Reading comp PrepTest 115 · Section 3 · Question 7

Passage

Questions 1-8  .        The contemporary Mexican artistic movement  . known as muralism, a movement of public art that  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background on Mexican muralist art movement (sponsored by the post-revolutionary Mexican state; three artists' goals).
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Contrast drawn between the ideological basis of muralism and the theoretical/artistic basis:
      • Ideologically, muralism had a close connection to the Mexican government and traditional culture, but its principal artists, Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and Jose Clemente Orozco, sought to comment commented on the time period and culture (first through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "closely linked ideologically" (first sentence), "ambitious cultural program" (second sentence); "Mexico's richness and possibility" (second sentence); "was formulated by the artists themselves" (third sentence); "major figures" (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's view on muralists' innovations (not just political; freer expression than traditional muralists)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • The author implies that there is an established view of the muralists as mere producers of state-sponsored art with little artistic merit; the author asserts that this view is wrong (second sentence)
    • Example of artistic innovation:
      • Muralists' works depicted traditional subjects in a freer way than previous artists working in the realist style (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "mistake" (first sentence), "reduce" (first sentence), "more than merely" (second sentence); "important innovations" (second sentence), "freer in expression" (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (distinct artistic styles/innovations of Siqueiros, Rivera, and Orozco)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of innovations developed by each artist:
      • Rivera: incorporated Renaissance and pre-Columbian elements; depicted people as mechanical shapes (second sentence)
      • Orozco: used expressionism and diagonal lines (third and fourth sentences)
      • Siqueiros: used asymmetry, action, and bold colors (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "distinct styles" (first sentence), "incorporated" (second sentence), "strange combination" (second sentence); "openly emotional" (third sentence), "strong diagonal" (fourth sentence), "heightened movement and drama" (fourth sentence); "brilliant color" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's explanation of innovations (caused by large scale of the mural form)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relationship
      • Murals, with their physically larger area to cover than the canvases the artists had been used to, caused innovations (first through last sentences)
    • Examples of the ways the mural medium led to innovations:
      • Murals allowed for sweeping brushstrokes and thus more impactful images (second sentence)
      • Large area in which viewers can see murals led to bolder artistic statements designed to strike the viewer from many angles (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "experimentation" (first sentence); "can be seen as" (first sentence); "bold effect" (second sentence), "equally strong impact" (last sentence)

Main Point: State-sponsored Mexican muralism was inspired by Mexican traditions and history but provided an opportunity for multiple artistic innovations.

Key Lines?

Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 (P1, S1) - Introduces muralism and ties to the Mexican government

P1, S3 - Names prominent mural painters

P2, S2 - Asserts that muralism allowed for artistic innovations

P4, S1 - Author's explanation of muralism's innovations

Meta-Structure?

Innovative Subject: This passage utilizes the Innovative Subject Meta-Structure. The author asserts that Mexican muralism was a highly innovative artistic movement that allowed painters to move beyond realism. The author contrasts this assertion with the belief that muralists merely provided state-sponsored propaganda reflecting Mexico's post-Revolution political ideology by focusing on traditional and historical subjects. Although the muralists painted traditional, cultural, and historical representations of Mexico, the author argues that the muralists' style was new, a result of unique influences (from pre-Columbian, to Italian Renaissance, to expressionism) and the huge size of the mural form itself.

The main point in an Innovative Subject passage is the author's opinion on the subject's innovations. In this passage, the author claims Mexican muralism was significant, in part, for the new artistic techniques that the three prominent muralists — Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros — deployed.

Last Thoughts?

This passage is straightforward in terms of the structure of the author's argument. The author offers their conclusion in the second paragraph and provides support in the third and fourth paragraphs.

What's the first paragraph doing, then? It's setting up the rest of the passage. In the passage, the author makes a key distinction between the initial impetus of the muralist movement and its innovations. The first paragraph, then, describes the movement's initial impetus. The movement was initially meant to express Mexican heritage and traditions following the Mexican Revolution. And the muralists started their work with the same premise: to use familiar images and ideas to comment on the present. The rest of the passage contrasts the familiar, state-sponsored beginnings of the movement with the stylistic innovations the artists would later initiate. The artists' innovations arose naturally from their artistic knowledge and from the new experience of painting on a scale much larger than they had used before. The author thus contrasts the old/traditional with the new/innovative in this passage.

Question prompt

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

Credited answer: E

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

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Refer to notes or what you highlighted/underlined to locate where the passage discusses the characteristics of Mexican mural art, and refer to the relevant part of the passage as needed to find that answer choice that must be true.

