Question 31

[e5]

Do you think you can tell me what passage#6 main idea is? Thank you!

[admin]

While you're reading the passage, try to visualize the following: there is a first year High School student sitting next to you. After you finished reading, you must summarize the entire passage for them. That will keep you alert while reading and help you simplify concepts and relations.

Also, note for the MCAT, a question involving the "main idea" (in this case, it was asked as "the primary concern"), should include information from the first and last paragraphs, somewhere in between (ie. P3, 1st sentence in this passage) AND, very importantly, the opinion of the author should be included in the main idea. If you look at answer choices A and B (Q31), there is no reference to the author's opinion. Answer choices C and D refer to the author's opinion but D is far too broad (for example, the consistency of the research is not discussed).

Thus the main idea is to convince the reader that the statistical techniques used in classifying hospitals are deficient and thus more research is necessary. Answer choice C is the best answer.

[admin]

bump

[cindshen3718]

I didn't choose C since it said existing techniques are "deficient". The author did describe a spectrum of techniques used, I believe. I would've chosen it if the option described the lack of efficient techniques instead of the lack of all techniques.