Reading comp PrepTest 139 · Section 2 · Question 20

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

Credited answer: B

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 is yet another question that asks us to infer, based on the entire passage, a statement that must be true. And again, 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.So, we'll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this. 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
    The carpas tradition has Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

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

    No. Our note for the third paragraph says that actos were "inspired by carpas," according to at least one theater historian. But that doesn't mean carpas were "widely discussed and analyzed" by theater historians in the U.S. and Mexico. In fact, our note says that the author and Broyles-González criticize theater historians for overlooking the influence of carpas on actos, which suggests that carpas were not widely studied. At any rate, 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. While the passage brings up scholars of Mexican American history and theatrical historians (P3, S1), it never identifies them as being from the U.S. or Mexico, so we can't support this answer.

  2. B
    Comedy was a prominent Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

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

    Yes! Our note for the first paragraph says that actos emerged in 1965, and our note for the second paragraph says they "satirize[d] strikebreakers." Those two factors suggest that comedy was a prominent feature of Chicano theater in the 1960s. We should check the passage to confirm that this is correct.

    Looking to the second paragraph for details supporting this answer, we can see that the acto was the "quintessential form of Chicano theater in the 1960s," and that, according to Valdez, it involved a "brief comic statement" (P2, S5-S6). As such, comedy was a prominent feature of the quintessential form of Chicano theater in the ‘60s, so this is the correct answer. We can select it and wrap up this passage.

  3. C
    In directing the actos Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

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

    Not really. Our note for the third paragraph says that actos were "inspired by carpas." But that doesn't mean Valdez went to "great lengths" to recreate what audiences experienced in carpas. In fact, our note says that the author and Broyles-González criticize theater historians for overlooking the influence of carpas on Valdez's actos. If Valdez went to such great lengths to make the connection between carpas and actos obvious, wouldn't someone have made that connection before Broyles-González? At any rate, we can safely eliminate — or at least table — (C) without checking the passage.

    Besides, we wouldn't find support for (C) even if we re-read the entire passage. While the author does agree with Broyles-González's assessment that the acto was developed from carpas (P3, S3), there's no discussion of whether Valdez was directly influenced by them or how much work he put into simulating any aspects of carpas, let alone certain ones.

  4. D
    Many of the earliest Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

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

    Not really. Our note for the second paragraph says that actos were meant to "inspire social action." That suggests that the actors didn't pursue diverse "pragmatic interests" — they just wanted to inspire social change. For this reason, we can safely eliminate — or at least table — (D) without checking the passage.

    Besides, we wouldn't find support for (E) even if we re-read the entire passage. In fact, we'll see that this answer choice is probably false. Valdez didn't seem to work with scripts that he composed. In the earliest actos, Valdez asked people to improvise based on their experiences working and picketing (P2, S4), contradicting this answer.

  5. E
    By the early 1970s, 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 what Valdez did after the Teatro Campesino. For this reason, 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 only mention of the 1970s is when the first paragraph says that the Chicano theater movement reached its apex in that decade (P1, S4).

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 12%
  2. B Credited 43%
  3. C 24%
  4. D 18%
  5. E 4%

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