Reading comp PrepTest 104 · Section 2 · Question 5

Passage

Questions 1-6  .        The career of trumpeter Miles Davis was one of the  . most astonishingly productive that jazz Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's conclusion (Oddly, Miles Davis's incredible jazz does not get its due)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Davis had one of the most astonishingly productive careers (first sentence)
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
      • The impatience and restlessness in his work caused many stylistic turns and critics to turn on Davis (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "the most astonishingly productive" (first sentence); "his genius has never received its due" (second sentence); "ever more innovative sounds" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (Davis moving from bebop to West Coast cool jazz)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Davis's group in NYC making West Coast cool jazz, unlike bebop music, featured ensembles as much so, or more, than solos and slowed down tempos (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "first of many … surprises" (first sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (Davis again switched to a new, less-restrictive style in late 1950s)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparisons, according to the author:
      • Unlike his West Coast cool jazz, in his next period allowed soloists to determine their own melodies instead of following the old restrictive pattern of chord changes (first through third sentences)
      • This new sound was similar to classical orchestral music; no matter how similar the recordings are to jazz, the instruments and rhythms are muted (last sentence)
    • Author attitude: "characteristic" (sentence one); "unified and integrated" (fourth sentence); "always understated … seem muted" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (Davis began adding electronic instruments and editing improvisations in 1960s, angering critics)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Unlike his last era, Davis began using rock-style beats, electronic instruments, and heavy improvisations, creating a jagged sound scape (second through third sentences)
      • Similar to rock groups and movie editing, Davis had musicians improvise in-studio, then edited the tapes to make the finished product (third and fourth sentences)
      • But this was unlike jazz lovers' expectations (fifth and last sentences)
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
      • Davis's request that Hancock play electric, not acoustic, piano caused consternation among jazz purists (second sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "once again" (first sentence); "jagged soundscapes" (third sentence); "fierce polemics" (last sentence); "continued to belittle his contributions" (last sentence)

Paragraph 5

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's interpretation of critical backlash (Davis's evolution made it hard for critics to rank/appreciate him)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
      • Fear of Davis's exploration of possibilities probably led to the intense reactions against him (first sentence)
      • The fact that Davis's career endured, didn't die young, recorded consistently, and didn't dwell in any one niche caused the critics to find ranking Davis into their narrow aesthetic hierarchies (last sentence)
    • Comparison
      • Davis did the same thing all jazz explorers have done — trying to make his own style (second sentence)
    • Author attitude: "probably underlies the intensity" (first sentence); "broadening of possibilities that he exemplified" (first sentence); "ironically" (second sentence); "find it difficult to definitively rank Davis in the aesthetic hierarchy to which they clung" (last sentence)

Main Point: Davis's constant evolution made it difficult for critics to compare his career to other jazz musicians, and thus his genius never received its due.

Key Lines?

Paragraph 1, Sentence 3 (P1, S3) - Criticisms and defense introduced

P5, S3 - Author's final defense

Meta-Structure?

Rebutting Critics: This passage utilizes a Rebutting Critics Meta-Structure*. In such a passage, the author generallys presents criticisms of the subject matter, before mounting a defense against those critiques. Here, the author mentions that Miles Davis, despite his proliferous "genius," was "anathema" (someone who is intensely loathed) to critics (P1, S1-3). The author ultimately defends Davis against these criticisms in the final paragraph. Davis was doing what jazz explorers always did, he just did it for so long and at such a high level that critics had trouble pigeonholing him into their narrow aesthetic rankings (P5, S2-3).

The main point in a Rebutting Critics passage is generally the author's central defense of the subject matter. We could look to the last sentence to help us answer the main point, or to our summary of the author's defense ("Davis's constant evolution made it difficult for critics to compare his career to other jazz musicians, and thus his genius never received its due.")

*You may have concluded this is another Critical Meta-Structure passage, like a Criticizing a Viewpoint or Correcting the Record. You may have even thought this had a Descriptive Meta-Structure, like Question/Answer (Q: Why wasn't Davis appreciated more? A: Critics had trouble ranking him). You may have even gotten a bit out there and thought of this as a Paradox/Resolution passage since Davis's genius and the critical backlash is a discrepancy that the author resolves in the last paragraph. These would all work just fine for this passage. Remember, there's no one right answer when it comes to Meta-Structures. That said, we don't think that Innovative Subject or Importance of Subject are great fits for this passage. The author wants to do more than just show why Davis is innovative or important — the author wants to rebut the critics' position.

