Reading comp PrepTest 139 · Section 2 · Question 17

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

It can be inferred 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

Review your notes to recall Valdez's views, then find an answer that must be true according to the passage

Answer Anticipation

This question stem asks us to infer a belief Valdez would agree with. Often, one's views are described at length throughout the passage, so reviewing the passage or anticipating what the correct answer will say is not a wise investment of our limited time. Instead, we can remind ourselves of what we noted about their views and go on to the answer choices. We'll eliminate each one we know is wrong (for instance, if we know it contradicts their views) and table any choice that includes a detail we don't remember reading or that isn't reflected in our notes. If we see a detail we recall, even vaguely, or we see an answer choice that's reflected in our notes, we can review the passage to see if we can find the supporting text.We should also be careful with how we approach this question. Not everything we know about an individual will tell us something about their subjective viewpoint. So, for questions such as this one, we want to focus on what the passage says they thought or believed. That said, their actions can also lead to limited inferences about their beliefs, so we should have a general idea of those, as well.

Answer choices

  1. A
    As a theatrical model, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is this consistent with what the main point says about Valdez's beliefs or reflected in our notes about Valdez?

    Nope. Neither our main point nor our notes suggest that Valdez held any beliefs about carpas. Moreover, our notes tell us that carpas were similar to actos, so it would be pretty strange if he thought carpas were "ill-suited" to the type of theater he was attempting to create. Therefore, we should resist any urge to check the passage and eliminate — or at least table — (A) and move on to the next answer choice.

    Besides, we wouldn't find any support for this answer choice, even if we re-read the entire passage. Carpas are mentioned in the last paragraph, which is devoid of Valdez's viewpoint. We don't learn anything about his opinion on those earlier satirical shows, so this answer is incorrect.

  2. B
    César Chávez should have Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Is this consistent with what the main point says about Valdez's beliefs or reflected in our notes about Valdez?

    Nope. Neither our main point nor our notes suggest that Valdez didn't think Chávez did enough to support the Teatro Campesino. Moreover, our note for the first paragraph says that the Teatro Campesino was "associated with Chávez's labor movement/grape boycott," so it would appear that Chávez supported Valdez's efforts. So, we should resist any urge to check the passage and eliminate — or at least table — (B) and move on to the next answer choice.

    Besides, we wouldn't find any support for this answer choice, even if we re-read the entire passage. The first paragraph tells us that Valdez approached Chávez about using theater to organize farm workers (P1, S3), but we don't learn anything about Chávez's response or Valdez's feelings towards that response, so this answer is unsupported.

  3. C
    Avant-garde theater in the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this consistent with what the main point says about Valdez's beliefs or reflected in our notes about Valdez?

    Nope. Neither our main point nor our notes suggest that Valdez didn't think avant-garde European theater was relevant to the Teatro Campesino or working-class audiences. So, we should resist any urge to check the passage and eliminate — or at least table — (C) and move on to the next answer choice.

    Besides, we wouldn't find any support for this answer choice, even if we re-read the entire passage. In both sections of the passage where Valdez's European theatrical education is discussed (assuming the Mime Troupe was in the European tradition), it's the author or scholars arguing that that tradition influenced Valdez (P2, S4; P3, S5), so we don't know his opinion on it. That said, someone with training in the European tradition would probably admit that they brought some of that to their work. So, if anything, this answer is contradicted by the passage.

  4. D
    Actors do not require Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) Is this consistent with what the main point says about Valdez's beliefs or reflected in our notes about Valdez?

    Yes! Our note for the second paragraph says that actos were "sketches based on farm workers' experiences." A quick review of the second paragraph, if necessary, would remind us that Valdez worked with farm workers to create the actos and the Teatro Campesino (P2, S1-S3). The goal was to put on good performances that would also "inspire the audience to social action" (P2, S6). He wouldn't have worked with untrained performers if he believed that they would fail to create successful performances, so he must have believed that working with untrained actors could lead to success. This answer is, therefore, correct. We can select it and advance to the next question.

  5. E
    The aesthetic aspects of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Is this consistent with what the main point says about Valdez's beliefs or reflected in our notes about Valdez?

    Nope. Neither our main point nor our notes suggest that Valdez thought that theatrical works should be evaluated independently of their political ramifications. In fact, our note for the second paragraph says that Valdez hoped that his theatrical productions would "inspire social action," which suggests that he would disagree with (E). So, we should resist any urge to check the passage and eliminate — or at least table — (E) and circle back to any answer choice we haven't already eliminated.

    Besides, we wouldn't find any support for this answer choice, even if we re-read the entire passage. All the statements we get on Valdez's opinions show his focus on the political aspects of his work with the Teatro Campesino (P1, S3; P2, S60, so we can't infer that he thinks those aspects should be evaluated separately from the aesthetic aspects.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 4%
  2. B 3%
  3. C 7%
  4. D Credited 84%
  5. E 2%

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