Read the following passage.
A. Elsie MacGill was born in Vancouver in 1905. Her mother, Helen Gregory MacGill, later became a Juvenile Court judge in British Columbia. Elsie studied at the University of British Columbia and then at the University of Toronto, where in 1927 she became the first woman in Canada to graduate in electrical engineering. She went on to study aeronautical engineering at the University of Michigan. Shortly before she finished, she became ill with polio and could not walk, but she still received her master's degree in 1929, the first woman in North America to earn one in that field. About three years later she was walking again, with two canes.
B. MacGill began her design career in 1934 at Fairchild Aircraft in Longueuil, Quebec. There she worked on the Super 71, the first aircraft designed and built in Canada with a metal fuselage. She also became the first woman member of the Engineering Institute of Canada. In 1938 she was hired as chief aeronautical engineer at the Canadian Car and Foundry plant in Fort William, now Thunder Bay. There she designed a training plane, the Maple Leaf II, and she is credited as the first woman in the world to design an aircraft.
C. A few weeks after war began in 1939, she learned that the plant would build military aircraft on a large scale. She was put in charge of all engineering work on the Hawker Hurricane, a British-designed fighter, and the factory was retooled for mass production. About 1,450 Hurricanes were built there, and she also designed a winter version with skis and de-icing equipment. In 1942 an American comic book series called her the 'Queen of the Hurricanes'. The plant then took on a contract to build Helldiver bombers for the American navy. Her job ended in 1943, when she and the plant manager, Bill Soulsby, were both fired on the same day.
D. MacGill then moved to Toronto and started her own engineering consulting business. In 1946 she became the first woman to serve as a technical adviser to the International Civil Aviation Organization. A fall in 1953 put her back in a wheelchair. In 1955 she published My Mother the Judge, a biography of her mother. From 1967 to 1970 she was one of the seven members of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. For the rest of her life she worked to see as many as possible of its 167 recommendations to the federal government put into effect.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: B
Why this is correct: The second paragraph says her design career began at Fairchild Aircraft. There she worked on the Super 71, which had a metal fuselage. A fuselage is the main body of a plane, so this matches.
Passage Reference: There she worked on the Super 71, the first aircraft designed and built in Canada with a metal fuselage.
Tips: Find her first design job. Then check what one model's body was made of.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph is about her studies and her illness. She has not yet started any design job.
- C: The third paragraph covers the Hurricane and Helldiver work during the war. That came after her first job, and it says nothing about metal.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it describes her own consulting business in Toronto, not the first place she worked.
- E: Her work on the Super 71 at Fairchild is in Paragraph B, and the metal fuselage is named in that sentence.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: In 1955 she published My Mother the Judge, a biography of her mother.
Why this is correct: In 1955 she published My Mother the Judge, a biography of her mother, as paragraph D reports. A biography is a book about someone's life, and 1955 is late in the story of her career.
Tips: Her mother is mentioned twice. Ask which time Elsie writes something about her.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A introduces her mother as a judge in British Columbia, but it says nothing about Elsie writing about her.
- B: The second paragraph is about her first design jobs and the Maple Leaf II. Her mother does not appear.
- C: The Hurricane work and her dismissal in 1943 fill paragraph C, with no book mentioned.
- E: Both details are in paragraph D: the book is called My Mother the Judge, and it is a biography of her mother.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: She was put in charge of all engineering work on the Hawker Hurricane, a British-designed fighter, and the factory was retooled for mass production.
Why this is correct: The third paragraph says about 1,450 Hurricanes were built at the plant she worked for. It was a British-designed fighter. The paragraph never compares her plant's speed with any factory in Britain.
Tips: A comparison needs two sides in the text. Britain appears only as the place the plane was designed.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A ends with her recovery and walking again. The Hurricane has not appeared yet.
- B: The second paragraph gets her to the Fort William plant but mentions no fighter planes or any British factory.
- C: The third paragraph gives a total for the Hurricanes built in Fort William but no speed and no comparison with Britain.