Comparison: The most prominent minor Meta-Structure is the comparison. No surprise there, since the author is constantly comparing one era of Davis to another. The author also compares Davis's 1960s approach to movie directors and rock bands. The author also compares Davis artistic restlessness to other jazz visionaries. The questions will likely ask about one or two of these comparisons, so highlighting the comparative words should help us locate the relevant details.

Last Thoughts?

Did you notice how many author's attitude words we highlighted/underlined? Get ready for some Tone questions. We'll also get some Minor Point or Application questions about all the different eras of Miles Davis. But highlighting the minor Meta-Structures will help us with those. Hey, if highlighting author's attitude and minor Meta-Structures is cool, consider us Miles Davis.

Question prompt

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review the relevant part of the passage and notes, if necessary, to anticipate key features of Davis's studio procedure in the late 1960s

Answer Anticipation

These Application/Analogous Situation questions closely resemble Parallel Reasoning questions in Logical Reasoning. We want to find the answer choice that is structurally similar to the element we're asked to analogize. The correct answer won't have the same subject matter as the passage; instead, it will feature similar characteristics or themes as the element from the passage. Therefore, we should start by reviewing the key features of the element we're asked to parallel.In this case, our note for the fourth paragraph is, "Author's support (Davis began adding electronic instruments and editing improvisations in 1960s, angering critics)." So we can surmise that Davis's studio procedure in the late 1960s was described in that paragraph.If we highlighted the comparison minor Meta-Structure, finding this description would be even easier. (Alternatively, we could CTRL/Command + F "1960" to find the reference.) The passage states that Davis had musicians improvise in-studio from a base script of material, then edited the tapes to make the finished product (P4, S4). Essentially, Davis would record him and other musicians jamming out and he would find the best parts and edit them together. So, let's look for an answer choice that involves someone assigning people to create something and stitching together the best fragments of those creations to make a final product.This anticipation may sound rather broad, but we want our anticipation to be very general for these questions. This will help us assess the elements or themes of the answer choices independent of their subject matter.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The producer of a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this answer choice present someone assigning people to create something and stitching together the best fragments of those creations to make a final product?

    Partially yes, but partially no. This question is probably the most difficult one in the passage, and many students understandably choose this answer choice.

    So, what is it doing wrong? Although there's an assignment (like Davis's base script), the producer doesn't stitch together the best scripts to form a final product. Therefore, this answer choice doesn't parallel Davis use of tape to edit together the best parts of his musicians' creations.

  2. B
    An actor digresses from Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this answer choice present someone assigning people to create something and stitching together the best fragments of those creations to make a final product?

    Not quite. Still, many test-takers are attracted to this answer choice. So, what is it missing?

    Although this answer choice has improvisation (a feature of Davis's late-60s approach), it doesn't involve anyone stitching together the improvisations to form a final product. Perhaps if a director edited together the actor's best ad-libs, this answer choice would match Davis's approach. (Still, this would only be the work of one actor, unlike the multiple musicians Davis worked with.) As written, this answer choice doesn't parallel this key feature of Davis's approach.

  3. C
    A conductor rehearses each Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this answer choice present someone assigning people to create something and stitching together the best fragments of those creations to make a final product?

    No. Although this answer choice describes assembling separate parts, it doesn't match Davis's approach. Davis did not separately practice with each band member and then bring them together later. Instead, he recorded everyone at once and then brought different sections of the recorded tape together later.

  4. D
    An artist has several Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) Does this answer choice present someone assigning people to create something and stitching together the best fragments of those creations to make a final product?

    This gets pretty close to that anticipation. There's an assignment (take pictures on a particular theme) and the stitching together the best fragments of those creations (assembling the pictures) to make a final product (a pictorial collage).

    It's not a perfect match since the photographers are probably taking pictures on their own rather than working together. Still, this is by far the closest match to our anticipation. While (A), (B), and (C) have, at most, one similarity to Davis's late-60s approach, this answer choice has at least three similarities. Experienced test-takers would mark (D) as a strong contender and then select it after confirming that (E) has fewer similarities.

  5. E
    A teacher has each Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this answer choice present someone assigning people to create something and stitching together the best fragments of those creations to make a final product?

    Not quite. While this answer choice features the selection of the best creations, it does not describe a collection of people working together on one final product. Further, the teacher neither edits the individual works nor creates a finished product. Those duties fall to, presumably, the journal.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 27%
  2. B 22%
  3. C 5%
  4. D Credited 45%
  5. E 1%

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Discussion

  • A vs. D 1 reply

    Started by hales

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