Reading comp PrepTest 139 · Section 3 · Question 1

Passage

Questions 1-7  .       The prevailing trend in agriculture toward  . massive and highly mechanized production, with its  . heavy dependence Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • A problematic trend (massive/mechanized farms run on credit) and an alternative approach (Whatley's small farming guidelines)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view on a problematic trend:
      • Mass/mechanized production funded by debt has led to small farm bankruptcies (first sentence)
    • Whatley's alternative approach:
      • Small farms can do something else to make money if they follow his guidelines (second and last sentences(
    • Author's attitude: "prevailing trend" (first sentence);

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Whatley's guidelines (crop variety, grow what people ask for)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of Whatley's guidelines:
      • Small farms need year-round cash (first sentence)
      • 10+ crops in case 1 fails (second sentence)
      • To minimize the need for loans, run "client membership clubs" and grow crops clients ask for (third and last sentences)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Whatley's guidelines ("pick-your-own" farming, which eliminates harvesting and distribution costs)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of Whatley's guidelines (cont. from last paragraph):
      • Having "pick-your-own" farming eliminates harvesting costs, which amount to 50% of, and distribution costs (first and second sentences)
    • Example of a client membership club, according to Whatley:
      • A 25-acre farm needs 1,000 clients from nearby cities (third and last sentences)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Whatley's guidelines (on a road within 40 miles of 50,000+ people, irrigation, insurance)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of Whatley's guidelines (cont. from last paragraph):
      • Farm on a hard-surfaced road within 40 miles of an area with 50,000+ people (first sentence)
      • Water for irrigation (third sentence)
      • $1 million liability insurance (fourth sentence)

Main Point: According to Whatley, an alternative to mass mechanized, debt-financed production for small farms involves direct interaction and sales to clients can allow a small farm to be profitable.

Key Lines?

Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 (P1, S1) - A problematic trend

P1, S2 - Whatley's alternative is introduced

P4, S5 - Whatley's conclusion

Meta-Structure?

Problem/Solution - This passage follows a Problem/Solution Meta-Structure.* The author brings up a problem in the first paragraph: a trend towards mass, mechanized farm production that's causing small farms to rely on debt and end up in bankruptcy. The author then outlines the solution proposed by Booker T. Whatley for the rest of the passage.

Normally, in a Problem/Solution passage, the author's preferred solution is the main point or, if that's missing, her opinion on a proposed solution is the main point. Here, the author doesn't propose a solution or disclose their feelings on Whatley's solution. So, the main point is that Whatley has proposed a solution, leading to what we wrote above.

*Or so we say, you know? Many Meta-Structures work for this passage. It could be an Old Approach/New Approach passage, with Whatley representing the new approach. It could be an Innovative Subject passage, given Whatley's "innovative" approach to small farming. It could even be a Reporting a Viewpoint passage since the author mostly just reports Whatley's guidelines without offering any commentary. Any of these Meta-Structures would help you understand the passage's main point and organization.

List: Arguably, the minor Meta-Structure is even more important than the major Meta-Structure in this passage. Paragraphs 2 through 4 are organized around a list of Whatley's guidelines. We recommend highlighting each item on that list (each guideline) since several questions will likely ask about those. Having these items highlighted will allow us to scan the passage and quickly locate the relevant details.

Last Thoughts?

With very little author's attitude and a relatively straightforward structure, we expect we'll mostly get Minor Point questions. If you don't find memorizing a few details too burdensome, we recommend trying to remember a few of Whatley's guidelines. That way, we can avoid a few fact-finding missions and advance through the questions efficiently. Of course, we shouldn't commit all the guidelines to memory. But let's synthesize them into three bullet points:

  • 10+ crops
  • Grow what people ask for and let them pick it
  • Easy-to-access location

Question prompt

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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

Strategy Overview

Reiterate the main point as we stated it after reading the passage, then find an answer that most closely matches it

Answer Anticipation

As discussed in the Meta-Structure section above, this passage utilizes a Problem/Solution Meta-Structure. Normally, in a Problem/Solution passage, the author's preferred solution is the main point or, if that's missing, her opinion on a proposed solution is the main point. Here, the author doesn't propose a solution or disclose their feelings on Whatley's solution. So, the main point is that Whatley has proposed a solution, leading to what we wrote: "According to Whatley, an alternative to mass mechanized, debt-financed production for small farms involves direct interaction and sales to clients can allow a small farm to be profitable."Let's look for these ideas in the answer choices.

Answer choices

  1. A
    In reaction to dominant Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) Does this answer choice express the same ideas as our anticipated main point?

    Absolutely. This hits every beat of our anticipation. It says that Whatley proposes an alternative to mass mechanized, debt-financed farming ("In reaction to dominant trends in agriculture, Booker T. Whatley has advanced a set of recommendations") that will allow small farms to be profitable ("he claims will enable small farms to thrive"). Even though the answer choice doesn't specify the nature of the problem or how Whatley plans to solve that problem, it still accurately describes what the author hopes we take away from the passage. In other words, this answer choice presents the problem (in generic terms) and the solution from Whatley (also in generic terms) without inserting the author into the viewpoint, so it is correct. We woul dbe justified in selecting it and advancing straight to the next question.

  2. B
    Booker T. Whatley's approach Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this answer choice express the same ideas as our anticipated main point?

    Not quite. This answer choice accurately describes the "problem" part of our anticipation, but it doesn't quite nail the "solution" part. While Whatley does encourage small farmers using his model to grow what their clients request in the manner they request, there's a bit more to Whatley's solution (ten different crops, accessible location, etc.).

    Also, this answer choice implies that the problem with the dominant approach to farming is that it's not sensitive to consumer demands, when in reality, the problem is that it leads to small farm bankruptcies.

    Because this answer choice deviates from our anticipation in a few ways, we can cross it off.

  3. C
    As part of a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this answer choice express the same ideas as our anticipated main point?

    Not exactly. This doesn't quite nail the "solution" part of the passage. There's no indication that Whatley's recommendations are part of a larger critique of the current trend in agriculture, nor are his recommendations on how to compete with large farms — they're on how to run a small farm profitably.

  4. D
    While CMCs are not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this answer choice express the same ideas as our anticipated main point?

    Nope. This answer choice makes it seem like this passage featured much more of the author's opinions than it actually did. The author doesn't exactly hop on board with Whatley's proposals, and they don't argue that CMCs are the only way to avoid failure ("without them small farms risk failure"). For this reason, we can cross off (D).

  5. E
    The adoption of Booker Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this answer choice express the same ideas as our anticipated main point?

    Nope. There's no prediction or extrapolation far enough into the future to say that Whatley's methods will threaten large-scale production. In fact, he doesn't seem interested in doing so — just in finding ways for small farms to avoid bankruptcy!

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 90%
  2. B 6%
  3. C 3%
  4. D 1%
  5. E 1%

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