MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Question 22: Answer and Explanation

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Question: 22

1. Nicholas I's regime ordered inhabitants of Russia to register with their particular religious institutions because:

  • A. the Orthodox Church would have required registrants to convert.
  • B. the tsar did not want to extend civil rights to all people by having the state register them.
  • C. some political parties, such as the Old Believers, rejected the authority of the Catholic Church.
  • D. the military service reform of 1874 had not yet been enacted to equalize the status of the male population.

Correct Answer: B

Explanation:

B This is an Inference question.

A: No. The passage does not suggest that the Orthodox Church would require conversion.

B: Yes. See the end of paragraph 3 and the beginning of paragraph 4. Nicholas rejects the French solution, municipal registration, because "Nicholas had no interest in creating citizens … Nicholas I and his officials did seek to identify the tsar's subjects and to include them in the civic order. The tsarist regime attempted to achieve the civic inclusion of the non-Orthodox by insisting that they register with their own religious institutions."

C: No. The Catholic Church is not the church from which the Old Believers (who also aren't described as a political party) dissented-they rejected the Orthodox Church (paragraph 4).

D: No. Even though this choice includes an accurate description of the military service reform of 1874, lack of equality is not, according to the passage, the reasoning behind Nicholas's religious registration.

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