Reading comp PrepTest 123 · Section 4 · Question 10

Passage

The two passages discuss recent scientific research on music. They are adapted from two different papers presented at a scholarly Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Science

Passage A

Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • A question, and similarities
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Question - Did language and music originate separately or together?
    • Similarities between language and music

Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • Studies on similarities; a key difference
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Brain studies - Music and language part of same system; more similar than different
    • Analogy - Two programs on same radio
    • Difference - People are better at language than music

Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • Answer to question
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Answer - Evolved together as brain size increased
    • Answer - Language primary over music; language evolved, music followed it

Passage B

Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • An expert view; the Author's view
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Darwin - Music is not practical and is mysterious
    • Combo = lyric narrative
    • Author - Music helps moms and kids bond, so it's evolutionarily useful

Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • Studies of music forming bonds
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Lullabies excluded
    • Studies - Recording parents and kids show they mimic each other with motions and singing

Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • A question and answer (causal chain)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Question - What evolutionary advantage does music give?
    • Answer - Baby heads bigger → Birth canals more narrow → Earlier births → Longer dependence on mom = emotional bonds are good for survival

Main Point:
Passage A - Music and language originated in the same neurological system, but natural selection worked exclusively on language, bringing music along for the ride.

Passage B - As human infants were born earlier, they became more dependent on their mothers for longer periods of time, and so music provided an evolutionary advantage in creating strong emotional bonds between the two.

Key Lines:

Passage A:
Lines 1-2 - The central question of the passage
Lines 8-10 - An overall comparison
Lines 12-14 - A noteworthy difference
Lines 19-21 - The answer to the question
Lines 21-24 - A corollary to the answer

Passage B:
Lines 28-32 - An opposing expert view
Lines 32-37 - The Author's view
Lines 41-42 - Studies are introduced
Lines 50-51 - A question is asked
Lines 51-End - A causal chain that leads to an answer

Meta-Structure - Relationship Between Passages
While Passage A talks about the origination of both language and music, Passage B discusses only the latter. And the two authors have different opinions on its development. The Author of Passage A believes music and language "evolved together" (Line 20), but that natural selection worked on language, not music (Lines 23-24). The Author of Passage B, on the other hand, suggests an evolutionary basis for the development of language (Lines 57-62). So the Authors are largely in disagreement over the evolutionary history of music.

Question/Answer (Passage A) - Passage A has a central Question/Answer structure. The Author puts forward a question in Paragraph 1, and she then provides an answer to it in Paragraph 3. When a passage is built around a Question/Answer structure, the Author's answer to the question serves as the main point, which led us to the main point we wrote out above.

Question/Answer (Passage B) - Passage B has a Question/Answer structure, though it's limited to Paragraph 3 instead of being a central feature that defines the entire passage. However, it is still on a central topic of the passage, and so the answer needs to be reflected in the main point

Causal Chain (Passage B) - Science passages frequently deal with causality. Passage B presents a pretty long causal chain to explain the evolutionary basis of music (Lines 51-62), and knowing how heavily causality is featured in that passage will likely lead us to looking for causal answers when a question asks about it!

Last Thoughts:
We've summed this passage up pretty well so far, so let's head to the questions!

Question prompt

Each of the two Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

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

Question Type

Science

Strategy Overview

Head straight to the answers, using our big—picture understanding to narrow it down, and then use our notes/the passage to confirm the correct answer

Answer Anticipation

Both passages spoke extensively about music, so this question doesn't provide much guidance as to what we're looking for. Instead, we should head to the answers and focus on those that line up with our big—picture understanding of the passages. Then, for those that match up with what we know about each, we should check to find a line cite to confirm it as the correct answer.

Answer choices

  1. A
    bonding between humans
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 32—37) Bonding between humans was a key concern of Passage B, but Passage A didn't think music had an evolutionary purpose (Lines 25—27), so this answer doesn't show up there.
  2. B
    human emotion
    Why choice B matches the stem
    Incorrect. (Lines 2—3; Line 35) Passage A says that music and language are similar in that they both communicate emotion. Passage B says that music evolved to create an emotional bond between mother and child. This answer shows up in both passages related to music, so it's the correct answer.
  3. C
    neurological research
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. (Line 6; Line 41—43) Both passages rely on studies, so we should check the details. Passage A's brain imaging studies certainly count as neurological research, but Passage B's filming of mothers and babies playing goo—goo—gaa—gaa doesn't clear the hurdle to be classified as that, so this answer doesn't show up in both.
  4. D
    the increasing helplessness of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 54—55) Only Passage B thought music had an evolutionary purpose, so this answer is suspect from the start. Checking them, we see that this is connected to music only in Passage B.
  5. E
    the use of tools Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. (Line 4) This answer doesn't line up with Passage B in that that passage was about the mother and infant singing to each other to create an emotional bond, not playing the drums together. Checking the passages, we can see that it shows up only in Passage A.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 16%
  2. B Credited 31%
  3. C 44%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 6%

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