Reading comp PrepTest 139 · Section 2 · Question 19

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 information in 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. While this question stem gives us a specific topic to focus on, the whole passage spoke to the Teatro Campesino. So, this question provides little indication of where support for the correct answer will appear 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
    Its efforts to organize Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

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

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes talk about what the Teatro Campesino accomplished, especially in terms of Chávez's labor movement. In fact, our notes suggest that the passage shifts gears from the discussion of the labor work halfway through the first paragraph. We can safely eliminate — or at least table — (A) without checking the passage.

    Besides, we wouldn't find support for (A) even if we re-read the entire passage. There's no mention that any farm owners accepted the Teatro Campesino's unionization efforts.

  2. B
    It included among its Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

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

    No. Our note for the second paragraph says that members of the Teatro Campesino were "farm workers" who had recent "experiences" with the strikes. Maybe these members were products of the famous mime-to-farm-worker pipeline, but it doesn't seem very likely. We can safely eliminate — or at least table — (B) without checking the passage.

    Besides, we wouldn't find support for (B) even if we re-read the entire passage. In the second paragraph, where the development of the Teatro Campesino and actos is discussed, only Valdez is said to have been a student of the San Francisco Mime Troupe (P2, S4).

  3. C
    It did not play Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

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

    Well, our note for the first paragraph says, "Background on Teatro Campesino (1965, associated with Chávez's labor movement/grape boycott)." That suggests that the Teatro Campesino came out in 1965. It doesn't say that it didn't play a role in the earliest efforts of Chávez's labor movement to gain international recognition. But this is a fairly easy-to-support statement. If we can find proof that Chávez's labor movement received recognition before 1965, we can prove that (C) is correct. If you can remember that Chávez's labor movement's successes preceded the Teatro Campesino's creation, you can check the passage to confirm that this is correct. If you can't, it's probably best practice to mark (C) as a possible contender but check the remaining answer choices to see if any are consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes.

    Once we check the passage, we'll head to the first paragraph, where the historical context and dates are mentioned. There, we can see that Chávez had gained international recognition by 1965 (P1, S2). That's also the year that "marks the birth of contemporary Chicano theater," as Valdez approached Chávez about using theater to organize farm workers, eventually leading to the Teatro Campesino (P1, S3). Since the earliest unionization efforts must have started before 1965, and the Teatro Campesino eventually developed out of a meeting that was held that year, this answer must be true. We can select it and advance to the following question.

  4. D
    Although its first performances Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

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

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes discuss which language the performances were in. So, we can safely eliminate — or at least table — (D) without checking the passage.

    Besides, we wouldn't find support for (D) even if we re-read the entire passage. The passage never discusses language or non-Spanish-speaking audiences, so this answer is unsupported.

  5. E
    Its work drew praise Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

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

    No. Neither the main point nor our notes bring up the critical response to the Teatro Campesino. So, we can safely eliminate — or at least table — (E) without checking the passage.

    Besides, we wouldn't find support for (E) even if we re-read the entire passage. The passage talks about scholars of Mexican American history and theater historians (P3, S1), but we don't see anything specifically about critics. Even giving this answer the benefit of the doubt and saying that these individuals count as critics, there's no discussion of their nationality, so this answer is unsupported.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 15%
  2. B 14%
  3. C Credited 40%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 27%

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