Reading comp PrepTest 130 · Section 2 · Question 24

Passage

Questions 21-27 Passage A  .        In music, a certain complexity of sounds can be  . expected to have a Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • What makes music enjoyable
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Not too simple, not too complex/disorganized
    • Moderate complexity with coherence

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Relate music and language
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Music and language need some combo/sequence/rhythm to convey meaning/be enjoyable
    • Music - This is melody

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Relaxing music, explanation
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Continuous/rhythmic music is relaxing
    • Why? Sudden unexpected sounds = danger in nature
    • Constant noise = peaceful

Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Music, expectation emotion - process/sequence
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Musical elements create expectation → Not resolved → Tension → Release
    • Emotion = Tension and release (scales up)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Negative vs. Positive emotions
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Negative - Music diverges from expectations
    • Positive - Music meets expected course

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Factors in enjoyment
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Factors - Complexity and novelty
    • Enjoyment positively correlated with familiarity until totally known
    • Enjoyment from constant level of positive emotions
    • Complexity - Higher more enjoyable for experienced listener; Lower more enjoyable for “naive listener”

Main Points:

Passage A - Complexity and continuity both are key elements in music in determining what emotional impact that music will have.

Passage B - Musical elements factor into expectations in music, and how well that music matches expectations determines enjoyment.

Key Lines?

Passage A:

  • Lines 6-8 - What makes music enjoyable
  • Line 9 - An analogy is introduced
  • Line 18 - A phenomenon
  • Lines 21-22 - An explanation
  • Lines 28-29 - Another element of enjoyable music

Passage B:

  • Lines 35-38 - A phenomenon/relationship
  • Lines 46-49 - A causal relationship
  • Lines 50-52 - Factors in enjoyment
  • Lines 54-57 - Relationship between familiarity and enjoyment
  • Lines 60-63 - Relationship between complexity and enjoyment

Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?

Both passages discuss elements of music that have an emotional impact. Passage A discusses how complexity and melody factor into enjoyment (Paragraphs 1 and 2), and how continuity factors into relaxation (Paragraph 3). Passage B talks about the connection between emotion and expectation (Paragraphs 1 and 2), and how other factors such as complexity and novelty factor into these expectations (Paragraph 3).

Phenomenon/Explanation (Both) - As we noted above, both passages describe a variety of effects that music has on people. Those effects can be seen as phenomena, and both passages provide some explanations for these phenomena. Passage A provides three general Explanations for emotional reactions to music - complexity, melody, and continuity. Passage B provides a few that can all be lumped under the same bucket - expectation. These explanations for phenomena tend to be the main point of a passage that falls into this Meta-Structure, as reflected in our statements of the main point above.

Last Thoughts?

These passages were very detail heavy. They do make points about the relationship between music and elements of music and emotion, but it’s not nearly as strong of an “argument” as we usually see. As such, let’s focus on those details as we work through the questions.

Question prompt

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

Credited answer: A

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

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Reiterate the main point of Passage B as we stated it after reading the passage, then find the answer that best matches with it

Answer Anticipation

We should have anticipated a main point for Passage B after reading it, but we can further refine it after having worked through some of these questions. In particular, Question #22 can really help guide us to a main point that reflects how the test writers view this passage, which will make our anticipation more precise.In Question #22, we determined that both passages were focused on the impact music can have on human emotion - they both list a number of factors in music that affect enjoyment.For Passage B, those factors largely revolved around expectation. Paragraphs 1 and 2 explicitly mention expectation. And even Paragraph 3 implicitly references it - familiarity creates an expectation of what you know is going to happen, and experience directly relates to the complexity with which you’d form expectations. So the correct answer here should center on the connection between expectations and emotional responses to music.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The type of musical Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) This answer hits the main points of Passage B - the connection between music and emotion, and the overarching factor that determines enjoyment (expectation). Each paragraph touches on this topic in some way. It is therefore the correct answer.

  2. B
    Trained listeners are more Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 60-64) This answer is based on the last sentence of Passage B, and it doesn’t even accurately capture that (“consciously” manipulate), so we can rule it out.

  3. C
    If the development of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 46-48) The passage also says that music that meets expectations leads to relaxation - so this answer doesn’t even fully capture the idea expressed at the end of Paragraph 2!

  4. D
    Listeners can learn to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 60-64) This is an implication of the last sentence, which itself was just one aspect of the Author’s overall argument about expectation broadly, not just expectation based on the listener’s sophistication.

  5. E
    Music that is experienced Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 40-41) First, the Author argues that a buildup and release of tension leads to relaxation, which doesn’t guarantee that relaxation from music “usually” comes from this process. It’s possible that it leads to relaxation, but just some soothing piano with no tension whatsoever is even more relaxing. Second, this is still only one part of the passage, as “relaxing” is just one response to music and the Author argues about a much broader category of “emotional” responses.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 69%
  2. B 6%
  3. C 15%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 5%

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