269Section II MCAT Skills6.1: CARS Passage Structure and StrategyThe SCAN Step: TriageRead this passage excerpt:W.H. Auden’s reputation, already declining by the1950s, reached its nadir with the publication ofhis posthumous collectionThank You, Fog(1974).Critics almost unanimously found his last worktrite and garrulous. Indeed, the assessment hasserved as a retrospective judgment on the poet’sfinal three decades.Now try this one:The simple notion that the president proposesand Congress disposes is greatly complicated bythe fragmentation of power within each branch.Moreover, efforts to make fiscal policy morecoherent have added new power centers withoutconsolidating old ones. Presidents have triedvarious coordination mechanisms including “troika”arrangements and an almost infinite variety ofcommittees . . .Now try this one:The notion of realism in literature is based largelyon the implicit belief that writers can accuratelytransform common objects or ideas from life intowords on a page while maintaining an accuraterepresentation of the object or idea. If an authorwrites a novel which seems believable, meaning thata reader can imagine events in the novel actuallyhappening, then that book is often considered a“realistic” work of literature.What is the passage type?Would you read this passage now or later?What is the passage type?Would you read this passage now or later?What is the passage type?Would you read this passage now or later?KAPLAN TIPDon’t forget to triage on Test Day! This will increase your efficiency whiletaking the test.
