Reading comp PrepTest 134 · Section 4 · Question 10

Passage

Questions 7-12  .        Mexican Americans share with speakers of  . Spanish throughout the world a rich and varied repertoire Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background on Mexican Americans' use of proverbs (impart wisdom, most from Spain, some have English equivalents)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Definition of "proverb": A self-contained saying meant to impart some wisdom (second sentence)
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • While most Mexican American proverbs are from Spain, many are from Europe generally and have English equivalents (third and last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "riched and varied repertoire" (first sentence); "vital tradition" (first sentence); "great majority" (third sentence); "Many belong, in fact" (last sentence); "exact equivalents" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • One purpose of proverbs for Mexican American communities (instruction of the young, "run with" example, reasons for using proverbs)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Proverb meaning changes based on person and context, but one of the most important social functions of proverbs in Mexican American communities is to teach the young (first through third sentences)
      • The use of proverbs to instruct the young may be because community norms are threatened by external culture or because parents appeal to traditional wisdom to bolster their authority (last sentence)
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Teaching the young with proverbs is much more common in Mexican American communities than in English-speaking communities (fourth sentence)
    • Examples of proverbs meant to instruct the young, according to the author:
      • Proverbs about manners and peer relationships ("tell me who you run with and I'll tell you who you are") (fifth and sixth sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "is an individual act" (first sentence); "Nonetheless, it is important to recognize" (second sentence); "is also shaped" (second sentence); "one important function" (third sentence); "seems to be much more prominent" (fourth sentence); "consistently report" (fifth sentence); "particularly frequent focus of proverb use" (sixth sentence); "Perhaps" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Another purpose of proverbs (strengthen ties to Mexican heritage)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Proverbs also pass on ethnic identity to their listeners, helping to spread language and culture/heritage (first and second sentences)
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
      • Proverbs are vehicles for the Spanish language and Mexican culture, which causes young people to have stronger ties to their Mexican heritage (second, third, and last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "often serve to foster" (first sentence); "nevertheless serve as a vehicle for the transmission of both the Spanish language and Mexican culture" (second sentence); "established and maintained" (third sentence); "provide a means of enhancing" (last sentence); "thereby strengthening their ties" (last sentence)

Main Point: Spanish-language proverbs are used by Mexican Americans as instruction for the young and to pass on heritage, language, and culture.

Meta-Structure?

Phenomenon/Explanation: This passage best fits the Phenomenon/Explanation Meta-Structure.* In such a passage, the author will generally present an observable fact, behavior, or situation. In this case, it's Mexican Americans' frequent use of proverbs. Then, the author will describe one or more explanations of that observable fact, behavior, or situation. In this passage, the author attributes Mexican Americans' use of proverbs to a desire to instruct young members of that community and strengthen their ties to their Mexican heritage.

In a Phenomenon/Explanation passage, the main point is generally the explanation that the author provides or endorses. The author cites two reasons why Mexican American communities use proverbs so frequently, so we included both of those in our anticipated main point.

*You could also reasonably call this an Importance of [Subject] passage, with the "[Subject]" placeholder standing in for "Proverbs." As is often the case, more than one Meta-Structure can describe the passage. Either one would give you a solid understanding of the passage's main point and argument structure.

List: While it isn't particularly explicit, the author presents a list of two key reasons why proverbs are so frequently used by the Mexican American community. As such, the list is the most prominent minor Meta-Structure in this passage. The first reason shows up in the second paragraph — instruction of children. The second is introduced in the third paragraph ("Another dimension"). These two purposes make up the entirety of the author's main point in writing this passage, and details surrounding both items in the list will serve as fodder for questions.

Last Thoughts?

The one "weird" element in this passage is the first paragraph. It presents pure background information — it sets up the main point about the purposes of proverbs in the Mexican American community, but it doesn't really factor into the argument. It defines a proverb and cites where most Mexican American proverbs come from, but the shared nature of many with European and English-language proverbs doesn't really factor into the rest of the passage. As such, we might get a Minor Point question or two about this content, but it doesn't need to play a role in any of our big-picture answers.

