- [Voiceover] Hi, in this video
I'm going to tell you about foundations of comprehension questions. These are one of three types of questions on the critical analysis
and reasoning skills section of the MCAT. These questions are designed to test your basic understanding of the passage. These questions can take many forms, but many of these will be familiar to you from other tests. Some common questions will
ask you about the main idea or theme of the passage,
about the intended meaning of specific words or
phrases, or why the author organized or wrote a
passage in a specific way. Let's start with a quick
example of a main idea question. Which of the following best captures the main goal of the passage? First of all, where it
says, "the main goal," we could replace that phrase with the "key idea," "core theme,"
"central purpose." All of these are asking about
the main idea of the passage. I could also replace "passage"
with "final paragraph," or "third paragraph," and it's still the same type of question. All I want you to notice
here is that the question wants you to be able to
recognize a good summary or paraphrase in the main idea
that the author is saying. Another similar type of question
could ask you to identify an author's main claim or position. The author will often state
this for you in a passage using a thesis statement that
might start with words like, "I believe," or "It is clear
that," or "My main point is." This usually comes in an early section. For example, take a
look at this statement: "Every student deserves one
year off to explore the world." This statement is important because it tells you what the author believes. It serves as the author's thesis statement and foreshadows what
they are going to argue. By saying "deserves,"
the author is suggesting that every student who
wants to take a year off to explore the world
should be able to do so. This can also be seen as a
claim that the author is making. A claim is a statement that
gives you the author's position, point of view, or perspective on a topic. You could also be asked
what conclusion the author is trying to draw. This is yet another way of
asking you about the main point that the author is trying to make. When answering these questions, one great place to look is
at the end of the passage to see if the author attempts
to offer a clear conclusion as part of the closing section. Examples of these kinds
of questions include, "Which of the following
phrases most accurately "captures the author's theme?" "Based on the passage,
the author most likely "believes that." "Which of the following
sentences best represents "the author's conclusion?" Some questions will ask you
to infer the author's attitude or perspective on a topic by considering their particular words or phrases. For example, if an author writes, "How many people died in the Vietnam War? "A novice might count up the
bodies on the battlefield. "However, expert analysis
shows us that deaths off "the battlefield far outnumber
deaths on the battlefield." A question about this example might ask, "Which approach to
assessing the death toll "in Vietnam does the author favor?" The author uses the word
"novice," and "expert," to suggest that the expert way is better. Sometimes the words themselves
come loaded with meaning. We call that connotative language. The author can reveal their
perspective or attitude toward information by using
loaded adjectives or adverbs, like "evil," "valuable," "unfortunately," or "rightly." Some questions may require
that you use the absence or presence or such words
to infer whether the author seems to be neutrally
and objectively conveying factual information versus
stating their opinion, or revealing a bias about the issue. Some questions will ask you to determine the intended meaning of
specific words or phrases. Sometimes the author will use
unfamiliar words or terms, and you'll need to
figure out their meaning from the rest of the passage. Other times, the author
will use familiar terms, and you'll need to decide the precise way they are being used. An example of this question
would be, "What does the author "mean by the phrase
"medical interventions"?" If in the passage, the
author introduces the idea of medical interventions,
and then gives you examples of helmets, seat belts,
vaccines, talk therapy, massages, home remedies, yoga, medications, and surgeries, then you get the sense that
the author's definition of medical intervention
is really pretty broad. Instead, if the author talks
about medical interventions and then just discusses
different types of antibiotics, then that would be a more
narrow definition of the term. For other foundation questions,
you'll need to pay attention to the author's use of
signal words, and to consider the passage structure. One example that you
might use signal words or text structure to answer is, "What is the primary
purpose of paragraph 3?" The author can include
many kinds of signal words that you could use to
help answer this question. These can include words and
phrases like "importantly," "the only thing that matters
is," or "for example." This can help you
identify basic information like thesis statements,
main ideas, and examples. Phrases like "by the
way," or "in a few cases," can help signal a minor point, departure, or digression from the main theme. Phrases like "in addition
to," "therefore," and "consequently," can help you follow an author's argument. Considering the structure
of the passage can also help you in similar ways. For example, two common text structures, point counterpoint, and
compare and contrast, can also help you to identify distinctions being made by the author. A point counterpoint text
is almost like a discussion between two people. The author goes back and
forth laying out points from two different sides. A compare and contrast text
will generally first discuss the commonalities between two things, and then highlight the differences. Noticing when passages
have these structures will help you know
where to look to see how positions or concepts might differ. Phrases like, "on the other
hand," "in contrast to," "but," or "however," are likely to appear in these kinds of texts,
and they can help you to identify distinctions that
the author's trying to make. An example of a question that
you might use these ideas to answer is, "According
to the author, what are "two perspectives on this issue?" Other common structures
include listing of ideas, or a chronological
structure, where the author walks you through events
in the order they happened. In these cases, it's often
helpful to look for words like, first, second, or third, that
might help you to identify how many different points are being made; or words like "next," and "and
then," that might help you follow the chain of events. Another common text structure
is the cause effect structure, where the author first lays
out a set of conditions or factors, and then discusses
how effects or consequences result from them. In these passages, you
should look for causal words like "because," or "due to." An example of a question that
you might use these ideas to answer is, "What is the
primary cause of the problem "as implied by the passage?" If there's a specific phrase
that you are asked about, then it can be helpful to
consider how the passage is organized, where that
phrase appears, and that can give you a clue of what
its purpose might be. Another final type of example
is that you may be asked to interpret rhetorical devices. These are devices that
the author uses as a way to convey their message. Rhetorical devices include the
signal words discussed above like "however," and "on the
other hand," but they also use things like repetition or parallelism. Repetition and parallelism are when words or sentence structures are repeated. These are examples of literary devices that may be used by the
author to draw attention to particular phrases. The author may also use
other literary devices such as metaphor, sarcasm,
allegory, or symbolism. Metaphor is when the author
compares one thing to another. "Jobs are prisons." Sarcasm is when the opposite
of what is stated is meant. "Dental work is a joy." Allegory is when the author
relates a narrative or story that's really meant to be understood as being about something else, with the characters being meant
to personify abstract ideas. In all of these cases, the
author is not expecting their words to be taken literally,
and questions may ask you how the author is intending
their words to be interpreted. An example of a question asking
you about the author's use of a literary device is, "The
author makes use of sarcasm in this passage for what purpose?" A closely related idea
is that of symbolism. Symbolism is when the author
uses an object or concept to represent something else. An author may describe an
episode in which a character sees a beautiful flower that's fighting to grow through the cracks of
a grimy city sidewalk. In this case, the author
may mean that the character actually sees the flower, but
may also be using the image to convey a message of
beauty in unexpected places, which may be a theme for the work. An example of a question
about the author's use of this device would be, "Which
of the following is implied "by the use of imagery about the flower?" Similar to word choice, literary devices and figures of speech like
metaphors can also reveal an author's position
or attitude on a topic. They can color the
author's message by using more or less pleasing examples. For example, comparing a
political candidate to Robin Hood is likely to suggest a more
positive view of the candidate than comparing the candidate to Hitler. An example of a question that
asks you about this idea is, "It can be inferred from the
author's tone that they believe "which of the following?" I hope this video has given
you a good idea of what many questions in the foundations
of comprehension category will ask you about. To better understand
these types of questions, be sure to try some practice items, and check out the other
videos in this section.