THE MATERIAL OF STATED AND UNSTATED QUESTION

 1.      STATED DETAIL QUESTIONS

A stated detail question asks about one piece of information in the passage rather than the passage as a whole. The answers to these questions are generally given in order in the passage, and the correct answer is often a restatement of what is given in the passage. This means that the correct answer often expresses the same idea as what is written in the passage, but the words are not exactly the same.

If there are stated detail questions, students should identify those questions. The questions of stated detail questions are as follow

ü      How to identify the question.

• According to the passage…..
• It is stated in the passage ……..
• The passage indicates that ………
• Which of the following is true ……..

ü      Where to find the answer.

• The answer to these questions are found in order in the passage.

ü      How to answer the question.

• Choose a key word in the question.
• Skim in the appropriate part of the passage for the key word or idea.
• Read the sentence that contains the key word or idea carefully.
• Eliminate the definitely wrong answers and choose the best answer from the remaining choices.

EXAMPLE  OF STATED QUESTION

Finally, for a fear to truly be a phobia, it must be recurring. That is, if the man on the plane had flown before without incident and continued to use planes after this one panic attack without experiencing further bouts of unreasonable fear, then he would not be said to be suffering from a phobia. A true aviophobic could never contemplate flying in any form without experiencing severe symptoms of acute nervousness. In this case, the man’s single onset of severe panic would most likely be viewed as symptomatic of some other mental disorder, perhaps brought on by unrelated stresses in his life. Obviously, the fact that phobias are recurring fears, or rather, that they involve constant fear of the object of the phobia, should not be taken to mean that the fear can never be overcome. A person who is suffering from a phobia may, either through great effort of will, or, more likely, through a course of psychiatric treatment, conquer his phobia and cease to be frightened of whatever it was he was formerly afraid of. 

Question:

1. According to the author, in paragraph 4, what might be one cause of a single instance of a phobic-like episode?
2. Seeing plane crashes on the news
3. Watching too much violent television
4. Possessing a desire for public attention
5. Having too much stress in one’s life

Analysis:

(D) is the correct answer. It is stated directly in the text. (A) is incorrect. Seeing plane crashes on the news is mentioned as something that might cause non-phobic nervousness in airline passengers. (B) and (C) are not mentioned in the passage.

2.      UNSTATED DETAIL QUESTIONS

Unstated detail question is while sometimes you will be asked in the Reading Comprehension section of the TOEFL test to find an answer that is not stated or not mentioned or not true in the passage. This type of questions really means that three of the answers are stated, mentioned, or true in the passage, while one answer is not. Your actual job is to find the three correct answers and then choose the letter of the one remaining answer. You should note that there are two kinds of answers to this type of question:

(1) there are three true answers and one answer that is not discussed in the passage, or

 (2) there are three true answers and one that is false according to the passage.

To answer the unstated detail question, you may follow the same steps as to find the stated detail question. But then you have to come up with the untrue answer.

ü      How to identify the question

·         Which of the following is not stated…?

·         Which of the following is not mentioned…?

·         Which of the following is not discussed…?

·         All of the following are true except.

ü      Where to find the answer

·         The answer to these questions are found in order in the passage

ü      How to answer the question

·         Choose a key word in the question.

·         Scan the appropriate place in the passage for key word (or related idea).

·         Read the sentence that contains the key word or idea carefully.

·         Look for answers that are definitely true according to the passage. Eliminate those answer.

·         Choose the answer that is not true or not discussed in the passage.

EXAMPLE OF UNSTATED QUESTION

In English, there are many different kinds of expressions that people use to give a name to anything whose name is unknown or momentarily forgotten. The word gadget is one such word. It was first used by British sailors in the 1850s and probably came from the French word gachette, which was a small hook. In everyday use, the word has a more general meaning. Other words are also used to give a name to something unnamed or unknown, and these words tend to be somewhat imaginative. Some of the more commonly used expressions are a what-d’ye-call-it, a whatsis, a thingamabob, a thingamajig, a doodad, or a doohickey.

Question:

1. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as an expression for something that is not known?

1. A what-is-it

2. A gadget

3. A thingamabob

4. A doohickey

Analysis :

This question asks for the one answer that is not mentioned, so three of the answers are listed in the passage and one is not. You should look for the three answers that are mentioned. Since gadget, thingamabob, and doohickey are listed in the passage, the second, third, and fourth answers are incorrect. A what-is-it is not listed in the passage, so the first answer is the best answer to this question.

Exercise :

The PASSAGE  no  1 (BOBOT 40)

Williamsburg is a historic city in Virginia that was settled by English colonists in 1633, twenty-six years after the first permanent English colony in America was settled at Jamestown.  In the beginning, the colony at Williamsburg was named Middle Plantation because of its location in the middle of a peninsula between two rivers, the York and the James. The site for Williamsburg had been selected by the colonists because the soil drainage was better there than at the Jamestown location, and there were fewer mosquitoes.

The question    :

1.The passage indicates that Jamestown

(A). was settled in 1663

(B). was settled twenty-six years after Williamsburg

(C). was the first permanent English coloni in America

(D). was originally named Middle Plantation
   PASSAGE TWO no 2-3

The Florida Keys are a beautiful chain of almost 1,000 coral and limestone islands These islands form an arc that heads first southwest and then west from the mainland. U.S. Highway 1, called the Overseas Highway connects the main islands in the chain. On this highway, it is necessary to cross 42 bridges over the ocean to cover the 159 miles from Miami on the mainland, to Key West the farthest island on the highway and the southernmost city in the United States.

The questions:

2. Which of the following is NOT mentioned about the Florida Keys? (BOBOT 30)

(A) The Florida Keys are a chain of islands.
(B) The Florida Keys contain coral and limestone
(C) The Florida Keys are in the shape of an arc.
(D) The Florida Keys are not all inhabited.

3. Which of the following is NOT true about U.S. Highway 1? (BOBOT 30)

(A) It is also known as the Overseas Highway
(B) It joins all of the islands in the Florida Keys.
(C) It has more than 40 bridges
(D) It connects Miami and Key West

check your answer here    :

No 1. (C). Because, the passage directly states that Jamestown was the first permanent English colony in America.

No 2.  (D). Because, the passage does not discuss whether or not the keys are all inhabited.

No 3.  (B). Because, the passage states that the Overseas Highway connects the main islands in the chain, so it does not connect all of the islands.

REFERENCES :

http://mastering-reading.blogspot.co.id/2010/09/skill-3-answer-stated-detail-questions.html https://bahasainggrisfirst.wordpress.com/2014/09/07/answer-stated-and-unstated-detail-question-correctly/