PSAT Reading Question 445: Answer and Explanation

Question: 445

The general point Douglass conveys in the first paragraph (lines 1–13) about knowing one's age is that

• A. slaves managed to celebrate birthdays through careful estimations of their actual ages.
• B. slaves were not granted basic personal identifying characteristics taken for granted by others.
• C. there were some kind masters who overcame societal prejudice to see slaves as people, not property.
• D. slaves did not know the fundamentals of arithmetic, having been denied math education by their masters.

Correct Answer: B

Explanation:

(B) Notice the question asks for a general point, or main idea, from the first paragraph. In these lines, Douglass discusses his broad autobiographical information, his birthplace and age, emphasizing the obscurity about his age. The rest of the paragraph expresses that this ignorance is commonplace among slaves. Choice (A) wrongly assumes celebration, which is not mentioned here. Choice (C) is not evidenced; "kind" masters are referenced as those who give their slaves permission to visit another plantation—an allowance that is far from overcoming prejudice. Math education, although conceivable as a detail, is not the main point of the first paragraph, eliminating choice (D).