Answering Fact and negative fact – based questions

Answering Fact – based questions

These questions ask you to identify factual information that is explicitly stated in the passage. Factual Information questions can focus on facts, details, definitions, or other information presented by author. They ask you to identify specific information that is typically mentioned only in part of the passage. They generally do not ask about general themes that the passage as a whole discusses. Often the relevant information is in one or two sentences.

How to Recognize Factual Information Questions

Factual information questions are often phrased in one of these ways:

- According to the paragraph, which of the following is true of X?

- The author’s description of X mentions which of the following?

- According to the paragraph, X occurred because…

- According to the paragraph, X did Y because …

- According to the paragraph, why did X do Y?

- The author’s description of X mentions which of the following?

Tips for Factual Information Questions

Ø You may need to refer back to the passage in order to know what exactly is said about the subject of the question. Since the question may be about a detail, you may not recall the detail from your first reading of the passage.

Ø Eliminate choices that present information that is contradicted in the passage.

Ø Do not select an answer just because it is mentioned in the passage. Your choice should answer the specific question that was asked.

example

Before television and computers, our most powerful communication tool was language. However, the supremcy of languages has ben chalanged by the introduction of images – powerful, ralistic, moving images – into our everiday communication. The advent of television and computing in twentieth century marked a new period in communication technology, the information age.

Acording the passage, how has the technology of the information age changed our daily communication?

a. It helps us learn language more easly

b. It combines language with visual image

c. It improves our ability to think logically

d. It makes routine task more interesting

Answering Negative Fact – based questions

These questions ask you to verify what information is true and what information is NOT true or not included in the passage based on information that is explicitly stated in the passage. To answer this kind of question, first locate the relevant information in the passage. Then verify that three of the four answer choices are true that the remaining choice is false. Remember, for this type of question, the correct answer is the one that is NOT true.

How to Recognize Negative Factual Information Questions

You can recognize negative fact items because either the word “NOT” or “EXCEPT” appears in the question in capital letters.

Ø According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true of X?

Ø The author's description of X mentions all of the following EXCEPT.

Tips for Negative Factual Information Questions

Ø Usually a Negative Factual Information question requires you to check more of the passage than a Factual Information question. The three choices that are mentioned in the passage may be spread across a paragraph or several paragraphs.

Ø In Negative Factual Information questions, the correct answer either directly contradicts one or more statements in the passage or is not mentioned in the passage at all.

Ø After you finish a Negative Factual Information Question, check your answer to make sure you have accurately understood the task.

example

Skin cancer is the most prevelant of all cancers. The principal cause of skin is overexposure to sunlight, acording to most medical experts. Chronic sun exposure-especially when it causes sunburn or blistering-results in more skin cancer than does any other risk factor, including exposure to x-rays and family history of the disease. The most effective preventative measure is sun avoidance.

All of the following are factors that can cause skin cancer EXCEPT?

a. Exposure to x-rays

b. Sun blistering

c. Family history of skin cancer

d. Sun avoidence

Excursie

Answering Fact

The youngest child of prosperous Midwestern manufacturing familiy, Dorothy Reed was born in 1874 and educated at home by her grand mother. She graduated from smith College in 1896 and entered Johns Hopkins Medical School. After receiving her M.D.degre, she worked at Johns Hopkins in the laboratories of two noted medical scientists. Reed’s research in pathology estabilished conclusively that Hodkin’s disease, until then thought to be a form of tuberculosis, was a distinct disorder characterized by a specific blood cell, which was named the Reed cell after her.

In 1906, her marriage to Charles Mendenhall took Reed away forom the research laboratory. For ten years, she remined at home as mother of young children before returning to profesional life. She became a lecturer in Home Economics at University of wisconsin, where her principal concerns were collecting data about maternal and child health and preparing courses for new mothers.

Dorothy Reed Mendenhall’s career interests were reshaped by the requirements of marriage. Her passion for research was redirected to publichealth rather than laboratory science. Late in life, she concluded that she could not imagine life without her husband and sons, but she hoped for a future when marriage would not have to end a career of laboratory research.

1. What was Dorothy Reed’s area of research at Johns Hopkins?

a. Manufacturing

b. Pathology

c. Tuberculosis

d. Maternal health

2. Why did Reed stop working in the research laboratory?

a. Marriage required that she remain at home.

b. She became more interested in public health.

c. John Hopkins did not like women doing research.

d. Her work on Hodkin’s disease was completed.

3. What did dorothy Reed Mendenhall conclude about marriage?

a. Marriage inspired her passion for laboratory research.

b. It was mistake for her to give up her career for marriage.

c. Marriage need not keep women from careers in laboratory science.

d. Women cannot have both a happy marriage and successful career.

Answering Negative Fact

Laughter is a key to agood life and good health : it can diminish feelings of tension, anger and sadness. Just as exercise conditions our bodies, frequent laughter can trai our bodies to be healthier. When laughter is a regular experience, it lowers blood pressure and boosts brain chemicals that fight pain. It can also reduce stress hormones that increase vulnerabolity to illness, as well as increase hormones that have been shown to help produce restful sleep. Laughter is like an instant vacation in the way it changes our pysichobiology.

To make laughter a regular part of your life, try keeping a humor journal in which you record some of the amusing things that happen to you. Another technique is to crate a weekly fun time ti look forward to, such as watching a comedy video or having a dinner with friends that features joke telling. Another sure source of laughter is spending time with children and animals.

1. According to the passage, laughter provides all of the following benefits EXCEPT?

a. Elevating brain chemicals that prevent pain

b. Increasing the body’s vulnerability to illness

c. Promoting a more restful kind of sleep

d. Reducing feelings of stress and anger

2. The author recomends all of the following EXCEPT/

a. Playing tricks on family and friends

b. Planing a special fun time every week

c. Enjoying time with pets and children

d. Writing down humorous experiences