes the advocates of microlending as very optimistic. In particular, they saw microcredit as a path to entrepreneurship and to the empowerment of women. (C) supports the first of those; because microlending advocates argue that entrepreneurship can increase wealth and reduce poverty, they must view small business ownership as a viable way for some people to improve their financial situations.
(A) distorts the viewpoint presented in the passage; microlending advocates never suggest that microcredit organizations should replace traditional financial institutions. (B) improperly ties together two different statements in the passage; the backlash, mentioned in paragraph 5, arose from stories indicating that microlending was not helping the poor or empowering women. (D) misuses a detail from paragraph 5; the fact that some customers were using funds for consumption spending was mentioned as a critique of microlending.
5. A
Difficulty: Medium
Category: Command of Evidence
Strategic Advice: Most Command of Evidence questions ask you to locate a specific piece of text that supports the correct answer to the preceding question. Have your answer to the previous question in mind as you use the line references in each choice to research the passage.
Getting to the Answer: In the preceding question, you may have deduced that advocates of microlending believe that getting money to open small businesses can help lift some people out of poverty. That follows directly from lines 29—34, where the author explains the view of advocates that poverty could be alleviated by means of “widespread entrepreneurship among the poor” (lines 32—33), so (A) is the correct answer here.
The sentence cited in (B) tells of the worldwide spread of microlending organizations; it might be tempting to test takers who like choice (A) on the preceding question. (C) is incorrect because it doesn’t specifically mention starting businesses (entrepreneurship) as a means of alleviating poverty. The sentence cited in (D) comes from paragraph 5 and relates some of the negative stories offered by critics of microlending.
6. C
Difficulty: Medium
Category: Detail
Strategic Advice: When a question stem calls for something “cited” in the passage, you have a Detail question. The correct answer will paraphrase an explicit statement or claim from the passage. Use the clues or references in the question stem to guide your research in the passage.
Getting to the Answer: Here, the question stem asks about a research finding. Those are outlined in paragraphs 7 and 8. Paragraph 7 cites three broad findings: 1) microlending has not measurably reduced poverty, 2) microlending does not appear to have substantially empowered women, and 3) the average income of microlending customers has not risen. (C) paraphrases the last of those findings, making it the correct answer.
(A) is extreme; economists seek data, not anecdotes, for their analyses, but that doesn’t mean that none of the anecdotes is supported. (B) distorts a detail from paragraph 8; research seems to indicate that microlending customers are actually less likely to indulge in temptation spending, such as gambling and buying tobacco or alcohol. (D) contradicts findings cited in paragraph 7, which show “little evidence” that microlending has empowered women.
7. C
Difficulty: Medium
Category: Command of Evidence
Strategic Advice: Most Command of Evidence questions ask you to locate a specific piece of text that supports the correct answer to the preceding question. Have your answer to the previous question in mind as you use the line references in each choice to research the passage.
Getting to the Answer: The correct answer to the preceding question states that the average incomes of microlending customers did not rise. That is directly supported by the sentence cited by (C).
(A) says that the economists were not satisfied with anecdotal evidence; this answer might tempt a test taker who incorrectly chose (A) on the preceding question. (B) provides indirect support for the previous question’s answer by casting doubt on advocates’ views, but it does not specifically support the claim about income. (D) notes that temptation spending goes down among microloan recipients, which also does not support the claim about income.
8. D
Difficulty: Hard
Category: Vocab-in-Context
Strategic Advice: On Vocab-in-Context questions, read the sentence in which the word from the question stem appears. The correct answer will replace the word without changing the meaning of the sentence.
Getting to the Answer: The sentence contrasts economists, who were cautious, with both the advocates and critics, who rushed to their respective judgments of microlending. Predict a word that means “careful to make a conclusion.” That lines up with choice (D), which means “careful or watchful.”
(A), “discreet,” refers to someone who is private or circumspect; while it relates to a kind of judicious behavior, it doesn’t describe the economists discussed in the passage. (B), “bashful,” means “shy or reserved,” and doesn’t fit the author’s use of “cautious” here. (C), “cagey,” may be used to describe a cautious person but carries the implication that the subject is being tricky or shrewd.
9. B
Difficulty: Hard
Category: Function
Strategic Advice: Function questions ask you to describe how the author uses a detail in the passage or to identify the author’s reason for including it. Occasionally, in a Function question like this one, the test will give you a piece of the answer in the question stem. Here, you’re told that the three details are examples of something. Use the context provided by the paragraph to assess the answer choices.
Getting to the Answer: The first sentence of paragraph 8 tells you that critics of microlending jumped on the researchers’ finding to declare microlending a total failure. After that, however, the paragraph shifts to the positive findings that microlending advocates use to refute the critics’ broad claim. The example in this question stem is from the paragraph’s final sentence on “income smoothing.” The sentence explains that microloans can help impoverished people survive sudden, severe financial stresses such as the three details cited in the question stem. (B) correctly describes how the details are used in the passage.
(A) is a claim that microlending critics would make, but the part of the paragraph quoted in the question is outlining arguments made by microlending advocates. (C) is outside the scope of the passage; the author never discusses specific causes of poverty. (D) misuses a detail from earlier in the paragraph, which applied to a distinct advantage of microlending cited by its advocates.