Managing Difficult Passages

Even with the best pacing strategies, you will encounter passages in Section A that are genuinely difficult — dense philosophical arguments, abstract academic writing, unfamiliar scientific concepts, or arguments so subtle that the distinctions between answer options seem impossibly fine. This lesson provides specific techniques for extracting enough understanding from difficult passages to answer the questions correctly.

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Types of Difficulty

Not all "hard" passages are hard in the same way. Identifying the type of difficulty helps you choose the right strategy.

Type of Difficulty	Description	Example
Dense language	Complex sentences, academic vocabulary, multiple clauses	"The epistemological implications of this ontological commitment, notwithstanding the phenomenological objections..."
Abstract topic	The subject matter is unfamiliar and conceptual	The philosophy of punishment, theories of distributive justice
Complex argument	Multiple interlocking arguments, subtle distinctions, irony	A passage that presents three competing positions and favours a nuanced synthesis
Ambiguous author position	It is unclear which view the author endorses	The author describes several perspectives without clearly committing to one
Heavy qualification	Every claim is hedged and conditional	"It might tentatively be suggested that, under certain conditions, there could be some reason to believe..."

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Strategy 1: Anchor on the Conclusion

When a passage is overwhelmingly difficult, find the conclusion first and let everything else fall into place around it.

How to Find the Conclusion Quickly

1. Read the final paragraph first. The conclusion most often appears here.
2. Look for conclusion indicators: "Therefore", "Thus", "It follows that", "I argue that", "The key point is".
3. Ask: "What does the author want me to believe after reading this?" The answer is the conclusion.

Once you have the conclusion, the rest of the passage becomes easier to navigate. Every paragraph either supports the conclusion (premise), opposes it (counter-argument), or responds to opposition (rebuttal).

Key Principle: You do not need to understand every sentence in a difficult passage. You need to understand the conclusion and enough of the supporting structure to answer the questions.

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Strategy 2: Sentence-Level Decoding

When individual sentences are hard to parse, use this systematic approach:

Step 1: Find the Main Verb

Every sentence, no matter how complex, has a main subject and a main verb. Find these, and you find the core meaning.

Example:

"The suggestion that restorative justice, notwithstanding its documented success in reducing recidivism among first-time offenders, should be extended to cases involving serious violent crime, remains deeply controversial."

Main subject: "The suggestion" Main verb: "remains" Core meaning: The suggestion remains controversial.

Everything else is detail — important detail, but detail that modifies the core claim.

Step 2: Strip Away Qualifications

Mentally remove hedging language to reveal the underlying claim:

With Qualifications	Stripped Down
"It might be argued that there is some evidence to suggest..."	"There is evidence that..."
"While not without its limitations, the approach has demonstrated..."	"The approach has demonstrated..."
"Notwithstanding the objections raised by several commentators..."	[Someone objects, but...]

Step 3: Paraphrase in Simple Language

After decoding a difficult sentence, mentally restate it in the simplest possible terms:

• "The author is saying that X is controversial"
• "This paragraph is arguing that Y does not work"
• "The author disagrees with Z"

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Strategy 3: Map the Argument on Scratch Paper

For the most structurally complex passages, use scratch paper to create a quick argument map:

The Quick Argument Map Format

Write short labels for each paragraph:

P1: Background — prison rates rising
P2: View A — punishment works
P3: Evidence against A
P4: View B — rehabilitation better
P5: Evidence for B
P6: Author's conclusion — shift to rehabilitation

This takes 60–90 seconds but can save you 2–3 minutes when answering questions, because you know exactly where to look for specific information.

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Strategy 4: Use the Questions as a Guide

When a passage is difficult, the questions themselves can help you understand it. This reverses the normal strategy — instead of understanding the passage and then answering questions, you use the questions to guide your understanding.

How This Works