Answer Anticipation

For questions that ask us to find a specific detail mentioned in the passage, quickly finding and reviewing that piece of information is paramount. That is why we make brief notes describing the role of each paragraph and highlight or underline definitions and the minor Meta-Structures — doing so helps us find the salient information efficiently and reliably. Once we review that part of the passage, we can look through the answer choices to see which one is best supported by what we reviewed.Here, the question asks about specific characteristics of Mexican mural art, which is the main topic of the passage. Since the characteristics of Mexican mural are described at length throughout the passage, reviewing the passage or anticipating what the correct answer will say is not a wise investment of our limited time. Instead, we'll rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point (either by reviewing what we said after reading the passage or by re-reading our answer to the main point question). From there, we can head to the answer choices. If something in an answer choice doesn't seem familiar and isn't reflected in our notes on each paragraph, we shouldn't check the passage to see if it was mentioned. Instead, we'll table it and move on to the next answer choice. If something seems inconsistent with the main point, we can eliminate it. If something seems familiar, consistent with the main point, or reflected in our notes, we'll use our notes/highlights/underlines to find the part of the passage that proves the answer choice must be true. If we can find that confirmation, we'll select that answer choice and move on.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Its subject matter consisted Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is this answer choice reflected in the passage's main point or our notes on each paragraph?

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes say that the murals' subject matter primarily depicted current events. This answer choice also features bold, hard-to-support language ("primarily") that is unlikely to be featured in the correct answer. While this issue may not be enough to eliminate (A), efficient test-takers would table (A) and move on to (B) without wasting time researching the passage to see whether (A) is supported.

    If we had to research the passage to eliminate (A), we wouldn't find any support for this answer choice in the passage. The author mentions that the muralists commented on the time period that they lived in (P1, S4), but the passage also states that the muralists were expressing themes of history and tradition (P1, S5). So we can't assert, as this answer choice does, that the subject matter of Mexican murals consisted primarily of current events.

  2. B
    It could be viewed Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Is this answer choice reflected in the passage's main point or our notes on each paragraph?

    No. Neither the main point nor our notes say that the murals could only be viewed outdoors. This answer choice also features bold, hard-to-support language ("only") that is unlikely to be featured in the correct answer. While this issue may not be enough to eliminate (B), efficient test-takers would table (B) and move on to (C) without wasting time researching the passage to see whether (B) is supported.

    If we had to review the passage to eliminate (B), we wouldn't find any support for this answer choice. According to our notes, the fourth paragraph describes how people view murals but never says that murals are only outdoors. The first paragraph provides background information on murals, but only says they're painted on walls (P1, S1). Walls, of course, can be indoors as well as outdoors.

  3. C
    It used the same Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this answer choice reflected in the passage's main point or our notes on each paragraph?

    Negative. Neither the main point nor our notes say that murals use the same techniques as those used in easel painting. This answer choice also features bold, hard-to-support language ("the same") unlikely to be featured in the correct answer. In fact, our note for the fourth paragraph ("Author's explanation of innovations (caused by large scale of the mural form)") strongly suggests artists had to change their techniques to suit the large-scale nature of the mural. This is probably enough to eliminate (C) and move on to (D).

    If we had to review the passage to eliminate (C), we'd see that this answer choice is directly contradicted the author's claim that the muralists' techniques had to change as they transitioned from canvas to murals (P4, S2).

  4. D
    It exhibited remarkable stylistic Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Is this answer choice reflected in the passage's main point or our notes on each paragraph?

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes say that murals had "remarkable stylistic uniformity." This answer choice also features bold, hard-to-support language ("remarkable," "uniformity") that is unlikely to be featured in the correct answer. In fact, our note for the third paragraph ("Author's support (distinct artistic styles/innovations of Siqueiros, Rivera, and Orozco)") all but confirms that murals were not uniform but distinct products of the muralists' styles. This is probably enough to eliminate (D) and move on to (E).

    If we had to review the passage to eliminate (E), we'd see that the author spends all of the third paragraph enumerating the different and individual styles adopted by the three principal muralists, which means the resulting murals couldn't have been stylistically uniform.

  5. E
    It was intended to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) Is this answer choice reflected in the passage's main point or our notes on each paragraph?

    Yes. Our note for the fourth paragraph ("Author's explanation of innovations (caused by large scale of the mural form)") suggests that murals are a large-scale medium that may lead viewers to observe murals from more than one angle. This gives us good reason to check the passage to see whether (E) is supported.

    Reviewing the fourth paragraph, we can see that the author says that murals "were designed to be viewable from many different vantage points" (P4, S3). That provides us with the textual support we need to select (E).

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 7%
  2. B 1%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 2%
  5. E Credited 88%

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Discussion

  • Confused with B 2 replies

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