SAT #13 (Question 6)

Question

According to the passage, one point of disagreement between Tchartkoff and his professor concerns whether [...]?

Answer 1

Answer Choice C is the correct answer because Lines 36-39 say, “he already saw something in [the ancient pictures], though in private he did not agree with the professor that the secrets of the old masters are irremediably lost to us.” This Text most clearly tells us about “one point of disagreement” between Tchartkoff and his professor, and most clearly matches Answer Choice C which says that the two disaggree over whether “nineteenth-century painters had been able to expand on the insights of the old masters.” Answer Choice A is incorrect because neither character in the Passage makes the claim that “making money from selling paintings destroys artistic integrity.” Answer Choice B is incorrect because both characters would agree with the claim that “fashionable artists are capable of making enough money from their art to support themselves.” Answer Choice D is incorrect because neither character in the Passage expresses a view about whether “nonprofessional painters are capable of producing serious artworks.”

How to solve this? The Question asks, “According to the passage, one point of disagreement between Tchartkoff and his professor concerns whether [...]?” To solve this, we should go back to the Passage and find a text that tells us about a disagreement between Tchartkoff and his professor. Using the [Question Order Rule], we should expect our Text to come between Lines 18 and 50.

Going back to the Passage, we should notice Lines 36-39 which tell us clearly something about their disagreement and says “he already saw something in [the ancient pictures], though in private he did not agree with the professor that the secrets of the old masters are irremediably lost to us.” Although this point doesn’t seem to be central for the Passage overall, because it so clearly tells us about a point of disagreement between the two characters, we should expect that it will be our Text and see if any answer choice corresponds to it.

Answer Choice A says [...].