I would approach this with the math / piece strategies.
The first comma tells me that the first part (just as… faith) has a similar meaning to the second part (countering… churches). The “just as” and “so today” tell me that the last the first part has a similar meaning to the last part (so… sciences). Because only the second part doesn’t have a blank, I look there, and see they key word “countering”.
Given that there are no other “negative signs” in the first and third sections, I would then predict that both the first blank and the last blank have words that are closely related to “countering”. Option C fits best.
Very Nice, the strategy Does make sense,
But I do not understand How “Underground” can be related to the key word “countering”.
We have to be careful of words with multiple meanings. A secondary definition of underground, per google: “a group or movement organized secretly to work against an existing regime”
If you knew that underground COULD have a second meaning, you could still have a chance.
Based on the second blank, we know the answer must be (A - rebellion by), (B - antagonism toward), or (C - defiance against). Moving to the first blank, we can choose between “an individual”, “an accepted”, or “an underground”.
- (B) is incorrect (opposite of countering)
- (A) arguably requires too much justification/outside knowledge to fit ("well, an individual faith may be separate from established churches, which is almost like countering… maybe?)
- so you would have to make a judgment call on the selection of option (A) or (C)
Using process-of-elimination helped me to increase my odds of selecting the right answer. I had to do this a few times on the test, as my vocabulary is not perfect.
Ok. I understand Now. Thanks alot, it works for many other TC questions also
Of course, best of luck!