Reading comp PrepTest 138 · Section 1 · Question 2

Passage

Questions 1-7  .        The corrido , a type of narrative folk song, comes  . from a region half in Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Corridos' subject matter (border-specific issues to commemorate and bring the community together)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Definition of "corrido": a narrative folk song with roots in 18th-c. Spanish ballads, flourished from 1836 to late 1930 in border community called Lower Rio Grande Border (first and second sentences)
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • All corridos have the same subject matter (border-specific issues) and contain the same generic elements (third and fifth sentences)
    • Example of a corrido with a border-specific issue, according to the author:
      • "El Corrido de Kiansis," which commemorated the first cattle drives to Kansas in the 1860s (fourth sentence)
    • Author's view on the purpose of corridos:
      • Corridos commemorated local events and helped bring the border community together (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "more importantly" (last sentence); "served to affirm the cohesiveness" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Corridos' language (simple, few embellishments, everyday images in metaphor when used)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Examples of simple metaphors in corridos, according to the author:
      • Thunderstorm as a metaphor for a fight in "El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez" and "El Corrido de Kiansis" (third and fourth sentences)
    • Author's view on the purpose of simple language:
      • Language is simple and the imagery is conventional and recognizable, which reflects the continuity of the corrido tradition (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "simply and swiftly, without embellishments" (first sentence); "highly conventional and readily recognizable" (last sentence); "reflects and strengthens the continuity of the corrido tradition" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Corridos' ready-made lines (despedida, closing verse with repeated lines)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • The conventional lines that appear in many corridos is most readily illustrated by the despedida, the formal closing verse with conventional first and third lines (first, second, fourth through last sentences)
    • Example of despedida, according to the author:
      • Closing lines in one version of "El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez" (third sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "travel easily" (first sentence); "most evident" (second sentence); "perhaps the clearest marker" (last sentence)

Main Point: By using familiar images, lines, and experiences, corridos strengthened and created continuity in border communities from around 1836 to the 1930s.

Key Lines?

Paragraph 1, Sentence 6 (P1, S6) - Purpose of corridos is summarized

P2, S5- The scope and purpose of imagery in corridos is summarized

P1, S6 - The scope and purpose of repeated lines is summarized

Meta-Structure?

Importance of Subject - This passage utilizes an Importance of [Subject] Meta-Structure (in this case, Importance of the Corrido or Importance of a Tradition). A number of humanities passages explore a tradition, looking at its influences, its purpose, and its legacy. In this case, the author explores how corridos' purpose, subject matter, and composition made them important to border communities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In an Importance of Subject passage, the main point is generally the author's opinions on why the subject was important. To anticipate this main point, we can look for whether the author provides a conclusion that summarizes this opinion. But if the author doesn't provide such a conclusion, we'll have to summarize the author's opinions ourselves. In this case, the author provided a conclusion at the end of the first paragraph (P1, S6). But we also decided to anticipate a slightly more specific version of this statement, just to cover our bases: "By using familiar images, lines, and experiences, corridos strengthened and created continuity in border communities from around 1836 to the 1930s."

Example: The most prominent minor Meta-Structure is the example. In fact, the author uses an example to illustrate the point the author makes in each paragraph. We will certainly get some Minor Point or Argument Structure questions on these examples, so keep them highlighted!

Last Thoughts?

Each paragraph follows a pretty similar pattern — details are discussed, an example is presented, and then the overall point of that paragraph is summed up. In each case, the point presents the scope and purpose of something — corridos overall (Paragraph 1), their imagery (Paragraph 2), and their repeated lines (Paragraph 3). Noting this parallel structure should make it a lot easier to find any specific details or answer any structure questions.

On top of that, the end of Paragraph 1, at a very high level, outlines the rest of the passage. We know that the purpose of Paragraph 1 was to discuss the purpose of corridos overall, and it notes that the "more important[]" purpose was to affirm the cohesiveness of border communities using "familiar linguistic and thematic conventions." The discussion of imagery, metaphor, and repeated lines dives into these linguistic and thematic conventions in more detail.

Question prompt

According to the passage, 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

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 provides no indication as to the topic of the correct answer or where it’ll show up in the passage. After all, it asks about the characteristics of corridos, which the passage discusses ... everywhere.As such, we’ll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. Our notes are going to really help us out here. 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 familiar 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
    use of exaggeration to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is the "use of exaggeration to embellish Border events" in our notes?

    Nope. In fact, our note for the second paragraph is, "Corridos' language (simple, few embellishments, everyday images in metaphor when used)." The reference to "few embellishments" suggests this answer choice is almost certainly false. We can eliminate this without checking the passage. But if you had to double-check, you'd see that the passage says that corridos told their stories "without embellishments" (P2, S1), proving that this answer is wrong.

  2. B
    use of numerous figures Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Is the "use of numerous figures of speech" in our notes?

    No. In fact, our note for the second paragraph is, "Corridos' language (simple, few embellishments, everyday images in metaphor when used)." The reference to "simple" and "metaphor when used" suggests that corridos almost certainly did not use "numerous figures of speech." We can eliminate this without checking the passage. But if you had to double-check, you'd see that the passage says that figures of speech are rare in corridos, so this answer is wrong (P2, S2), proving that this answer is incorrect.

  3. C
    use of a formal Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) Is the "use of formal closing verse" in our notes?

    Yes, it is. Our note for the last paragraph is, "Corridos' ready-made lines (despedida, closing verse with repeated lines)." That suggests that corridos almost certainly use a formal closing verse. We could probably pick this without checking the passage. But to err on the side of caution, a quick peek at the last paragraph would reveal that the despedida is a"formal closing verse" that can "travel easily from one ballad to another" (P3, S1-S2). This confirms that (C) is correct. We can select it and advance to the following question.

  4. D
    use of complex rhyme Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Is the "use of complex rhyme schemes" in our notes?

    Nope. Our note for the second paragraph is, "Corridos' language (simple, few embellishments, everyday images in metaphor when used)." The reference to "simple" suggests that corridos aren't that complex in their rhyme schemes, so we can eliminate this one safely. But if we needed to double-check, we'll see that the passage discusses rhymes when talking about the despedida, noting that a single line changes to let it rhyme (P3, S4-S5). That hardly sounds like a "complex" rhyme scheme!

  5. E
    use of verses that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Is the "use of verses that combine Spanish and English" in our notes?

    No. Our notes don't reference the language corridos use. Rather than waste time checking the passage, we should table (E) and review any answer choice that we haven't yet eliminated (preferably starting with one that is reflected in our notes).

    If we had to review the passage to eliminate (E), we'd see that the passage says that corridos are "sung in Spanish" (P1, S2). Certain examples are translated into English so that they can be understood by the English-speaking audience — not because they were sung in English!

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 2%
  2. B 3%
  3. C Credited 91%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 1%

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