For these types of questions, you need to do the following 3 things in order…
Read the question and realize that you are dealing with a ‘Summarizing the Main Conclusion’ type question
Read the passage and look for the conclusion, when you have found it, underline it
Match what you have underlined with one of the answers
Conclusions
A conclusion as it relates to the IMAT critical thinking section can be defined as the following…
The most important opinion of the author
The reason the author wrote the passage
The essence of the passage
Ask yourself ‘what is the author trying to convince me of? What is the reason they wrote this passage’?
Conclusion Signals
Remember that a conclusion is the writers opinion. There are some signal words that hint that an opinion is coming, these signal words include (but are not limited to) …
‘‘In conclusion…’’
‘‘To sum up…’’
‘‘Therefore…’’
‘‘Thus…’’
‘‘Hence…’’
‘‘It thus stands to reason…’’
‘‘It then goes without saying that…’’
Also remember that the conclusion expresses what the author wants to convince you of. There are some signal words that hint that this is coming…