Reading comp PrepTest 136 · Section 3 · Question 11

Passage

Questions 7-12 Passage A  .        Readers, like writers, need to search for answers.  . Part of the joy of Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Problem with historiography/history teaching
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author/Teacher - Problem - History writing/teaching is boring

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author’s solution, and a problem with it
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author’s Solution - Bring stories back to history!
    • Examples
    • Problem - Historians are name-checking stories but not changing their (boring) writing

Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Description of legal writing
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author = Law professor
    • Legal writing - Necessarily linear
    • Author - Last sentence shows some disdain for this

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author’s problem with legal writing; potential solution
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author - Problem - Too much legal writing is bad
    • Potential solution - Focus on narrative - Story at heart of each case
    • Legal writing is abstract, causes students to forget story

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Outcome of changes
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • “Subversive” narrative movement might enter curriculum without changing how lawyers write
    • Just acknowledging narrative might fix some things

Main Points:

Passage A - History writing is boring, and it needs to implement stories to fix this, though, despite recognition from some historians, this has yet to happen.

Passage B - Legal writing is too often bad because it loses sight of the narrative at the heart of the case, but a growing awareness of this might lead to some important changes.

Key Lines?

Passage A:

  • Lines 3-5 - Author identifies herself and her opinion
  • Lines 11-14 - That opinion is fully stated, reflecting a problem
  • Lines 15-16 - A potential solution is offered
  • Lines 27-28 - The solution is shown to not really be implemented

Passage B:

  • Line 30 - The Author identifies himself
  • Lines 37-38 - Negative connotation/Author’s opinion
  • Lines 39-42 - That opinion is expanded
  • Lines 42-44 - A potential solution
  • Lines 50-51 - A problem with the solution
  • Lines 52-59 - The Author’s prediction of potential outcomes

Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?

This set of passages is very interesting! They’re actually quite similar. They both are written by teachers in the field they discuss (Line 5; Line 30). They focus on different areas (history; law), but they both address a problem with writing in that field. Those problems are similar - in both cases, the writing is too boring, too logical, too abstract (Lines 5-7; Lines 34-42; among others in both). Both propose similar solutions - the inclusion of stories/narrative in that writing (Lines 15-16; Lines 42-44). And both believe that there’s at least some movement in that direction, though not enough to solve the problem (Lines 16-17; Lines 25-26; Lines 44-45; Lines 52-57). The main difference between the two appears to be that the Author of Passage A doesn’t think the problem is really being solved, with “very few historians” truly adapting narrative (Line 27), while the Author of Passage B believes that even “mere awareness...could perhaps serve as an important corrective” (Lines 58-59), which is slightly more optimistic.

Problem/Solution (Both) - Both passages employ the same Problem/Solution meta-structure. And, in fact, both identify the same problem and solution in their respective fields (see above)! When a passage is centrally concerned with presenting solutions to a problem, the Author’s solution (and any associated opinions on that solution) constitute the main point, which is reflected in our main points written above.

Last Thoughts?

There are two things that are different about these passages than the norm. First, both are written in the first-person, so the viewpoints are a little stronger and more personal than we’re used to seeing. Second, the two are significantly more aligned than we generally see, with each making more or less the same argument about their respective fields. These elements should really define a lot of our anticipations and approach to the questions.

Question prompt

The phrase "scholarly monographs 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

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Define the role of the phrase in question in Passage A, then use that to analyze the answers

Answer Anticipation

Let’s talk about our strategy for tackling this question. No matter what, everyone should have started by reviewing the context around Lines 6-7 to clearly define their purpose in that passage. However, at this point, there are two paths - head to Passage B and identify a phrase with a similar purpose, or head to the answer choices. However, there’s no reason to try to anticipate the correct phrase, as Passage B has 30 LINES in it, but only 5 are in play. So define the role, then head to the answers to find one that suggests the same tone, meaning, and purpose..So let’s start with analyzing Lines 6-7. There, the Author is discussing her problem with current history writing. She says that historians require the reading of works that “sap the vitality of history.” The Author clearly isn’t in favor of sapping that vitality (who would be?!?!), instead wanting to help “stimulate students who yearn to connect to history emotionally” (Lines 12-14). So this phrase is a part of the Author’s harsh judgment of current history writing, and the language itself has a negative connotation. Let’s find an answer that similarly brings up a description of current legal writing that carries with it a negative connotation about how it removes the narrative/emotional connection to the situation.

Answer choices

  1. A
    "Writing is at the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) This answer doesn’t have a negative connotation to it - saying that writing is at the heart of the lawyer’s craft could be a part of an argument about how this has resulted in a finely honed teaching method leading to good writing.

  2. B
    "Conformity is a virtue, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    (B) This answer, just as the phrase in question, has a negative connotation that suggests the Author believes writing that fits this description - current legal writing included - isn’t particularly good. How can we see that? Because it uses words such as “suspect,” “forbidden,” and “mute.” None of these words is used by someone to describe writing that they find to be particularly good or interesting, especially when considering the words they modify, so this is the correct answer. If you read just the statement from the question stem, you’d know that whoever wrote it doesn’t think that these scholarly monographs make history seem vital. If you read just the statement in this answer, you know that whoever wrote it is describing writing that they don’t find particularly interesting or alive.

  3. C
    "Lawyers write as they Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this good? Is this bad? The phrase in question from Passage A clearly conveys how the Author feels about the writing it describes; this answer doesn’t. (Note that, had you checked the context, you might be tempted to pick this answer, as following this Passage B says that “they too often write badly.” However, that’s not a part of this answer, and so it can’t be considered when analyzing this answer.)

  4. D
    "every case has at Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) This answer isn’t even about writing! It’s about the cases on which lawyers will write.

  5. E
    "Still, even mere awareness Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) The phrase from the question stem conveys a part of the problem the Author of Passage A describes; this answer conveys a part of the solution the Author of Passage B explores.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 3%
  2. B Credited 77%
  3. C 15%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 1%

Deeper help

Ask follow-ups on any step

Optional AI tutor mode will let you interrogate assumptions, compare answers, and drill weak patterns without leaving the page.

Human-written explanations stay primary; AI is an add-on when you want it.

Discussion

View all discussions Start a discussion