SAT® Reading and Writing Practice Question: Main Idea
Learn How to Quickly Identify a Complex Paragraph's Main Idea for Higher SAT® Scores. Also Great Practice for ACT® Reading.
Today’s practice is a mock SAT® Main Idea Question. For proper time management on test day, you should aim to answer this question correctly in about 60 seconds.
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Free SAT Practice Question
A group of literary scholars has recently published research to support their contention that societal dynamics in mid- and late-eighteenth-century France—specifically, widespread literacy and growing tensions between the aristocracy and an emerging middle class—contributed significantly to the development of the modern novel, and they have dated the form's emergence accordingly. It is not unimaginable that the modern novel derived from such a context, but privileging social conditions over longstanding evidence of seventeenth-century origins requires more robust confirmation than has been provided to date.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A) Although some scholars believe the modern novel emerged in eighteenth-century France, advocates for that view rely on evidence that has been challenged by proponents of an earlier dating.
B) Although some scholars have dated the modern novel to the eighteenth century, others have argued that doing so relies on a dubious account of French social conditions.
C) Although the modern novel aligns with French social conditions in the eighteenth century, it aligns equally well with conditions in the seventeenth century.
D) Although the claim of an eighteenth-century emergence for the modern novel has some plausibility, advocates for the claim haven't sufficiently justified prioritizing their evidence over evidence of an earlier date.
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