iBTReadingQuestion:SummaryCharts

　　Thesummarychartshouldbeano-brainer,butasurprisingnumberofstudentsneedlesslylosepointsonit.

　　Theconceptissimple;youaregivenageneralstatementandaskedtochoosethethreechoicesthatbestsupportthestatement.Thegeneralstatementmayormaynotbethethesisoftheessay;itwillalwaysbeabroaderstatementthananyofthechoices.

　　Fallbackonyourknowledgeofessaystructurefromthewritingsection.Rememberhowparagraphshavetopicsentencesthatareillustratedwithdetailsorexamples.Inmostcases,youaresimplylookingforaparaphraseofatopicsentence.Itmustdirectlysupportthegeneralstatement;ifitdoesn’t,throwitout.Wrongchoiceswilleitherbeminordetails,factuallyincorrectinformation,orfactsnotpresentintheessay.

　　Knowthedifferencebetweenamajorsupportsentenceandaminordetail!Thedetailswilloftenbedescribingoneofthesupportsentences.

　　Forexample;ourgeneralstatementisTheautomobileindustryintheUnitedStatesdevelopedrapidlyinthefirsthalfofthetwentiethcentury.

　　Considerthesetwochoices:

　　a)Theassemblyline,firstimplementedatFord’sDearbornfactory,increaseditsproductioncapacitiessevenfold,churningoutautomobilesatarateofhundredsperday.

　　b)Leadingthewayinpopularizingthemass-producedautomobilewastheModelT.,thefirstvehicleaffordabletotheworkingandmiddleclasses.

　　Thegeneralstatementisabouttheoverallgrowthoftheindustry.Bothchoicesseemtorefertogrowth(increaseditsproductioninchoicea,andmass-producedinchoiceb).Butlookatthosewordscarefully.Whichonereallydescribesgrowth?"increaseditsproduction",not"mass-produced"whichdescribestheautomobile.Forthatreasonalone,aclearlysupportsthegeneralstatement,andbdoesnot.

　　Onadeeperlevel,wecancomparethemeaningofthesentences.Choicebisanexampleofamassproducedautomobile,whichwecaninferwasmadepossiblebytheincreasedproductioncapacitiesreferencedinchoicea.Therefore,bisreallyadetailofa;aissupportofthegeneralstatement.Amainidea.

　　Thinkofyouressayoutlines;thatwilldothetrick!

　　POSTEDBYTOEFLMONKEYAT7:08AMLINKSTOTHISPOST

　　LABELS:IBTREADINGQUESTION:SUMMARYCHART

　　MONDAY,OCTOBER29,2007