Reading comp PrepTest 130 · Section 2 · Question 25

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: C

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

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Find the explanation that Passage A provides for music with a relaxing effect, then find an answer that suggests the explanation is incorrect

Answer Anticipation

First, we need to identify which paragraph talked about a relaxing effect. A quick scan of our notes should direct us to Paragraph 3.The central argument in that paragraph surrounds continuous and rhythmic sounds versus sudden, unexpected ones. The reason the former are viewed as relaxing and the latter as dangerous, according to the Author, is that in nature, those sudden sounds accompany danger (Lines 21-22).When trying to weaken an explanation for a phenomenon, alternative explanations are the most common category of correct answer. So let’s head to the answers expecting to see an alternative explanation, while staying open to other answers that can also undermine the Author’s argument.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The musical traditions of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 18-21) The Author claims that “rhythmical” music has a relaxing effect, not rhythmical music of a certain level of complexity. Since this answer still has all the musical traditions as employing rhythm, this answer doesn’t affect the argument.

  2. B
    The rhythmic structure of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) What determines rhythm is immaterial to whether rhythm is what leads to a relaxing effect.

  3. C
    Many people find the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) While this answer doesn’t present an alternative explanation for what makes a sound relaxing, it does present a counterexample - a continuous/rhythmic sound that isn’t viewed as relaxing. That undercuts the Author’s argument that such sounds are relaxing, so this is the correct answer.

  4. D
    The sudden interruption of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Expectations were brought up in Passage B, so this answer is suspect for bringing it in here. That said, it still could be correct if the discussion, absent information in Passage B, undermines the explanation presented in Passage A. It doesn’t, though - in fact, saying that interrupting expectations makes a listener feel a melody is incoherent would suggest that it doesn’t make the listener feel relaxed, aligning with the argument.

  5. E
    Some of the most Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Complexity of sound is brought up in Paragraph 1 of Passage A, not Paragraph 3, where the explanation for relaxing music is put forward. And the explanation isn’t connected back to complexity - in fact, the paragraph starts by noting that music “can also” be relaxing, highlighting the paragraph as a new idea.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 12%
  2. B 8%
  3. C Credited 67%
  4. D 9%
  5. E 3%

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Discussion

  • C vs D 1 reply

    Started by jordierose02

  • Answer C 2 replies

    Started by heidiz

  • Question? 3 replies

    Started by Antonio

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