Reading comp PrepTest 129 · Section 4 · Question 4

Passage

Questions 1-5  .        The United States government agency responsible  . for overseeing television and radio broadcasting, the  . Federal Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • The FCC's early policy (only serviced the broadcasting industry; citizens couldn't speak at hearings)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
      • The fact that citizens couldn't speak at FCC hearings caused the FCC to seem like it only serviced the broadcasting industry (third and fourth sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "addressing only" (first sentence); "were not recognized" (second sentence); "did not have the standing" (third sentence); "exclusively" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author on landmark court case (changed FCC policy) and background on the case (FCC renewed discriminatory broadcast channel's license over a church's petition)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • A landmark case changed the FCC's early policy (first sentence)
      • The FCC probably denied the hearing to avoid setting a precedent that citizen groups could challenge government decisions (last sentence)
    • United Church of Christ's view:
      • A Jacksonville, MS television channel advocated racial segregation and excluded news and programs that supported integration (third and fourth sentences)
    • FCC's view:
      • The channel was discriminatory, but the church didn't have an economic interest in the channel, so the FCC couldn't hold a hearing and would be unnecessary anyway (fifth and sixth sentences)
    • Author's view: "real reason" (last sentence); "more likely" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • The church's two appeals (the first unsuccessful; in the second, a judge revoked the station's license and gave the church a hearing)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • The first judge granted a full renewal to the station, while the second revoked the license and held that the church was performing a public service and had a right to a hearing (first through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "little avail" (second sentence); "unprecedented" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author on case's precedent and the FCC's new approach (public can petition every three years, many issues discussed)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • The case set a precedent that the public can question radio and television licenses every three years at the time of renewal, and the public has discussed many issues at these hearings (first through last sentences)
    • Example of issues discussed at public FCC hearings, according to the author:
      • Racial issues; quality of children's television; violence; opposing political views (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "established a formidable precedent" (first sentence); "range of other matters" (last sentence); "because of the church's intervention" (last sentence)

Main Point: A court case brought by a church changed the course of history by challenging the FCC's practice of only listening to broadcasting companies, opening the door for community challenges to license renewals based on community values.

Meta-Structure?

Old Approach/New Approach: This passage best fits the Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure. In such a passage, the author describes an old way of doing something or thinking about something is described. The author then describes a new, alternative way of doing or thinking about that same thing. Usually, the author prefers the new approach. That fits this passage to a T, where the first paragraph explains the FCC's initial focus on economic/business interests and refusal to hold public hearings. The author then discusses a court case brought by a church that "changed the course of that history" (P2, S1). This case eventually ushered in the FCC's new approach, where it holds public hearings that listen to the community on various issues.

When an Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure defines a passage, the main point is usually the author's opinion on the new approach. The author speaks positively of the court case and its impact on the FCC's new approach, so we incorporated that into our anticipated main point.

Last Thoughts?

The back-and-forth of the court case (FCC renewal → Appeal → Decision against church → Appeal → Decision against television channel → Precedent/future decisions) was a little complex, so we should be sure we understand and differentiate the different steps along the way.

Question prompt

Based on information presented Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

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

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Review the main point, and use notes or highlighted/underlined text in the passage to recall the author's attitude, and find the answer that best reflects your understanding of the main point/author's attitude

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us about the author's view, but doesn't provide any insight into the topic of the correct answer or where the supporting information might show up in the passage. This means the correct answer is likely to relate back to the author's main point. 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). We can also review any notes about the author's attitude or any text we highlighted because it expresses the author's opinion. After doing that, we can head to the answer choices, tabling those that don't line up with the main point. For those answer choices that conform to the author's main point, we'll use our notes and the passage to see if they're correct.

Answer choices

  1. A
    If the United Church Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is this consistent with the author's main point or reflected in our notes on the author's argument?

    No. Neither the main point nor our notes suggest whether the FCC was aware of the television station's broadcasting policies before the church's case. Moreover, this answer choice uses bold, certain language ("would not") that is hard to support and thus unlikely to appear in the correct answer to an Author Agree question. For these reasons, we should resist any urge to check the passage and instead table or eliminate (A).

    But if we had to review the passage, we wouldn't find any support for (A). There's no indication that the FCC wasn't aware of the station's policies before they were raised by the church. After all, the FCC agreed that the television station broadcasting policies were discriminatory even before granting the church a hearing (P2, S6). It's definitely possible, then, that the FCC was aware of the discriminatory policies before the church brought them up.

  2. B
    By their very nature, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Is this consistent with the author's main point or reflected in our notes on the author's argument?

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes discuss "industrial and business interests" beyond the FCC's old policy that it "only serviced the broadcasting industry." Moreover, this answer choice uses bold, SCOTUS-y language ("opposed to") that is hard to support and thus unlikely to appear in the correct answer to an Author Agree question. For these reasons, we should resist any urge to check the passage and instead table or eliminate (B).

    But if we had to review the passage, we wouldn't find any support for (B).

    First, the passage discusses only the interests of broadcasters compared to the public, not all industries, so this answer is too broad in its scope. Second, there's no indication in the passage that the broadcasters' interests are always at odds with the public — just that they're not always aligned and sometimes at odds. This answer is thus too strong and too broad.

  3. C
    The recourse of a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) Is this consistent with the author's main point or reflected in our notes on the author's argument?

    Yes, this matches the author's main point — that a citizens' group's court case "changed history" by allowing the public to "challenge[] license renewals based on community values." So, the passage provides an example of a citizens' group successfully appealing a government ruling to the courts to protect the public interest. As such, the author would agree that the courts are an effective means of protecting public interests. (Note that this answer wouldn't be right if it said something like "the only" or "the most" effective recourse, but just "an effective" recourse is supported by this one example.)Therefore, we can confidently select (C) and advance to the following question.

  4. D
    Governmental regulation cannot safeguard Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Is this consistent with the author's main point or reflected in our notes on the author's argument?

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes describe the extent to which government regulation can safeguard against individual businesses. Plus, this answer choice uses bold, SCOTUS-y language ("cannot") that is hard to support and thus unlikely to appear in the correct answer to an Author Agree question. And the passage provides an example of the government providing such a safeguard against an individual business acting contrary to the public interest (the courts revoking the television station's license), so the author would almost certainly say that the government sometimes can safeguard against such businesses. Therefore, we can cross (D) off without reviewing the passage.

  5. E
    The government cannot be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Is this consistent with the author's main point or reflected in our notes on the author's argument?

    No. Like (D), this answer choice is contradicted by the passage's main point. The courts are a part of the government, and the author clearly thinks that they did a good job of protecting the public interest in the case of the church and the television station. So, the author would almost certainly disagree with this answer choice. We can eliminate (E) without reviewing the passage.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 7%
  2. B 3%
  3. C Credited 78%
  4. D 6%
  5. E 6%

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