The Little Blue Reasoning Book - Brandon Royal [57]
Exhibit C – The Four-Corner Question Cracker for Reading Comprehension™
The four-quadrant grid above, per Exhibit C, is a useful tool to ferret out common wrong answer choices on reading comprehension questions. The correct answer always appears in the middle where the bull’s-eye is located. The four incorrect answers will almost always appear in one of the four corners.
Common Wrong Answer Choices
Out of Scope: An out of scope answer choice is an answer choice that cannot be answered based on information in the passage. An out of scope statement may, in fact, be right or wrong, but it is not something that can be determined based on information supplied by the passage.
Irrelevant: An irrelevant answer choice is an answer choice that in no way touches the topic; it is completely off target. We might contrast irrelevant answer choices with out of scope answer choices in that an out of scope answer choice is related tangentially to the passage, whereas the irrelevant answer choice is not. Think of an archer with bow and arrow. Out of scope means that the archer is missing the target, but at least he or she is shooting at the right target, and in the right direction. Irrelevant means that the archer isn’t even shooting at the correct target.
Opposite: An opposite answer choice is an answer choice which is opposite in meaning to a statement or viewpoint expressed or implied by the passage. One common way answer choices are used to reverse meaning is through the inclusion or omission of prefixes such as “in,” “un,” and “dis,” or the inclusion or omission of negative words such as “no” or “not.” Thus “unfortunately” becomes “fortunately,” “advantageous” becomes “disadvantageous,” and “not applicable” becomes “applicable.”
Distortion: A distorted answer choice is an answer choice that distorts the meaning of something stated or implied by the passage. Saying, for example, that something is “good” is not the same as saying that something is “best.” Distortions are typically signaled by the use of extreme wording or by the use of categorical words such as “any,” “all,” “always,” “cannot,” “never,” “only,” and “solely.”
Too General: This answer choice is relevant only to the overview question type. Examples: A discussion of “South American trade imbalances in the 1950s” is not the same thing as a discussion of “modern global economic practices.” The latter is obviously broader in scope: “global” is broader than “South American”; “modern” is broader than “the 1950s”; “economics” encompasses more than just “trade imbalances.”
Too Detailed: This answer choice is also relevant only to overview-type questions. Example: A discussion of “the propagation of the Venus Fly Trap” is a much more specific topic than is “plant reproductive systems.” The correct answer to an overview-type question is, relative to the topic, neither overly general nor overly detailed.
Let’s gain further insight into how test makers may create incorrect answer choices with respect to reading comprehension (as well as critical reasoning) questions. Take the following easy-to-understand statement:
Original: “Success is a strange phenomenon. You can achieve it through hard work, skill, or luck, or some combination of the three.”
Here are several concocted statements derived from the original statement which showcase incorrect answer choices.
Out of scope: “The most important ingredient in success is hard work.”
(Comment: No, we don’t know whether hard work is the most important element in achieving success.)
“Hard work is a more important element in success than is skill.”
(Comment: Unwarranted comparison — we don’t know which element, in relative terms, is more important than the other.)
Irrelevant: “People who achieve success through hard work, skill, or luck sometimes find that their lives are meaningless.