MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Question 34: Answer and Explanation

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Question: 34

1. Which of the following best characterizes the author's opinion of Adams' college experience?

  • A. Positive, because Harvard College was a good school.
  • B. Negative, because the four years at college were a complete waste.
  • C. Mixed, because while Adams learned little, there was some value to the experience.
  • D. It cannot be determined from the passage because the opinions expressed are Adams', not the author's.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

C This is a Tone/Attitude question.

A: No. While the author does state in paragraph 2 that Harvard was a good school, the passage has a largely negative tone about Adam's experience. For example, the author states that Adams "got little more from his masters" than from his peers (paragraph 2), that in mathematics "his education failed lamentably" (paragraph 2), and that Adams got little out of his study of ancient languages, political economy, and chemistry (paragraph 3). The author also criticizes Adams' professors in paragraph 2.

B: No. While the tone is largely negative, the author states in paragraph 4 that "Harvard College was a negative force, and negative forces have value. Slowly it weakened the violent political bias of childhood, not by putting interests in its place, but by mental habits which had no bias at all." Therefore, "complete waste" is too strong.

C: Yes. While the author describes the failings of Adams' education in paragraphs 2 and 3, the author also states that there was some value to the experience: "Harvard College was a negative force, and negative forces have value. Slowly it weakened the violent political bias of childhood, not by putting interests in its place, but by mental habits which had no bias at all" (paragraph 4).

D: No. While the passage does suggest Adams' opinion, it also clearly indicates the author's opinion of Adams as a student ("a partial [failure]" (paragraph 1)), of the professors at Harvard ("In the one branch he most needed-mathematics-barring the few first scholars, failure was so nearly universal that no attempt at grading could have had value, and whether he stood fortieth or ninetieth must have been an accident or the personal favor of the professor" (paragraph 2)), and of Adams' education as a whole, including the value Adams did get out of the experience ("Harvard College was a negative force, and negative forces have value." (paragraph 4)).

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