Which one of the following words as used in passage B comes closest to having the same reference as the word "crucibl...

Victoria on September 22, 2019

Hi @Ryan-Mahabir,

Passage B claims that "literature considered for the first time at the appellate level is not subject to live comment by practicing experts and cannot be tested in the crucible of the adversarial system."

A crucible is "a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development." In this way, 'engine' is the word that comes closest to having the same reference as 'crucible' as the engine is the force that makes things (i.e. changes or developments) happen.

B is incorrect because, while the creditability of the literature may be addressed in the adversarial system, it is not the only aspect of the literature that will be under scrutiny. If we assume that we are referring to the adversarial system and not the literature itself, then there is no real difference between the adversarial system and the appellate level save the lack of live comment by practicing experts. Even though there is no chance for live comment at the appellate level, this does not mean that the appellate level is less credible than the adversarial system.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.

TimB on March 10, 2020

Is this a common question type? Are there any strategies to tackle this without it becoming a time trap?

Victoria on August 3, 2020

Hi @TimB,

I'm unsure exactly how common this type of question is, but it's something you should be prepared to see, if not on your actual exam, then at least in several practice exams.

The best way to address this question type is to go back to the sentence in question and determine what the word means in this context prior to looking at any of the answer choices. Predicting what the answer will be can save you time in examining all the possible answer choices.

If you find that these questions take you longer than you'd like, skip it and leave it until the end if you have time. Answering these questions correctly does not require an understanding of the full passage; you simply need to understand what the word means in its immediate context.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.