Reading comp PrepTest 145 · Section 1 · Question 3

Passage

 .       The Federal Theater Project (FTP) was  . established in the late 1930s by the United States  . government. Although Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Humanities

Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • History of a program-within-a-program and its historical importance
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Federal Theater Project - Short-lived but wide ranging
    • Legacy (no study until recently) - African American sub-groups/units; arguably close to founding national Black theater
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • The context, content, and goals of these units is discussed, and an example is given
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Context - Harlem Renaissance - Already thought on function of art in African American community
    • Content - Question as to three types (rural, urban, or adapt plays by white playwrights)
    • Goal - Question as to three goals (go mainstream/be different; target white/African American audience; instruct/entertain)
    • Diverse output - Ex. The Swing Mikado (adaptation with Black actors as traditionally white characters)
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • Wrap it up
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Doesn't say much new
    • Reflected diversity of African American audience
Main Point:
The "Negro Units" of the FTP provided for a wide network of actors, writers, and producers to put on a variety of shows representing the diversity within the African American community and coming close to establishing a Black national theater.

Key Lines:
Lines 7-11 - The topic of the passage is introduced, with a note that it wasn't studied much until recently
Lines 14-20 - The main thesis of the passage is noted
Lines 24-27 - Historical context is provided
Lines 27-29 - A question is introduced (content/types of plays)
Lines 35-36 - Another question is introduced (goals)
Lines 42-44 - The force behind the diversity central to the Author's argument is highlighted
Line 45 - An example is introduced
Lines 55-59 - The Author reiterates the diversity of programming

Meta-Structure:
Important recently discovered historical event/trend—The LSAT will frequently feature passages about something that happened in the past—an event, a trend, a phenomenon, etc . . . —that, until recently, wasn't understood or wasn't studied. The "recent discovery" of this phenomenon will feature in some answers, so it's important to note.

Question/Answer - This passage poses two sets of questions. The first is about the content these units should have produced, and the second is about their goals. It'd be important to note where in the passage these showed up so that they could be quickly found, but it wouldn't be necessary to note each one or memorize them. Interestingly, there's not a definitive answer to either set of questions. Rather, it's noted that the program was large enough to "reflect[] the genuine diversity of African American artists and their audiences" (Lines 56-58)—in other words, the answer to which content and goal should be produced was, "Yes."

Last Thoughts:
There were a lot of little details in this passage, but they all fell into common categories—historical context, examples, etc . . . So using our normal notes for those elements will help us get through this question set!

Question prompt

With which one of 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

Answer choices

  1. A
    Government funding for the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 6-7) The Author highlights the "nearly half a million" people weekly audience of the FTP to laud the program, so she doesn't believe the program wasn't popular. It's also hard to infer what someone thinks would have happened in a different situation without language allowing that to occur (e.g., that the only thing that caused the program to end was a lack of popularity).
  2. B
    The artists of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 24-26) The Harlem Renaissance was discussed at the beginning of Paragraph 2 to give the FTP historical context. There, it's noted that a "diverse body of thought" concerning social function of art came out of that movement, but the diversity of thought of the Renaissance artists isn't compared to the diversity of thought in the "Negro Units," so this comparative answer is unsupported. In fact, since the Harlem Renaissance influenced these Units, there's reason to believe the Author thinks the diversity of thought was at least as wide-ranging, and she goes on to talk about the diversity of the programming, lining up with that.
  3. C
    Philosophical and aesthetic disagreements Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Must Be True

    Strategy Overview:
    Review the main point (as we wrote it or in the answer we selected for Question #1), then focus on answers that align with it, using our notes and the passage to back up the answer we select

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    This question stem doesn't present any information as to what topic or section of the passage the correct answer is going to show up in. So all we have to work with is that it'll reflect the Author's viewpoint. Let's review that main point, then head to the answer choices:

    The "Negro Units" of the FTP provided for a wide network of actors, writers, and producers to put on a variety of shows representing the diversity within the African American community and coming close to establishing a Black national theater.

    Answer Explanation:
    (Lines 42-44) This answer lines up with the main point of the passage, which spoke to the success and diversity of views of the "Negro Units" of the FTP. Looking at the sections where we highlighted the Author's view, we can see that Paragraph 2 attributes the diversity of work done to the disagreements over what should be produced (aesthetic disagreements) and what the goals of their work should be (philosophical disagreements). This answer is therefore correct.

    Key Takeaway:
    Note how many of these answers feature unsupported comparisons! This is why it's important to note comparisons when they show up in a passage. If they exist, then you should look for comparative answers. If they don't, then you can rule those comparative answers out.
  4. D
    African American theater artists Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. The passage doesn't compare the work done by artists today to those of this time period, so this comparative answer is unsupported.
  5. E
    The urban realistic dramas Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 29-33) The passage mentions both of these types of dramas as having advocates, and it suggests both were produced, but it never compares their popularity, so this is another unsupported comparison.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 1%
  2. B 4%
  3. C Credited 92%
  4. D 1%
  5. E 2%

Deeper help

Ask follow-ups on any step

Optional AI tutor mode will let you interrogate assumptions, compare answers, and drill weak patterns without leaving the page.

Human-written explanations stay primary; AI is an add-on when you want it.

Discussion

No threads yet—be the first to ask a question or share an approach.

View all discussions Start a discussion