Read the following passage carefully and answer Question. Initially, most…
2020
Read the following passage carefully and answer Question.
Initially, most children want to do well in school. But the student who has experienced consistent failure in the classroom tends to lower his own expectations concerning school success. He may direct his energy outside the classroom to athletics or youth gangs or to other areas where he can experience the satisfaction of success. The student who has been negatively evaluated in the classroom rationalizes that school is not important to him because he believes it is impossible for him to succeed there.
If a student is to continue to expect to do well in school, he needs to receive some positive evaluations for his academic performance. If an individual is to develop a positive concept of himself as a student, he needs to perform competently and to receive evaluations that interprets to be positive within his own frame of reference. When the student is perceived as a less competent learner, forces are set in motion that reduce the chances that his potential will be developed to its fullest extent in school. The other students and his teachers may come to view him as having less potential than he really has. The academic goals he sets for himself and those that are set for him by his well-intentioned teachers may not sufficiently challenge his true abilities. A student may divert his own personal resources to non-academic areas because he believes that success in academic subjects is not open to him. If he does not apply his maximum efforts to learning school subjects, he may fail to acquire some of the skills and knowledge he needs as a basis for further learning.
Ques: When a student is considered as less than competent what can be the outcome?
(A) He may feel that his potential is not properly assessed.
(B) He may think that others do not want him to succeed in academics.
(C) Others in the school may rate his potential less than what he actually possesses.
(D) He may divert his personal resources to non-academic areas.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
- A.
(A), (B) and (C) only
- B.
(B), (C) and (D) only
- C.
(A), (C) and (D) only
- D.
(A), (B), (C) and (D)
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept
A reading-comprehension item is settled by INFERENCE FROM THE PASSAGE ONLY: a candidate statement counts as an outcome when the text supports it, and is dropped when the text contradicts it or stays silent. So the method is to test each statement against the passage, keep the supported ones, discard any the passage denies, and then match the surviving set to a single option.
Application
The passage describes what happens once a learner is perceived as less than competent. Test the four statements against it:
His potential is not properly assessed: the goals set for him — by his teachers and by himself — "may not sufficiently challenge his true abilities," which is only possible if whoever set those goals under-rated his ability; the passage treats this as a real consequence. This rests on the goal-setting sentence, a different textual anchor from the next statement's point about how others come to view him. Supported by inference from that sentence, not by a verbatim match.
Others do not WANT him to succeed: the passage calls those same teachers "well-intentioned." Their goodwill is asserted directly; what is too low is their ESTIMATE of his ability, not their wish for his success. The text therefore denies this statement. Not supported.
Others may rate his potential below what he actually possesses: stated almost word-for-word — the other students and teachers "may come to view him as having less potential than he really has." Supported.
He may divert personal resources to non-academic areas: stated almost word-for-word — "A student may divert his own personal resources to non-academic areas." Supported.
Cross-check
Three statements survive the passage test and only one is directly contradicted by the "well-intentioned" wording — none of the other three has any passage statement working against it. A correct option must therefore contain the three survivors and exclude only the contradicted one. "(A), (C) and (D) only" is the single offered option that does this; the remaining choices each retain the one statement the passage explicitly rules out, which is why they fail.