Reading comp PrepTest 136 · Section 3 · Question 4

Passage

Questions 1-6  .        Many critics agree that the primary characteristic  . of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène's work is  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Critics, background, and the Author’s view on Sembene
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Critics - Sembene’s primary characteristic = sociopolitical commentary
    • Background - Trained in Moscow; from Senegal
    • Sembene (Goal) - Not entertain, raise social awareness
    • Author - Original filmmaking = adapting Western film to West African culture

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Similarity - West African storytelling - characters/motifs
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Examples - Tree (motif); trickster (character)
    • Characters = collective ideas/attitudes facing archetypical problems (Example)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Similarity - Dilemma tales - Structure
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Dilemma tale - Audience debates/decides outcome
    • Sembene - Open-ended plots with several alt endings (and freeze frames)
    • Examples

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Similarity - Oral tales - Journeys that change protagonist (and viewer)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Movies - Emerging social consciousness from change
    • Critics - Opposites are from Marxism
    • Author - Opposites are from African oral storytelling

Main Point: While critics focus on the Marxist influence on Sembene, his originality in filmmaking actually derives from adapting the Western medium of film to the storytelling traditions and cultural expectations of West Africa, communicating his social views to audiences there.

Key Lines?

Lines 8-11 - The Author’s opinion on Sembene’s innovation

Lines 16-18 - One similarity backing up the Author’s opinion

Lines 33-38 - Another similarity

Lines 44-48 - Another similarity

Lines 54-58 - The Author contrasts her view with the critics

Meta-Structure?

Innovative Artist - As with many Humanities passages, the Author here explains the innovative nature of an artist (“originality as a filmmaker”; Line 8). In this case, she argues that Sembene was original because he “successfully adapted film” (Line 9) to the “needs, pace, and structure of West African culture” (Lines 10-11). She then goes on, in the rest of the passage, to highlight three aspects of his filmmaking that are related to West African traditional storytelling. When a Humanities passage falls into this category, the innovative nature of the artist (and the innovation) make up the main point, as noted above.

Generalization/Examples//Comparisons - The Author sets out her general point in Paragraph 1 - Sembene is an original filmmaker because he adapted a Western cultural medium (film) to the needs, pace, and structures of West African culture. From there, she goes into three examples, comparing his films to African storytelling traditions - one in each paragraph. By using these specific examples (and examples within the examples) to prove the general point, the Author is using the Generalization/Examples Meta-Structure, with each Example serving as a comparison (specifically, a similarity). We should expect questions about these examples/comparisons, as both of those types of elements are frequently featured in questions!

NOT Defense from Critics - A common type of Humanities passage will defend an artist from what the Author believes is unfair criticism. While there are critics present in this passage, they’re not saying anything negative about Sembene. Rather, the Author is arguing a different point from the critics - she doesn’t think they’re unfairly criticizing him, but rather that they’re commentary misses a key aspect of his work.

Last Thoughts?

Let’s not lose sight of the overall structure, with the intro paragraph providing a general argument that’s backed up by examples/similarities in each subsequent paragraph. That structure is going to help us identify relevant information - e.g., if a question asks about characters or motifs, we should head to Paragraph 2.

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 stem does tell us a topic - Sembene - but the entire passage is about him, so there’s really no indication as to what, specifically, the correct answer will address or where it’ll show up in the passage. As such, we’ll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. 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 answers, deferring on those that don’t line up with the main point. For those that do, we’ll use our notes and the passage to see if it’s correct.

Answer choices

  1. A
    His films have become Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 14-15) The only indication we get of Sembene’s popularity is that he’s been able to “reach” Senegalese viewers, so there’s no indication that his films are popular in other parts of Africa, let alone in other parts of the world.

  2. B
    He has not received Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) The passage doesn’t discuss where Sembene’s support has come from, so this answer is out of scope.

  3. C
    His films are widely Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Line 1; Line 57; Lines 13-15) When the critics are mentioned, there’s no discussion of where they’re from, so this answer about Senegalese film critics is incorrect. Additionally, as we said with (A), the passage suggests that Sembene effectively communicates his views to Senegalese viewers, which would include critics (they view the films they criticize, after all!).

  4. D
    His characters are drawn Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) (Lines 22-24) We noted that Paragraph 2 is about the characters in Sembene’s films (and how they’re similar to those in West African storytelling), so if this answer is correct, the support will almost certainly show up there. Checking the paragraph, we can see that his characters include thieves, street merchants, civil servants, and members of the elite - without a doubt, a broad range of social strata. This answer is therefore correct.

  5. E
    His work has been Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Similar to (B), there’s no discussion of government involvement in the passage - either support or censorship. This answer might be trying to trick you into thinking that the government would censor a film that had a “corrupted civil servant,” but that’s a huge leap.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 8%
  2. B 2%
  3. C 9%
  4. D Credited 82%
  5. E 0%

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