Reading comp PrepTest 138 · Section 1 · Question 6

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

The passage provides the 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 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
    "El Corrido de Gregorio Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

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

    No. Neither the main point nor our notes discuss the popularity of any of the corridos mentioned in the passage. Rather than waste time checking the passage to see if (A) is supported, we can table this choice and move on to the next answer choice.

    If we had to review the passage to determine whether (A)'s supported, we'd see that "Gregorio Cortez" is referred to as "popular" in the passage (P2, S3), so this answer seems unlikely to be true.

  2. B
    Most surviving corridos do Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

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

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes discuss whether parts of most corridos have been lost to time. Rather than waste time checking the passage to see if (B) is supported, we can table this choice and move on to the next one.

    If we had to review the passage to determine whether (B)'s supported, we'd see that the passage describes "Kiansis" as the oldest corrido surviving in complete form, but it was written in 1870 (P1, S4), and corridos were released until the 1930s (P1, S2). It could be that almost every corrido written after "Kiansis" is still available in its complete form.

  3. C
    All complete corridos have Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

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

    Our note for the third paragraph is, "Corridos' ready-made lines (despedida, closing verse with repeated lines)." This suggests that corridos' despedidas have some lines in common.

    We can check the passage to confirm that this is correct. (Even if you think this is supported, we recommend checking. After all, this answer choice has bold, SCOTUS-y language with "all" — even if it is softened with "at least some." We will need equally strong support from the passage to verify that the "all corridos" statement is supported.)

    Upon review, we'll see that the closing verse was a formal element of corridos, and that the first and third lines were a set convention (P3, S4-S5). The phrase "set convention" confirms that, at the very least, the first and third lines of the closing verse of all corridos are the same, so this is the correct answer.

  4. D
    Most corrido variants have Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

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

    Well, our note for the third paragraph is, "Corridos' ready-made lines (despedida, closing verse with repeated lines)." This suggests that corridos' despedidas are at least similar.

    If we need to, we can check the passage to see if (D) is supported. Upon review, we'll see that the first and third lines of the despedida are the same in all corridos, but the second and fourth lines change based on content and rhyming needs (P3, S4-S5), and so different corrido variants wouldn't necessarily have the same despedida. Even those that share the same topic might frame that content in a different way!

  5. E
    "El Corrido de Kiansis" Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

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

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes discuss who wrote the corridos. Rather than waste time checking the passage to see if (D) is supported, we can table this choice and move on to the next one.

    If we had to review the passage to determine whether (D)'s supported, we wouldn't find any information about the composer of "Kiansis." Plus, that corrido deals with subject matter specific to the border region (S1, S4), so there's at least some evidence it was written by someone from there and thus familiar with that subject matter.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 2%
  2. B 11%
  3. C Credited 60%
  4. D 26%
  5. E 1%

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