Reading comp PrepTest 120 · Section 2 · Question 4

Passage

Questions 1-5  .        In 1963, a three–week–long demonstration for jobs  . at the construction site of the Downstate Medical Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background and goals of protest
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • What - 1963 protest at construction site
    • One of most significant and publicized civil rights campaigns
    • Led by ministers (previously politically moderate) from their congregation
    • Goal - Force government and industry changes in union hiring practices (excluded African Americans)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • How it came about; What ministers risked
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) recruited ministers
    • Ministers moderate and served as mediators between government and communities; also worked for parties or ran for office - Risked by protests

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Outcome
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Agreement - Gov’t and union leaders
    • Some Activists - Shortcoming - Didn’t have specific legislation or job numbers
    • Author - Pro - Gov’t did agree to enforce anti-discrimination legislation
    • Author - Pro - Got public to see issues in construction industry and in North
    • Author - Pro - Ministers maintained moderate ties, serving as model

Main Point: While the ministers at the Downstate protest weren’t able to get everything some activists wanted, they managed to get some concessions while raising the public’s awareness of discrimination in the North and in the construction industry while maintaining their moderate ties and serving as a model for future action.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-5 - Overview of key event

Lines 5-9 - What made the event notable

Lines 12-17 - Goals of the protest

Lines 26-29 - What was at risk

Lines 40-43 - More on what was at risk

Lines 44-46 - Outcome

Lines 49-51 - Some consider outcome bad

Line 49 - Author’s opinion starts, with list of positive outcomes

Meta-Structure?

Importance of Event - Much as we see Humanities passages that focus on an important work or movement, we also see Social Science passages that focus on the importance of an event. These passages go into the details of that event, usually establishing some historical context before describing what happened and why it was notable. Here, the passage starts with the event’s background (along with a statement that it was important - Lines 3-5) and the goals of those behind it. It then provides background context for those involved in the event, and it ends with a discussion of the outcome. This discussion of the outcome includes a list of positives presented by the Author, starting in Line 49. When a passage falls into this Meta-Structure, the Author’s view of why the event is important serves as the basis for the main point, as reflected in our summary above.

Last Thoughts?

There’s not a lot of depth to this passage - it’s a pretty straight-forward discussion, without a lot of argumentation or call-backs. And that’s reflected in there being only 5 questions for it. Let’s try to get through them quickly so we can save up some time for a later passage!

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

Social Science

Strategy Overview

Remind ourselves of the main point of the passage, then head to the answers, focusing on those that line up with the main point and then using our notes/the passage to find the correct answer

Answer Anticipation

This question stem provides no indication as to the topic of the correct answer or where it’ll show up in the passage. As such, we’ll need to 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 rereading our answer to the main point question). From there, we can head to the answers, deferring on those that don’t line up with the main point. For those that do, we’ll use our notes and the passage to see if it’s correct.

Answer choices

  1. A
    CORE was one of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) The passage doesn’t mention any civil rights organizations other than CORE, so this answer is out of scope.

  2. B
    The Downstate campaign relied Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 9-12) While the passage does note that CORE approached the ministers to lead the Downstate campaign, it never says that they provided the majority of its support. In fact, earlier in the passage, the Author notes that the ministers’ efforts “relied mainly” on congregations in the area.

  3. C
    After the Downstate campaign, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 53-60) This answer brings up a couple of the positive outcomes noted by the Author, but it conflates them. The Author notes that the campaign raised public awareness of the problem of discrimination in the construction industry and “also” the need to alleviate discrimination in the North. It doesn’t connect those two, nor does it compare it to other areas of the country, so this answer is out of scope.

  4. D
    Many ministers of African Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) (Lines 38-40) This answer is stated towards the end of Paragraph 2. This detail would have been easy to miss, but, luckily, we should have just reviewed it while working on Question #3.

  5. E
    In response to the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 46-49) One of the shortcomings of the agreement reached to end the campaign, as noted by the activists who weren’t happy with it, was a failure to establish a commitment from union leaders for a specific numerical increase in jobs for African Americans, so this answer is contradicted by the passage.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 6%
  2. B 9%
  3. C 7%
  4. D Credited 76%
  5. E 2%

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