Reading comp PrepTest 134 · Section 4 · Question 12

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

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

Credited answer: D

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
    If a proverb is Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

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

    Nope. Neither our notes nor the main point explicitly mentions table manners. Moreover, this answer choice isn't about Mexican American proverbs specifically — it's about proverbs generally. This answer choice also features bold language ("primary purpose") that's hard to support and thus unlikely to appear in the correct answer to a Must Be True question. Therefore, we can eliminate — or at least table — (A) and move on to the next question.

    If we had to check the passage to verify whether (A) is supported, we'd notice that both of these are mentioned as purposes of proverbs in Mexican American communities (P2, S5; P3, S4). But, they’re separate purposes and not linked. The passage itself transitions between them with the word "Another" at the beginning of the third paragraph (P3, S1).

  2. B
    The frequent use of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

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

    No. This answer choice isn't about Mexican American proverbs specifically — it's about proverbs used by "any community." This passage only focuses on Mexican American proverbs, so this answer choice is almost certainly not supported by the passage. Therefore, we can eliminate — or at least table — (B) and move on to the next question.

    If we had to check the passage to determine whether (B) is supported, we'd see that conveying a sense of ethnicity is a role of proverb use in Mexican American communities (P3, S4). However, the passage never generalizes from that or says that this purpose is “exemplified” by Mexican American communities. Thus, this answer about any community is incorrect.

  3. C
    The ways in which Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

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

    Negative. This answer choice isn't about Mexican American communities — it's about Spanish speakers throughout the world. This passage only focuses on Mexican American communities, so the passage almost certainly does not support this answer choice. Therefore, we can eliminate — or at least table — (C) and move on to the next question.

    Besides, we wouldn't find support for (C) if we re-read the entire passage. The passage doesn’t say much about Spanish speakers outside of the Mexican American community, so this answer is incorrect.

  4. D
    There are some sayings Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

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

    Well, our notes and main point don't explicitly support this. However, this answer choice at least uses very weak, easy-to-support language ("some"), so we can at least mark it as a possible contender before moving on to the next answer choice. If we can find issues with the remaining options, we can return to (D) to see whether it's supported.

    Even when we circle back to (D), we'll see that this answer requires a bit of work to support (and understand). First, what’s going on with that "verbal context" part? According to the definition of "proverb" in the first paragraph, proverbs can be understood "indepedent of a specific verbal context" (P1, S2). In other words, it doesn't matter if your teacher, friend, or parent says, "Tell me who you run with and I'll tell you who you are." You can understand what that means. If that’s the case, then the verbal context isn’t a necessary part of the meaning.

    However, the passage then immediately says that each use of a proverb — even those that can be exactly translated — has a "meaning [that] varies depending on the individual speaker and the particular social context" (P2, S1). So, these proverbs that have exact equivalents in multiple languages have meanings that vary based on social context. That supports this answer, making it correct. This is a particularly tough answer because it relies on background information that’s extraneous to the main point!

  5. E
    The emphasis within Mexican 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. Neither our notes nor our main point mention "peer-group relationships," although we can probably remember this detail from the second question in the passage. Still, the language in this answer choice is pretty bold ("distinguishes") and thus unlikely to appear in the correct answer to a Must Be True question. Therefore, we can eliminate — or at least table — (E) and circle back to any answer choice we haven't eliminated or marked as a strong contender.

    If we had to review the passage, we wouldn't find support for (E). There is an emphasis on teaching children about peer-group relationships using proverbs in Mexican American communities (P2, S6), and this is more prominent in those communities than in English-speaking ones (P2, S4). But that doesn’t mean that English-speaking communities don’t teach children about peer-group relationships — they may do so through means other than proverbs. And, on top of that, there are plenty of non-English-speaking communities outside of Mexican American ones in the United States who may also use proverbs to teach children about peer-group relationships.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 3%
  2. B 31%
  3. C 5%
  4. D Credited 53%
  5. E 8%

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