Reading comp PrepTest 142 · Section 3 · Question 4

Correct. Question Type:
Must Be True

Strategy Overview:
Reiterate the Author's main point, then use notes and the passage to check individual answers that align with it

Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
While this answer seems to be about a specific topic, that topic—art—permeated the entire passage. Paragraph 1 was about those who study art; 2 was about painters and their art; 3 was about perfume, which the Author argues should be viewed as art. In reality, only Paragraph 4 is not focused as much on art, so we should focus our anticipation on the first three paragraphs.

So what did the Author say about art in each of these paragraphs? Paragraph 1 connected art to the stimulation of senses (Lines 5-6). Paragraph 2 talked about the process by which paintings are created. Paragraph 3 talked about how perfumes are created by a similar process, combining sensations (Lines 31-32) to evoke emotion and memory (Lines 40-43).

Let's find an answer aligning with these views.

Answer Explanation:
(Lines 40-43) The Author argues that a brilliant perfumer can devise "an imaginary world" where we discover a "memory of childhood" or a "long-forgotten experience." Since the Author believes that perfumes should be considered art, she believes that art can evoke memories, making this the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
Be careful about pigeonholing your approach to a question such as this! It'd be easy to decide that a question about art would focus on Paragraph 1, since that spoke about art generally. However, Paragraphs 2 and 3 were about specific types of art, and thus they were in play, as well. And even Paragraph 4, which we downplayed, connected art with the commercial world, so a correct answer could have come from there.

At the same time, be careful in doing so! We saw some answers that were general, but they relied on paragraphs that dealt with specific forms of art. Know the scope of each paragraph, and pick answers that reflect that scope..

Incorrect. (Lines 29-32) The Author believes that this is true of perfumes, so she'd agree that it's true of some art. However, there's no indication that the Author believes the harmonious combination of many small sensations is present in any art—she might believe that some art uses a single element to evoke one large sensation.

Incorrect. (Lines 54-57) The Author states that "fine" perfume is entangled with commerciality, suggesting that there may be some perfumes that count as works of art that are still commercially successful.

Incorrect. (Lines 26-28; Lines 33-37) The Author noted that paintings become more transparent with time, but she doesn't note that this makes them better. She also notes that perfumes have elements that evaporate at different speeds, but that's not really as they age, since that would presumably happen over an evening. Even then, that discusses only two types of art, and there's no indication that—even if we read those two sections to say the best paintings/perfumes get better with age, which we shouldn't—this is generally true of all art.

Incorrect. (Lines 8-9) The Author decries that some forms of art are deemed better than perfumes, so there's no indication that she herself believes some forms are better than others. In fact, quite the opposite.