Reading comp PrepTest 139 · Section 2 · Question 16

Passage

Questions 13-20  .        Most scholars of Mexican American history mark  . César Chávez's unionizing efforts among Mexican  . and Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background on Teatro Campesino (1965, associated with Chávez's labor movement/grape boycott)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • 1965, the same year that Chávez gained recognition for organizing a grape boycott to get growers in California to sign union contracts, marked the birth of the Chicano theater movement with Valdez's formation of Teatro Campesino (second through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "marks the birth" (third sentence); "generally credited" (last sentence); "reach its apex" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Development of "actos" (sketches based on farm workers' experiences that satirize strikebreakers and inspire social action)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Like the subjects of his "actos," Valdez was a former farm worker (second sentence)
    • Definition of "actos": skits or sketches that expose problems, satirize the opposition, and inspire social action (fourth and sixth sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "quintessential form" (fifth sentence); "any good political theater" (sixth sentence); "palpable immediacy" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author/Broyles-González's criticism of theater historians (Valdez contributed to but didn't invent actos, a collective accomplishment inspired by carpas)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Theater historians's view:
      • Valdez invented actos by himself (first sentence)
    • Author/Broyles-González's view:
      • Actos were a collective accomplishment (last sentence)
      • Valdez contribution was crucial, however, as he brought carpas, European theater, and the collective together (last sentence)
    • Comparisons, according to the author/Broyles-González:
      • Actos were similar to and influenced by carpas, border area satires performed to working-class audiences at the turn of the 20th century (second through fourth sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "rightly criticizes" (first sentence); "as if the striking farm workers' improvisational talent had depended entirely on his vision and expertise for the form it took" (first sentence); "flourished" (third sentence); "no doubt had substantial cultural links to this tradition and likely adapted it to their improvisations" (fourth sentence); "was, in fact, a collective accomplishment" (last sentence); "crucial one" (last sentence); "were neither carpas nor theater in the European tradition of Valdez's academic training, but a distinctive genre" (last sentence)

Main Point: While the Teatro Campesino was a collective effort influenced by earlier shows such as carpas, Valdez was a key figure in bringing that collective together and influencing the form that actos — a key element of the Teatro — took.

Meta-Structure?

Correcting the Record: The Correcting the Record Meta-Structure best fits this passage.* In such a passage, the author typically starts by describing a common misconception or false belief. Often, this false belief is based on a lack of information. Then, the author explains why this past belief is false or misleading, occasionally offering an alternative belief. In this passage, we learn that some theater historians have credited Valdez with inventing actos as a genre. The author endorses Broyles-González's argument that actos and the Teatro Campesino were collective accomplishments that took influence from an earlier genre called carpas. 

In a passage that uses a Correcting the Record Meta-Structure, the main point is often the author's explanation of why the misconception is false. However, if the author provides an alternative belief, the main point will be the author's opinion about that belief. Since this author provides a new belief on Valdez's role in the creation of actos, we made the crux of our anticipated main point.

*As is often the case with passages that use a Meta-Structure from the Critical family of major Meta-Structures, several other Critical Meta-Structures could also describe this passage. We could easily call this a Criticizing a Viewpoint or Rebutting Critics passage, even if the author's tone isn't especially negative toward the corrected view. We could even call this a Resolving a Debate passage since the author's conclusion ultimately finds the middle ground between the views held by the theater historians and Broyles-González. We could even call this an Innovative [Subject] passage since Valdez's actos could be considered an artistic "innovation."

Last Thoughts?

The first two paragraphs include a lot of background information — with many dates, especially. We'll probably get some Minor Detail questions about those paragraphs, so let's be sure that we keep the timeline in mind as we work through the questions.

Question prompt

The passage indicates that 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

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Refer to notes or what you highlighted/underlined to locate where the passage discusses the actos and carpas to identify any similarities and refer to the relevant part of the passage as needed to find that answer choice states one of those similarities

Answer Anticipation

For questions that ask us to find a specific detail mentioned in the passage, quickly finding and reviewing that piece of information is paramount. That is why we make brief notes describing the role of each paragraph and highlight or underline definitions and the minor Meta-Structures — doing so helps us find the salient information efficiently and reliably. Once we review that part of the passage, we can look through the answer choices to see which one is best supported by what we reviewed.Here, the question asks us to identify a similarity between actos and carpas. What should we review in the passage to identify that? Well, comparisons require information about both of the elements in the comparison. Since actos were mentioned first in this passage, that means we should actually focus on the section where carpas are discussed — there won't be a comparison to something that hasn't been brought up yet!Luckily, both of those words appear in italics in the passage, so we can the passage to find where carpas are first mentioned. Alternatively, we can use the CTRL/Command + F search function to find that reference. We'll be directed to the third paragraph, which says that actos and carpas were similar and that they were informal, often satirical, and performed in tents to working-class audiences (P3, S2).What information from that list shows up in the description of actos? Reviewing the second paragraph, we'll see that they, like carpas, involved satire (P2, S6). They were performed initially in flatbed trucks (P2, S5), so there's no overlap with carpas there. However, they were put on for working-class audiences (farmers, P2, S5), so there's more overlap.Let's find one of these two answers — they were both satirical, or they were both performed for working-class audiences.

Answer choices

  1. A
    both had roots in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this say that actos and carpas were both satirical or both performed for working-class audiences?

    Nope, so we can immediately eliminate (A). Besides, Valdez was the one with training in the European tradition (P4, S5), so while actos had some roots in that tradition, there's no indication carpas did.

  2. B
    both were studied by Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this say that actos and carpas were both satirical or both performed for working-class audiences?

    Nope, so we can immediately eliminate (B). Besides, Valdez studied with the San Francisco Mime Troupe (P2, S4), but there's no indication the Troupe studied the actos he helped develop. Carpas aren't connected to that Troupe at all!

  3. C
    both were initially performed Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this say that actos and carpas were both satirical or both performed for working-class audiences?

    Nope, so we can immediately eliminate (C). Besides, actos are said to have started in flatbed-truck stages at the fields' edges (P2, S5), so this answer applies to them, but carpas were performed in tents (P3, S2). While tents could be located on farms, they don't need to be, and the passage provides no indication that these ones were.

  4. D
    both often involved satire
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) Does this say that actos and carpas were both satirical or both performed for working-class audiences?

    Yes! The passage characterizes both actos and carpas as involving satire (P2, S6; P3, S2), so this answer is correct. We can select it and advance straight to the next question.

  5. E
    both were part of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this say that actos and carpas were both satirical or both performed for working-class audiences?

    Nope, so we can immediately eliminate (E). Besides, the passage connects Valdez's work to the union organization of farm workers in the first paragraph (which is something we should know because it relates directly to the previous question). But there's no connection between carpas and union organizing, so this answer is incorrect.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 5%
  2. B 2%
  3. C 6%
  4. D Credited 81%
  5. E 7%

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