Barring major archaeological discoveries, we are unlikely to ever have _______ account of ancient Egypt under the female pharaoh Hatshepsut,...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Barring major archaeological discoveries, we are unlikely to ever have _______ account of ancient Egypt under the female pharaoh Hatshepsut, as much of the evidence of her reign was deliberately destroyed by her successors.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Barring major archaeological discoveries, we are unlikely to ever have _______ account of ancient Egypt under the female pharaoh Hatshepsut" |
|
| [MISSING WORD] |
|
| "as much of the evidence of her reign was deliberately destroyed by her successors" |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Visual Structure Map:
[CONDITION: Unless major discoveries] → [MAIN CLAIM: Can't have _____ account of Hatshepsut] → [REASON: Evidence deliberately destroyed by successors]
Main Point: We cannot have a complete understanding of Hatshepsut's reign because later pharaohs deliberately destroyed the evidence.
Argument Flow: The passage sets up a conditional statement about our limitations in understanding ancient Egypt under Hatshepsut, then provides the reason—deliberate destruction of evidence by her successors.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The key relationship here is between the limitation (what we can't have) and the reason (evidence was destroyed)
- If evidence was deliberately destroyed, then we're missing information needed for a complete understanding
- The missing word should describe the type of account that would be impossible when crucial evidence is missing
- The word should indicate completeness or thoroughness—something that would require all available evidence to achieve
- The right answer should describe a comprehensive or complete type of account that we cannot have due to missing evidence
- "Imaginative" suggests creative or fictional
- Doesn't connect to the evidence destruction issue
- The problem isn't about imagination—it's about missing factual information
- "Superficial" means shallow or surface-level
- This suggests we could still have a shallow account
- But the passage implies we can't have the ideal type of account at all due to destroyed evidence
- "Exhaustive" means complete and thorough
- Perfectly connects to the evidence issue—you can't have an exhaustive account when evidence is missing
- Creates the logical relationship: destroyed evidence → incomplete knowledge → can't have exhaustive account
- "Questionable" suggests doubtful or unreliable
- While destroyed evidence might make some information questionable, the focus is on completeness, not reliability