MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Question 38: Answer and Explanation

Home > MCAT Test > MCAT critical analysis and reasoning skills practice tests

Test Information

Question: 38

5. The author's primary purpose in the passage is to

  • A. detail the academic life of a subpar college student's experience and lobby for changing the system of education.
  • B. argue for the necessity of a liberal arts education in order to create a well-educated citizenry.
  • C. critically recount Adams' college experiences.
  • D. recount the positive and negative experiences of students at Harvard.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation:

C This is a Main Point/Primary Purpose question.

A: No. While the passage does provide some details about Adams' education, it does not explicitly lobby for, or make suggestions concerning, education.

B: No. There is no mention of preparing well-educated citizens.

C: Yes. The author casts a critical eye on Adams' college experiences by speaking throughout the passage in largely negative terms; the value gained in lessening Adams' political biases (paragraph 4) still came out of the negative nature of the experiences themselves.

D: No. While one could infer that some of the experiences described applied to other students as well (e.g., how they were evaluated), the main focus of the passage is on Adams himself. Furthermore, the emphasis is on the negative experiences; even the positive outcome mentioned in the beginning of the last paragraph came out of negative experiences.

Previous       Next