Dual Text Questions

Dual Text Questions
/Cross-Text Questions/Paired Text Questions

Two Texts - One Question

The Most Feared Question Type on the SAT?

Dual Text Questions have many names and are often feared because of the perceived amount of reading involved in them.

They look like more work but, usually, the combined text in both readings add up to about the same amount of reading as a single text question. Don't be intimidated!

Question Language

You will be able to recognise the dual text questions by the presence of two texts in the question. There is no need to recognise the type of question from key phrases in the question.

An example dual text question would be:
"Based on the texts, how would Author A (text 1) most likely respond to Author B's (text 2) findings?" OR

"Based on the texts, how would the sociologists and their colleagues (text 1) most likely describe the approach of the researchers in Text 2?"

This sounds obvious but it is very important with this question type.
If you can paraphrase the main argument of each text, you will likely do well on these questions.

Summarise each text in one sentence in your own words before looking at the answers!

Understand the main argument of each text

Dual Text Advice

One of the best ways to convince someone of something is to show why the opposite viewpoint is flawed.

An author may present and analyze a view with which they don't agree in an argumentative essay. Not everything in the text will necessarily represent what the author believes.

Differentiate between the author's viewpoint and the author's consideration of possible objections.

Dual Text Advice

Instead of having very clear pro and con arguments on a topic, the texts may have some similarities and very subtle differences.

For example, the texts could present somewhat different accounts of the same historical event or one text could provide an explanation for the events described in the other text.

Keep an open mind to determine the precise nature of the relationship between the two texts.

Relationships between the two texts will often be more nuanced (characterized by subtle shades of meaning or expression.)

Dual Text Advice

To summarise:

1. Understand the main argument of each text. (Paraphrase)

2. Differentiate between the author's viewpoint and the author's consideration of possible objections.

3. Realise that relationships between the two texts will often be nuanced.

Dual Text Advice

Practice -Slow Practice

Text 1

Through a combination of luck and perhaps cruelty, Beaumont's work has since led several scholarships, awards, and buildings to be named in his honor. Despite his unethical research methods, Beaumont's findings about the digestive tract have paved the way for further research in this field and have even led him to be called the Father of Gastric Physiology.

Practice -Slow Practice

Text 1

Through a combination of luck and perhaps cruelty, Beaumont's work has since led several scholarships, awards, and buildings to be named in his honor. Despite his unethical research methods, Beaumont's findings about the digestive tract have paved the way for further research in this field and have even led him to be called the Father of Gastric Physiology.

My paraphrase would be:

Despite controversial methods, Beaumont's digestive system discoveries earned him honors and the title Father of Gastric Physiology.

Practice -Slow Practice

Text 1

Through a combination of luck and perhaps cruelty, Beaumont's work has since led several scholarships, awards, and buildings to be named in his honor. Despite his unethical research methods, Beaumont's findings about the digestive tract have paved the way for further research in this field and have even led him to be called the Father of Gastric Physiology.

There are no real viewpoints or considerations of possible objections to contend with in this sentence.

We are ready to look at text 2 now.

Practice -Slow Practice

Text 2

Beaumont realized he could use St. Martin's unique wound to learn more about the mecha- nisms behind digestion-he just needed St. Martin to participate. Beaumont decided to ask St. Martin to sign a document, and St. Martin, being unable to read, had no idea he was signing away his rights. As he signed that document, St. Martin became a legally bound test- subject. In the over 200 subsequent experiments on St. Martin, Beaumont was able to gain an understanding of the human digestive system.

How can we summarise the above information in one sentence?

Practice -Slow Practice

Text 2

Beaumont realized he could use St. Martin's unique wound to learn more about the mechanisms behind digestion-he just needed St. Martin to participate. Beaumont decided to ask St. Martin to sign a document, and St. Martin, being unable to read, had no idea he was signing away his rights. As he signed that document, St. Martin became a legally bound test- subject. In the over 200 subsequent experiments on St. Martin, Beaumont was able to gain an understanding of the human digestive system.

My summary: Beaumont exploited St. Martin's unique wound, persuading him to unknowingly become a legally bound test subject, leading to over 200 experiments that provided crucial insights into the human digestive system.

Side by Side Summaries

Text 1:
Despite controversial methods, Beaumont's digestive system discoveries earned him honors and the title Father of Gastric Physiology.

Text 2:
Beaumont exploited St. Martin's unique wound, persuading him to unknowingly become a legally bound test subject, leading to over 200 experiments that provided crucial insights into the human digestive system.

What relationships can we see between these two texts? What is similar? What is different?
Now, let's look at the question and answers...

Side by Side Summaries

Text 1:
Despite controversial methods, Beaumont's digestive system discoveries earned him honors and the title Father of Gastric Physiology.
Text 2:
Beaumont exploited St. Martin's unique wound, persuading him to unknowingly become a legally bound test subject, leading to over 200 experiments that provided crucial insights into the human digestive system.

Based on the texts, the opinion of the author of Text 1 about the treatment of St. Martin in Text 2 would most likely be

(A) ambivalent.

(B) apathetic.

(C) flattering.

(D) antagonistic.

Everyone choose your answer before we reveal the correct answer and the justification for it.

Based on the texts, the opinion of the author of Text 1 about the treatment of St. Martin in Text 2 would most likely be

(A) ambivalent.

(B) apathetic.

(C) flattering.

(D) antagonistic.

