Reading comp PrepTest 138 · Section 1 · Question 7

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 most strongly Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review the main point, and use notes or highlighted/underlined text in the passage to recall the author’s attitude, and find the answer that best reflects your understanding of the main point/author’s attitude

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us about the author's view, but doesn't provide any insight into the topic of the correct answer or where the supporting information might show up in the passage. This means the correct answer is likely to relate back to the author's main point. 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). We can also review any notes about the author's attitude or any text we highlighted because it expresses the author's opinion. After doing that, we can head to the answer choices, tabling those that don't line up with the main point. For those answer choices that conform to the author’s main point, we'll use our notes and the passage to see if it's correct.

Answer choices

  1. A
    In at least some Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is this answer choice consistent with the author's main point or what we reviewed about the author's attitude?

    No. This author doesn't express a lot of attitude in the passage, so an opinionated claim ("hindered the efforts of corrido makers to use metaphor effectively") doesn't jibe with the main point or the author's tone. For this reason, we can eliminate — or at least table — (A) without reviewing the passage.

    If we did review the passage, we'd see that the author says that metaphor was rarely used, but that wasn't because of the reliance on ready-made lines — it was because corridos told their stories "simply and swiftly" (P2, S1). This answer mashes up the content from Paragraphs 2 and 3 in a way that the passage doesn't do, so this answer is incorrect.

  2. B
    The corrido is unique Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Is this answer choice consistent with the author's main point or what we reviewed about the author's attitude?

    Nope. This author doesn't make strong statements in the passage, so a bold, SCOTUS-y claim that expresses a high degree of exclusivity ("unique among ballad forms") doesn't jibe with the main point or the author's tone. For this reason, we can eliminate — or at least table — (B) without reviewing the passage.

    If we did review the passage, we'd see that the author discusses corridos in the context of the wider folk music tradition in the first paragraph. There, it's noted that they are different from other folk traditions because they deal with subject matter specific to the Border region, but not because they use language familiar mainly to local audiences (P1, S3). The latter point could be true of other folk music that deals with subject matter specific to other regions, as well!

  3. C
    Much of the imagery Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this answer choice consistent with the author's main point or what we reviewed about the author's attitude?

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes make much out of corridos imagery or their relation to ballads from Spain, so this answer choice is unlikely to be correct. For this reason, we can eliminate — or at least table — (C) without reviewing the passage.

    If we did review the passage, we'd see that it discusses imagery in Paragraph 2, where it says that corridos rarely used a lot of embellishment, but what imagery they used was familiar to the songs' listeners (P2, S1-2). Since that imagery would be familiar to those who lived in the Border region, some of it might not be shared by ballads written in Spain. The example of the thunderstorm would probably work in both locations, but, say, the stampedes in Kansas might not.

  4. D
    The reportorial capability of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Is this answer choice consistent with the author's main point or what we reviewed about the author's attitude?

    Nope. This author doesn't make strong statements in the passage, so a bold, SCOTUS-y claim ("freedom from constraint") doesn't jibe with the main point or the author's tone. For this reason, we can eliminate — or at least table — (D) without reviewing the passage.

    If we did review the passage, we'd see that the passage notes that the despedida had a line that was changed "according to the exigencies of rhyme" (P3, S5), so the despedida wasn't free from rhyming requirements.

  5. E
    A corrido without a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) Is this answer choice consistent with the author's main point or what we reviewed about the author's attitude?

    Well, yes. The author's main point is, "By using familiar images, lines, and experiences, corridos strengthened and created continuity in border communities from around 1836 to the 1930s." And our notes show that the passage lists many elements that are common to corridos. This suggests that (E) is supported by the passage. We can review the passage to confirm that (E) is correct.

    Upon review, we could find many ways a corrido without a despedida would be recognizable. Corridos deal with the border region (P1, S3), and different corridos that deal with the same event "all partake of standard generic elements" (P1, S5). The language isn't embellished, and the imagery is familiar to the listeners (P2, S1), so it's likely shared between corridos. And while the despedida is where the shared ready-made lines are "most evident" (P3, S2), that language suggests that there are other places in corridas where those ready-made lines are also evident. As such, many elements could be used to identify a corrido even if the despedida is missing, so this is the correct answer.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 4%
  2. B 40%
  3. C 6%
  4. D 9%
  5. E Credited 41%

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