Question prompt

The passage most strongly 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

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 asks us to infer, based on the entire passage, a statement that must be true. Such questions can be very challenging. These questions provide little indication as to the topic of the correct answer or where it’ll show up in the passage. Moreover, the correct answer probably won't restate something from the passage. Instead, the question will likely require us to draw a connection between a few different pieces of information.We’ll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer these questions. 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 answer choices. If something in an answer choice doesn't seem familiar and isn’t reflected in our notes on each paragraph, we shouldn’t check the passage to see if it was mentioned. Instead, we’ll table it and move on to the next answer choice. If something seems inconsistent with the main point, we can eliminate it. If something seems familiar, consistent with the main point, or reflected in our notes, we’ll use our notes/highlights/underlines to find the part of the passage that proves the answer choice must be true. If we can find that confirmation, we’ll select that answer choice and move on.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Proverb use is seldom Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Nope. This answer doesn’t line up with the passage's point that Mexican American communities use proverbs to "instruct[] the young and to pass on heritage, language, and culture." Instruction, heritage, and culture all seem related to "community-approved norms," so we can safely eliminate (A) without checking the passage.

    If we had to review the passage to determine whether (A) is supported, we'd see that the author posits that proverbs might serve to reinforce community-approved norms (P2, S7). So, we don't have any evidence that proverbs are "seldom intended to reinforce community-approved norms."

  2. B
    The way in which Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    (B) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Yes. This answer lines up with the passage's main point in that it discusses the specific ways Mexican American communities use proverbs. Plus, this answer choice uses weak, easy-to-support language (“at least in part”) that we like to see in Must Be True answer choices. So, we should check the passage to see whether (B) is true.

    There are several parts of the passage that can furnish support for this answer choice. Most directly, the beginning of the second paragraph says that the meaning of proverbs is "shaped by the larger community with which the individual interacts" (P2, S2). Elsewhere, the author says that Mexican American communities use proverbs differently than communities that speak only English (P2, S4), which further suggests that communities influence how proverbs are used. Finally, the author says that proverbs sometimes foster "membership in a particular ethnic group possessing features that distinguish it from other groups within a multiethnic environment" (P3, S1). So, for instance, Mexican American communities might use proverbs to promote their Mexican heritage, while Chinese American communities might use proverbs to promote their Chinese heritage. This is yet another way communities might influence how proverbs are used.

  3. C
    The most frequent use Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    While you probably recall the discussion of peer-group relationships from the second question in this passage, the superlative nature of this answer choice ("the most frequent") should give you pause. Answer choices that use "the most" language are very difficult to support and are thus unlikely to be correct on a Must Be True question. For this reason, we can table (C) and move on to the next answer choice.

    If we had to check the passage, we can see that the text doesn’t support an answer this strong. Peer-group relationships are a “particularly frequent focus” of proverb use (P2, S6), which falls short of being "the most frequent" use.

  4. D
    Proverbs are often used Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Not quite. The main point says that proverbs are used to teach and it also mentions language, but it doesn't say that proverbs are meant to teach young people languages. So, we can eliminate — or at least table — (D) without checking the passage.

    If we had to check the passage, we'd see that language is mentioned in the third paragraph. However, it’s noted that proverbs are used as a "vehicle for the transmission of the Spanish language" (P3, S2), which isn’t the same thing as teaching that language in the first place. This answer is also about what is "often" the case, which is a broader statement than one that applies only to Mexican American communities.

  5. E
    When a proverb is Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Not quite. The main point says that proverbs are used to teach, but it doesn't suggest that educational proverbs usually serve more than one purpose. So, we can eliminate — or at least table — (E) without checking the passage.

    If we had to check the passage, we wouldn't find support for (E). While the passage does bring up multiple purposes for proverbs, it doesn’t state that each individual educational proverb has multiple purposes — let alone that this is "usually" the case.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 3%
  2. B Credited 74%
  3. C 8%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 13%

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Discussion

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