Restarting my RC journey but with a better insight

Reading mechanism :
1)read each sentence with the purpose of understanding it.
2) look out for sentence flow shifting terms such as "however", "yet" etc
3) connect each sentence


Michael Lewis, the American journalist and non-fiction writer, originally studied art history as an undergraduate and worked for a prominent art dealer before obtaining a masters degree in economics at the London School of Economics.

introduces an author, his background and what he did. (purpose of the sentence)
lewis is a journalist and a non-fiction writer, did his UG in art history, did his MS in economics and worked at an art dealer (main point of the sentence)

After a short stint at Salomon Brothers, he wrote Liar’s Poker, which became a tremendous success. However, his fame and fortune continued to arc upward with the publication of Moneyball and The Big Short. Some argue that his education in the humanities, in addition to finance, greatly contributed to the popularity of his work.

tells more stuff about his doings, and introduces his book moneyball and the big short and where some say that due his knowledge in finance and humanities the book became great (purpose of the sentence)
he wrote liar's poker and that book became popular but his fame shot up with the book moneyball and the bigshort (main idea)


so the purpose of the 1st paragraph is to introduce an author with his basic history, with a book that made him famous
the main idea is lewis's book moneyball and bigshort made him famous in which he incorporated his knowledge of finance and humanity


An alternative explanation exists. Although baseball and Wall Street are not commonly associated, Lewis’s works concerning both those topics share more than the common theme of lucre.

this is the start of 2nd paragraph and right of the bat, it tells us that the purpose of this passage is to give an alternate explanation to his fame because of his book and why so?


All the books cited above focus on mavericks “gaming the system.” Lewis’s protagonists, such as Billy Beane of the small market Oakland Athletics and the small, out of the establishment traders that bet against mortgage derivatives, are smart non-conformists who rebel against monolithic systems by exploiting inherent inconsistencies.
Such a theme echoes the American nation-building construct—lone, free individuals winning against great odds by employing common sense and ingenuity. This is a story line that Americans hear from birth; it is no wonder that Lewis’s books are popular despite subjects that are not necessarily of universal interest. Further support for this thesis is that Moneyball became a major motion picture and a film of Liar’s Poker is in development. Of course, unlike baseball games, such debates can never be definitively scored.

this paragraph basically tells us the book moneyball and bigshort touches the theme of an american notion which touches which is why it became famous and provides further support for this compared to the first one which has only one support instead of 2 supports in the 2nd paragraph

so author favors the 2nd


The author primarily does which of the following?

(A) Contrasts two opposing theories for a process
(B) Discusses two suppositions and implicitly favors the latter
(C) Details two programs and definitively prefers the latter
(D) Describes a writer’s work and its dearth of popularity
(E) Outlines the biography of a writer and critiques his work

this is asking what is author is doing here.

is he comparing 2 explanations? no

he is discussing 2 explanations? yes, does he favor? this one is a little tricky so lets hang on to option B

is he explicitly saying that he prefers latter? or rather is he directly stating that he prefers the 2nd? no

dearth means lacking so option D is a big no, lewis clearly famous

and no its not critiquing anything


so Option B is correct

The author does all of the following EXCEPT

(A) employ an idiomatic expression
"to arc upward" is used in the first paragraph so its not option A

(B) describe the protagonists in question
well he does describe some protagonists so option B is out

(C) reference popular culture as evidence
well he does in the second paragraph "free individuals winning against great odds by employing common sense and ingenuity. " so its not option C

(D) discuss the parallels shared by Lewis’s two professions
he discusses the relation not parallel so yeah option D is correct

(E) mention his subject’s formative influences
this is described at the end of the 1st paragraph


option D is correct



this mechanism needs upgrades, refinements and speed boost.