- D: Paragraph D covers her later career, from her consulting business to the Royal Commission. It does not mention the Hurricane at all.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: Her job ended in 1943, when she and the plant manager, Bill Soulsby, were both fired on the same day.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: her job ended in 1943. She and the plant manager, Bill Soulsby, were both fired on the same day. Being fired means losing your job.
Tips: Look for 1943 first. Then check whether the plant's manager lost his job along with her.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A deals with her education in the 1920s, long before 1943.
- B: Notice that paragraph B tells how she was hired at the plant in 1938. It does not say how the job ended.
- D: The fourth paragraph opens after the job ended, with her move to Toronto. The firing itself is not described there.
- E: The firing of both people in 1943, and the manager's name, appear in the last sentence of Paragraph C.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: She also became the first woman member of the Engineering Institute of Canada.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B reports that she became the first woman member of the Engineering Institute of Canada. Its name tells you it is a group of engineers in Canada, and she was the first woman to join it.
Tips: The passage lists many things she did before anyone else. Look for the one where she joins a group of engineers.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Look at paragraph A: it lists her university firsts, in Canada and in North America, but not membership of a professional group.
- C: Notice that paragraph C gives her a nickname from a comic book, which is not membership of a group of engineers.
- D: The fourth paragraph names the International Civil Aviation Organization, where she was an adviser, not a member of an engineers' group.
- E: Her place as the first woman in the Engineering Institute of Canada is stated in Paragraph B.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: MacGill then moved to Toronto and started her own engineering consulting business.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says she moved to Toronto and started her own engineering consulting business. It gives no reason for this choice and says nothing about companies refusing to hire her.
Tips: A statement that begins a reason with 'because' needs a reason in the text. Here the text gives only the fact.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph is about her studies and polio. Toronto appears only as the city where she earned her first degree.
- B: Look at paragraph B: it describes jobs she did get, at Fairchild and at the plant in Fort William.
- C: Notice that paragraph C ends with her being fired in 1943, but it does not say anyone in Toronto turned her down.
- D: Notice that paragraph D reports that she opened a consulting business in Toronto, yet it never explains why.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: From 1967 to 1970 she was one of the seven members of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women.
Why this is correct: The fourth paragraph says that from 1967 to 1970 she was a member of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. That is three years on a commission about women's position.
Tips: Find the royal commission. Then check the two years given and work out how long she served.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph mentions women's firsts in her studies, but no commission.
- B: Look at paragraph B: it names the Engineering Institute of Canada, an engineers' group, not a commission on women.
- C: Wartime factory work is the subject of paragraph C. It gives her no role on any public body.
- E: Notice that paragraph D gives the dates 1967 to 1970 and names the Royal Commission on the Status of Women.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Shortly before she finished, she became ill with polio and could not walk, but she still received her master's degree in 1929, the first woman in North America to earn one in that field.
Why this is correct: The first paragraph says that shortly before she finished her studies at Michigan, she became ill with polio and could not walk. Polio is the disease in the statement.
Tips: Two health problems come up in her life. Check which one is an illness and when each one happened.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph starts with her first job at Fairchild Aircraft in 1934, well after her illness, which it does not mention.
- C: What does paragraph C cover? Her work on military aircraft, with nothing about her health.
- D: Paragraph D mentions a fall in 1953 and a wheelchair. But that was an accident years later, not a disease during her studies.
- E: Her polio, and the fact that she could not walk, come in Paragraph A, just before her 1929 degree.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Elsie studied at the University of British Columbia and then at the University of Toronto, where in 1927 she became the first woman in Canada to graduate in electrical engineering.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph A says that in 1927 she became the first woman in Canada to graduate in electrical engineering. If she was the first, no Canadian woman had that degree before her.
Tips: She broke new ground many times. Pick the time that is about electrical engineering.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph gives other firsts, such as the first woman to design an aircraft, but not this degree.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it gives her a famous nickname, not a first in her education.
- D: The fourth paragraph has a first too, at the International Civil Aviation Organization, but it is a job, not a degree.
- E: The University of Toronto degree in 1927, and the fact that she was first, sit in Paragraph A.
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