Reading comp PrepTest 101 · Section 1 · Question 12

Topic: Social Sciences

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Background on Pico Korea Union (championed by Korean Americans, who were affected by PKU's dispute)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Author's view:
    • The Pico Korea Union's dispute was supported by an extraordinary collection of Korean-American groups and had a profound effect on the Korean-American community (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "championed" (last sentence); "deeply affected" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • How the PKU’s dispute affected KA community (increased young KAs' interest in politics/culture, expanded KA’s political base)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • List of ways the Pico Korea Union's dispute affected the Korean-American community, according to the author:
    • Unified a diverse Korean-American community (first sentence)
    • Increased the political awareness of second-generation Korean Americans (second sentence)
    • Promoted second-generation Korean American's interest in their cultural identity (third and fourth sentences)
    • Expanded the political base of the Korean-American community to include recent working-class immigrants, who gave the community a more global perspective on working conditions (fifth and sixth sentences)
    • Created new alliances between the Korean-American community and progressive labor and social justice groups (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "rallying focus for a diverse community often divided" (first sentence); "Most notably" (second sentence); "mobilized" (second sentence); "can help to globalize the perspective" (sixth sentence); "can help to establish international ties on a more personal level" (sixth sentence); "especially warm" (sixth sentence); "as evidenced" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • Why PKU dispute affected KA community (strong human component of PKU's demands)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
    • The strong human component and a lack of an ideological bent to the Pico Korea Union's demands caused members of the Korean-American community to put aside their differences and focus on the Union's demands for social justice and workers' rights (first and second sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "strong human component" (second sentence); "larger concerns" (second sentence); "unencumbered" (third sentence); "economic exploitation" (last sentence); "underscored the common interests" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

• Paragraph note
  • Lesson of PKU's dispute (joining labor/social struggle in original country can unify immigrant community)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Author's view:
    • The Pico Korea Union's visit shows that the most effective way to unify and empower an immigrant community may be joining a fight for economic and social justice in their country of origin (first through last sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "offers an important lesson" (first sentence); "need more than just knowledge" (second sentence); "perhaps the most effective means" (last sentence); "may be" (last sentence)

Main Point: The Pico Korea Union's dispute over unpaid wages mobilized and unified the diverse Korean-American community against the economic exploitation of these workers and offers an important lesson on how to empower immigrant communities.

Paragraph 1, Sentence 2 (P1, S2) - Author summarizes how PKU affected KA community

P4, S3 - Author summarizes lesson to take away from PKU's dispute

Importance of Subject: This passage utilizes the Importance of Subject Meta-Structure. In this passage, the author describes why the Pico Korea Union's dispute over unpaid wages and eventual visit to the U.S. was historically significant, particularly in how it impacted the Korean-American community.

When a passage utilizes an Importance of Subject Meta-Structure, the main point is generally the author's opinions on why the subject is important. The author's has two takes on why the dispute was important, which the author describes at length in the second and fourth paragraphs. The author uses the second paragraph to enumerate the ways the Pico Korea Union's dispute and eventual visit to the U.S. mobilized and unified the Korean-American community. The author uses the fourth paragraph to describe what lessons we should take away from the Union's dispute. We summarized both of these points in our anticipated main point.

List: The most prominent minor Meta-Structure is the list of all the ways the Pico Korea Union's dispute and eventual visit to the U.S. affected the Korean-American community. We've listed each effect in the Passage Summary above. Expect this list to figure into at least one of the questions.

This question has a balanced mixed of author’s attitude and minor Meta-Structures. Therefore, we should expect a balanced mix of Major Point, Minor Point, Argument Structure, and Tone questions.