surprisingly comfortable. It even served palatable food and piped in
music that sounded very similar to smooth jazz.
Those butt-shaped seats and nail clippers were a counterexample. It is a thing
that most alien spacecrafts lack. The rest of the paragraph is about all the great
things that the Starship Magnarax has. The Serpent likes to ask questions that
require you to understand that the counterexample is not like the rest of the
evidence. It contradicts the argument the author is making.
If there are two answer choices that seem to be almost perfect opposites, like these two, go back and check the passage to make surethat the one you chose is what the text is actually saying.
—Samantha
So if the question were to say:
What is a reason that the author brings up the example of “nail
clippers”?
Then you would want to reject the answer that said:
A) To provide an example of the convenient features aboard most alien
spacecraft.
and instead look for an answer like:
B) To illustrate the types of features that most alien spaceships lack.
Implicit meaning questions are slightly more difficult. These ask about
something that is never stated outright, but is reasonable to conclude based on
what is stated in the passage. These questions will look like this:
• It can be inferred that the guilds were organized as they were because . . .
• It can be inferred that each of the following applies to cognitive behavioral
therapy EXCEPT . . .
• With which of the following statements about marketing would the author
most likely agree?