While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:Maria Rodriguez began her community organizing career in 2018, focusing...
GMAT Expression of Ideas : (Expression) Questions
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Maria Rodriguez began her community organizing career in 2018, focusing on traditional door-to-door canvassing approaches.
- By 2020, she had organized several successful neighborhood events using conventional indoor meeting formats.
- In early 2021, the pandemic forced her to suspend in-person gatherings and explore alternative engagement methods.
- Rodriguez experimented with outdoor "walking meetings" where residents discussed community issues while strolling through neighborhoods.
- These informal gatherings proved more effective than traditional meetings, with participation rates doubling.
- By late 2021, Rodriguez had formalized this approach into a comprehensive "mobile civic engagement" program.
- The program now serves as a model for organizers across the region.
The student wants to begin a narrative about the evolution of Rodriguez's organizing methods. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Rodriguez's outdoor "walking meetings" proved more effective than traditional meetings, with participation rates doubling across neighborhoods.
Beginning with traditional door-to-door canvassing in 2018, Maria Rodriguez's community organizing methods evolved through pandemic-era experimentation to become a model mobile civic engagement program.
In early 2021, the pandemic forced Maria Rodriguez to suspend in-person meetings and explore alternative engagement methods.
Maria Rodriguez's mobile civic engagement program now serves as a model for community organizers across the region.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Maria Rodriguez began her community organizing career in 2018, focusing on traditional door-to-door canvassing approaches." |
|
| "By 2020, she had organized several successful neighborhood events using conventional indoor meeting formats." |
|
| "In early 2021, the pandemic forced her to suspend in-person gatherings and explore alternative engagement methods." |
|
| "Rodriguez experimented with outdoor walking meetings where residents discussed community issues while strolling through neighborhoods." |
|
| "These informal gatherings proved more effective than traditional meetings, with participation rates doubling." |
|
| "By late 2021, Rodriguez had formalized this approach into a comprehensive mobile civic engagement program." |
|
| "The program now serves as a model for organizers across the region." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Maria Rodriguez evolved from using traditional community organizing methods to pioneering a successful mobile civic engagement approach that became a regional model.
Argument Flow: The notes trace a clear progression from Rodriguez's conventional organizing methods in 2018-2020, through the pandemic-driven need for alternatives in 2021, to her experimental walking meetings that proved more effective, ultimately leading to a formalized program that now influences organizers regionally.
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
- Since we're beginning a narrative about evolution, the right answer should span multiple time periods and show progression
- It should start with her original methods and trace the development to her current approach
- A good narrative beginning about evolution would establish where she started, hint at the journey of change, and indicate where she ended up
- The notes show a clear timeline: traditional methods (2018) to pandemic disruption to experimentation to formalized new program to regional model
- An effective opening should capture this arc of change
Rodriguez's outdoor "walking meetings" proved more effective than traditional meetings, with participation rates doubling across neighborhoods.
- Focuses only on comparing walking meetings to traditional meetings
- Doesn't establish the timeline or evolution—just presents one comparison
- Missing the broader narrative arc from beginning to current state
Beginning with traditional door-to-door canvassing in 2018, Maria Rodriguez's community organizing methods evolved through pandemic-era experimentation to become a model mobile civic engagement program.
- Spans the complete timeline from 2018 beginning to current model status
- Shows clear progression: traditional methods to pandemic experimentation to model program
- Uses evolved language that directly matches the question's focus on evolution
- Creates perfect narrative opening by establishing starting point and indicating the journey
In early 2021, the pandemic forced Maria Rodriguez to suspend in-person meetings and explore alternative engagement methods.
- Focuses only on the single moment of pandemic disruption
- Doesn't show evolution—just one catalyst event
- Missing the starting point, progression, and outcome that make a narrative about evolution
Maria Rodriguez's mobile civic engagement program now serves as a model for community organizers across the region.
- Presents only the current end state as a regional model
- No indication of evolution or change over time
- Missing the starting point and progression that create the narrative of evolution