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Rhetorical synthesis — Worked example
Learn the best way to approach a rhetorical synthesis question on your SAT. It's all about using the information in the bullet points to meet the goal. Don't get lost in the details, just find the goal and match it to the right choice. Keep it simple and strict, and don't worry about grammar. Created by David Rheinstrom.
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option c mentions wind erodes the base of the rock faster than the top but it's not mentioned in the points above. How is that answer then?(8 votes)
It mentions in the last bullet point that the top and bottom erode at different rates and in the point before that the top is wider than the base.
So we can use our inference skills here. Imagine a cylinder (that's not hollow) of rock.
Now, we know the top and the bottom are eroding but at different rates.
If the top is wider than the base, that means there is more rock there, which means that it hasn't eroded as much, which means it hasn't eroded as fast as the base because the top is not only wide but wider.
So now we know that the base of the rock erodes faster than the top.
However, it wasn't necessarily necessary to do all that work. On test day, I would just pick that answer and run with it without doing all that extra work to make sure that the info came from the bullet points.
Does that help at all?(8 votes)
- Why is it not D? Doesn't it also explain with the phrase "that owes its shape to the wind"? It is formed by the wind? However, C uses information not in the bullet points. It doesn't say that the top is eroding faster than the bottom in the bullet points, but the option just made it up.(0 votes)
- Ok, in a question below, I explained the part about the apparent missing info that is in option C.
Option D is explaining what a mushroom rock is. We want an answer that explains what an Aeolian landform is that then gives an example of an Aeolian landform. (A mushroom rock is an example of an Aeolian landform).
Does this help?(12 votes)
Are the questions you go through taken from the 4 digital practice tests on the Bluebook app or are they separate? (I don't want to unintentionally influence my Bluebook practices)
Thank you!(4 votes)
I believe they are separate.(3 votes)
Will it be alright if I only use THIS method for Rhetorical Synthesis questions? As in I only look through the answer choices instead of reading through the bullet points unless necessary?(3 votes)
Yeah, this strategy works for those type of questions.(3 votes)
- That POP in the beginning was epic ngl(4 votes)
- Learn the best way to approach a rhetorical synthesis question on your SAT. It's all about using the information in the bullet points to meet the goal. Don't get lost in the details, just find the goal and match it to the right choice. Keep it simple and strict, and don't worry about grammar. Created by David Rheinstrom.(1 vote)
- great help, but may I ask why the saying "the top faster than the base" in choice B was correct? because I thought this was just mentioned generally as "rate difference" in the bulletpionts(1 vote)
- Isn't choice A also contains an example? The sentence clearly states "for example"(0 votes)
yes it does include and example. But the example is not of aeolian land forms. Instead it is of wind-based processes. So we can eliminate that(3 votes)
- b mentions wind erodes the base of the rock faster than the top but it's not mentioned in the points above.(0 votes)
That is why it is wrong! Because it does not mention an answer to the question it is not correct(3 votes)
