How to succeed in EPSO verbal reasoning tests, volume 2 by Franco Reverte José María

How to succeed in EPSO verbal reasoning tests, volume 2 by Franco Reverte José María

Author:Franco Reverte, José María [Franco Reverte, José María]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-07-11T00:00:00+00:00


Solution :

The first sentence of the passage provides us with a good overview of the article’s topic and, in addition, offers us the key to check the first answer option:

Croatia’s capital and largest city, Zagreb, has a rich history, impressive architecture, multiple cultural spaces, and excellent connectivity, so it deserves to be one of Europe’s favourite destinations for a great value city break.

Option A: Zagreb is today one of Europe’s favourite destinations because of its rich history and multiple cultural spaces, among other reasons .

This alternative looks ‘attractive’ to the candidate, because it does not present absolute or extreme statements: ‘one of the favourite destinations’ is more flexible than ‘the favourite destination in Europe’, and ‘among other reasons’ is an open expression that admits other possible causes. So, in principle, it sounds good as a potentially true answer.

However, there is a fundamental difference in the meaning of the sentence ‘Zagreb […] deserves to be one of Europe’s favourite destinations’ and the statement ‘Zagreb is today one of Europe’s favourite destinations’. The first is certainly an opinion of the author of the article, but this is not confirmed in the text as a fact. We must refuse this option.

Option B: The gingerbread heart known as licitarsko srce is today considered to have a relevant role in Croatia’s cultural heritage .

Note that a word (or a couple of words) in another language is often a good keyword to scan the passage, because it is easier to detect and even written in italics or in quotation marks.

The Croatian words for this gingerbread heart lead us to the second sentence of the article :

The licitarsko srce – a gingerbread heart decorated with red and white icing – is Zagreb’s best known souvenir , a sweet treat with a long history .

Meanwhile, the words ‘cultural heritage’ drive us to the last sentence:

These gingerbread hearts are considered to be such an important aspect of Croatia’s culture that UNESCO has given them Intangible Cultural Heritage status.

When we analyse both sentences in combination, we can deduce that these gingerbread hearts have an important role in Croatia’s cultural heritage indeed. Moreover, this has been acknowledged by UNESCO, by awarding them the status of intangible cultural heritage.

Curiously, in order to prove the statement of this answer option, we have not only a direct reference in the text about these biscuits’ important aspect of Croatia’s culture , but also the ‘official certification’ from the competent international organisation declaring this. We could say that this statement is meta-proven by the passage and the competent authority! (This is like the dream of a ‘verbal reasoner’, do not you think?).

Therefore, option B is the (most) correct answer (ever made).

Note : As we said in our first book, when you are reasonably sure that you found the right answer (and not being necessary an official certification from the authority, of course), you can move on to the next question in your exam and save time for other questions. In any case, we always offer our analysis of all options to provide full feedback to our readers.



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