Reading comp PrepTest 145 · Section 1 · Question 7

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

Which one of 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

Answer choices

  1. A
    The majority of plays Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. This answer doesn't speak to the scope of this work, and so it doesn't address the national reach the Author argues for.
  2. B
    Before the Negro Units Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. This doesn't mean that there weren't other funding sources for African American theater, and so an earlier group may have approached a truly national Black theater.
  3. C
    Prior to the establishment Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Strengthen

    Strategy Overview:
    Review the statement/argument we're meant to strengthen, and identify the type of information that would support it

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    Strengthen questions in RC tend to have answers that are a bit more straightforward than they are in LR. This makes sense, as the section is a bit more about comprehension than the underlying logic (though both are still important).

    This question tasks us with strengthening the Author's contention that the "Negro Units" came closer than any other before them to founding a truly national Black theater. That's a pretty strong comparative conclusion—it says that no other previous groups came as close to that goal. Since no other previous groups or attempts at forming such a theater are mentioned in the passage, the correct answer will likely establish something about previous groups or associations of African American producers/playwrights, and the limited reach of their work. Let's look for an answer in that general area.

    Answer Explanation:
    This answer speaks directly to the scope of earlier African American theater productions. If they were limited to the largest eastern cities, then they can't be said to have been truly national, or even approaching that. This answer, thus, strengthens the argument that the "Negro Units" were closer than any other group in establishing such a truly national Black theater, so this is the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    In general, Strengthen questions in RC are going to have an answer that directly supports the statement/argument that's being asked about. Don't go too far down the rabbit hole of analyzing the argument or the answer choices—they're mostly going to be directly related to each other, and the correct answer will generally provide direct support of the conclusion.
  4. D
    African American dramatic arts Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. Another answer that fails to address the scope. A truly national Black theater wouldn't need to attract large audiences—it would need to attract audiences across the U.S.
  5. E
    Theater historians have had Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. This is a common incorrect answer in Strengthen questions such as this one. It's trying to suggest that, since historians have had difficulty locating supporting documents, those documents likely don't exist, and thus there probably wasn't organized African American theater activity in earlier times. However, just because that evidence is hard to find doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and even if it didn't exist, it doesn't mean that there was no organized African American theater activity (the records might not have been preserved). So this answer is way too weak to affect the argument.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 4%
  2. B 31%
  3. C Credited 41%
  4. D 17%
  5. E 6%

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