You might find it most helpful to read the question first so that you have an idea of what you might focus on while you read the text.
Text 1 acknowledges the merit of Beaumont's digestive research, but also mentions his possible "cruelty" and the "unethical" nature of his research methods.
In Text 2 we learn that St. Martin unknowingly signed away his rights and became a digestive test subject. Without having St. Martin as a research subject, Beaumont would have been unlikely to learn as much as he did about the mechanisms of human digestion.
Given the positives and negatives of this situation, the author of Text 1 would most likely feel conflicted about St. Martin's treatment. Choice (A), “ambivalent,” means feeling conflicted making (A) the correct answer. "Apathetic" would indicate no opinion at all, "flattering" is too positive, and “antagonistic" is too negative.

To summarise:

1. Understand the main argument of each text. (Paraphrase)

2. Differentiate between the author's viewpoint and the author's consideration of possible objections.

3. Realise that relationships between the two texts will often be nuanced.

Dual Text Advice Refresher

Multiple Choice

Text 1

The commissioners are here on their way to Washington, and simply state that their instructions are to get the consent of our government to annex the islands... [Upon her abdication, Queen Liliuokalani stated:]

“I, Liliuokalani, by grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the constitutional government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a provisional government of and for this Kingdom."

Text 2

The queen's bold attempt to deprive the white residents of any voice in the affairs of government led to prompt retaliatory measures. The businessmen of the community named a “committee of safety," which proceeded immediately with the formation of a provisional government and the reorganization of the volunteer military companies which had been disbanded in 1890...

How do the two texts use quotation marks differently?

• (A) Text 1 uses them to label a term, while Text 2 uses them to quote a historical figure.

• (B) Text 1 uses them to quote a historical figure, while Text 2 uses them to label a term.

• (C) Both texts use them to designate quotations from historical figures.

• (D) Both texts use them to label terms.

Multiple Choice

Text 1

The great abundance of microplastics in marine and other environments is very detrimental to the ecosystem. In Japan, plastic-eating bacteria were discovered in a landfill. Since then, much research has been devoted to optimizing these bacteria so that they can eat plastic more quickly. It seems clear that plastic-eating bacteria are the most likely solution to our plastic crisis because the amount of plastic in the environment has built up to a point where it is already damaging the ecosystem.

Text 2

Right now, almost all of the plastics in the ocean are in macroscopic objects, but if they are broken down by plastic-eating bacteria, an explosion in the amount of microplastics in the ocean seems inevitable. This massive accumulation in microplastics could have an extremely detrimental effect on the ocean's ecosystem. Thus, plastic-eating bacteria must be carefully researched before these creatures are released into the ocean.

The relationship between the two texts is best summarized as

• (A) Text 1 presents an approach to solving a problem, while Text 2 is skeptical of this approach.

• (B) Text 1 considers and addresses each of the objections from Text 2.

• (C) Text 1 and Text 2 largely agree on both the nature of a problem and its best solution.

• (D) Text 1 dismisses a potential environmental issue, while Text 2 proposes a method to deal with the environmental issue.

Multiple Choice

Text 1

Not long before it was eradicated by vaccination, smallpox virus erased entire cultures on two continents, where fatality rates rose as high as 90%. For those who survived, it was a cause of permanent, often debilitating disfigurement. Prior to the HiB and DTaP vaccines, epiglottitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae, and diphtheria caused by Corynebacterium diptheriae were both exceedingly common causes of death in young children, largely because of their tendency to develop rapidly and obstruct the airway.

Text 2

Philosophically, medicine is premised on a balance between beneficence, and nonmaleficence. That is to say, for a medical intervention to be deemed ethical and appropriate, the risks of not treating an individual must always outweigh the risks inherent in the treatment itself. Risk accompanies every medical intervention, and vaccination is no exception.

Someone with the philosophy outlined in Text 2 would most likely have what response to the information presented in Text 1?

• (A) While smallpox is clearly a case in which vaccination would be recommended, it is not

  clear that any intervention in the case of diphtheria would be needed.

• (B) Children are an exception to the rule when it comes to whether medical interventions

  are needed in anticipation of savings someone's life.

• (C) It would be ethically unwarranted to use experimental interventions to preemptively treat relatively mild illnesses.

• (D) The use of the HiB and DTaP vaccines was clearly a case in which the risks of not treating individuals outweighed the risks of treating them.

Multiple Choice

The following is an excerpt adapted from Booker T. Washington's notable "Atlanta Exhibition Speech" in 1895. The second is part of a 1903 response, titled “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others," by W. E. B. Du Bois.

Text 1

Our greatest danger is, that in the great leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labor and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life ... It is at the bottom of life we must begin and not the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our opportunities.

Text 2

Mr. Washington represents... the old attitude of adjustment and submission, but adjustment at such a peculiar time as to make his program unique... Mr. Washington's program naturally takes an economic cast, becoming a gospel of work and money to such an extent as apparently almost completely to overshadow the higher aims of life.

Based on the texts, what Washington would most likely define as African American "compromise," Du Bois would most likely define as

• (A) treason

• (B) negotiation

• (C) obedience

• (D) persistence

Multiple Choice

Text 1

Many historians find that general trends tend to repeat themselves if you look far enough back through the records of humanity. It truly can be said that there is nothing new under the sun. Perhaps this is simply a function of how long humans have been around, but perhaps it also says something about just how similar all humans are, even across thousands of years.

Text 2

Studying fashion history is a lot like listening to remixes of your favorite songs. As you exam- ine textiles from around the world and through time, you'll see constantly that most "new" fashions are just old ideas remade. And so, the women's high-waisted shirts from the early 2000s weren't anything new or different: they were simply 18th-century empire-style gowns remixed for a new generation.

How would the historians of Text 1 most likely describe the high-waisted shirts from the early

2000s?

• (A) They are an example of a trend that recurs.

• (B) They demonstrate the modern revolution in fashion.

• (C) History will look upon them as being in poor taste.

• (D) They are altogether different from gowns in the 18th-century empire style.