MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Question 80: Answer and Explanation

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Test Information

Question: 80

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to:

  • A. prompt others to create a better, more accurate definition of "Hispanics."
  • B. promote a better understanding of Hispanic populations in order to recognize and serve their cancer health needs.
  • C. advocate for the term Hispanic to be discarded for its ineffectively inclusive description of diverse peoples.
  • D. educate Latino cancer patients about available resources.

Correct Answer: B

Explanation:

B This is a Main Idea/Primary Purpose question.

A: No. The focus on simply the definition of "Hispanics" is too narrow. This answer choice ignores many of the central ideas of the text, including using community organizing and education to gain understanding about cancer information in Hispanic populations and to provide proper care.

B: Yes. The correct answer will be the one of the four choices that best captures and covers all the major themes of the passage. The last four lines of the passage describe what the author believes is important (understanding the Hispanic populations) and the changes he believes should be made to help the affected people by creating "a realistic picture" of the situation. The rest of the passage explains why this better understanding is needed, and suggests ways in which it might be achieved.

C: No. This choice is both too extreme and too narrow. While the author agrees that the use of the overly inclusive term "Hispanic" results in barriers to discovering important information about cancer in those populations, he never advocates discarding the term. He simply believes that each subgroup of the population should be examined separately. Furthermore, while the term "Hispanic" may be problematic in some ways, this is not the focus of the entire passage.

D: No. The passage states that education is an important facet that needs to be addressed, but the text itself does not offer much educational information regarding using cancer resources. The mentions of the "Promotoras de Salud" and "Southwest Oncology Group" are only to provide examples for the author's argument about the need for such organizations and programs.

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