DAT RC tone questions, and the moderate-answer rule

DAT authors are professional academic writers writing for a serious test. They are not pundits. They are not advocates. Their tone is almost always measured. So why do students keep picking extreme answers?

The moderate-answer rule

On almost every DAT RC tone question, two of the four choices are visibly extreme. The other two are visibly moderate. The right answer is one of the moderate two roughly 9 times out of 10.

Extreme choices use words like enthusiastic, hostile, dismissive, contemptuous, fervent. Moderate choices use words like cautiously optimistic, qualified, measured, restrained, skeptical but open. The DAT prefers the latter.

Why this works

Academic writing has rules. One of them is that you do not state strong positions without serious hedging. An author writing about a controversial finding will say "the data suggest" not "the data prove." That hedge is the tone.

When you read a passage and feel like the author hates one side or loves another, slow down. They almost certainly do not. Strong feelings are reader projections. Measured language is the actual tone.

The summary-first technique

Before you look at the answer choices, close your eyes for 5 seconds and complete this sentence: "The author seems ___ about ___." Whatever word fills that first blank is your candidate tone. Then look at the choices and find the one closest to your word.

If your word is "supportive" and the choices are "enthusiastic," "qualified support," "neutral," and "skeptical," the answer is qualified support. Almost without exception.

What to do this week

1. 1
   Pull your last 3 timed sections.

   Find every tone question. Note which ones you missed.
2. 2
   For each miss, look at the choice you picked.

   Was it the most extreme of the four? If yes, the moderate-answer rule would have saved you.
3. 3
   On your next 20 tone questions, do the summary-first technique.

   Cover the choices with your hand. Say the tone in one phrase. Then reveal the choices.
4. 4
   Track tone accuracy specifically.

   Most students go from 50 to 80 percent on tone questions in 2 weeks of this drill alone.

See all 7 question patterns.

Related: Inference questions