Reading comp PrepTest 148 · Section 2 · Question 8

Passage

This passage was adapted from an article written by three economists.  .       Roughly 40 percent of the African American  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • A phenomenon is introduced and 3 causes are listed
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Phenomenon - Great Migration - 40% of African American population South for North (1915-1960)
    • 3 causes (all related to labor) - WWI, decrease in immigration, boll weevils in South

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • 3 causes/phenomenon summed up, and a question is posed
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Summary - North-South income gap so big it kicked off migration
    • Question - Why did it continue/accelerate as income gap narrowed?

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Authors’s view presented, and some background research
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Authors (Explanation/Answer) - Momentum develops as migrants make it easier for others to migrate
    • Economist (assumption) - Additional earnings exceed migration costs → People migrate
    • List of migration costs (uncertainty of housing/job; moving costs; familiarization of new location)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Authors show how these costs are lowered as migration continues
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Empirical studies - Letters provided potential migrants info
    • New migrants traveled with old (lower moving costs)
    • New migrants stayed with old (easier to adapt to new area)

Main Point: By helping with moving costs and familiarization with a new location and its job and housing markets, previous migrants lowered the cost of migration for future migrants, explaining the continued and accelerating migration of African Americans even after the North-South income gap narrowed.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-4 - A phenomenon is noted

Lines 7-8 - A list is introduced (causes of phenomenon)

Lines 19-22 - A question about the phenomenon is introduced

Lines 23-25 - The Authors’s answer/explanation is previewed

Lines 25-29 - An assumption of relevant experts is noted

Lines 29-31 - Another list is introduced (factors in migration cost)

Paragraph 4 - The assumptions are addressed to support the explanation

Meta-Structure?

Question/Answer and Phenomenon/Explanation - The passage is meant to answer a question about an unexpected aspect of a phenomenon. While the “topic” of the passage is itself a phenomenon - the Great Migration - the Authors raise a question about it in Paragraph 2 that the passage is designed to answer/explain: Why did the migration continue/accelerate even when the driving force behind it lessened? (Lines 19-22). The rest of the passage is designed to answer that question and explain the phenomenon - momentum, as earlier migrants lowered the costs associated with future migration (Lines 23-25). And since the Author’s answer to a question or explanation for a phenomenon is usually the main point of the passage, we should check to see if it serves that purpose here. Since the rest of the passage is meant to highlight support for that answer, we can conclude that it is the main point.

Last Thoughts?

The Authors raise the assumptions of Economists here. Normally, when an assumption is pointed out, it’s to highlight a weakness in an argument, and that assumption is attacked or undermined. Here, however, the Authors use the implications of the assumption to build their argument. In this case, the assumption operates more as a generally accepted theory that the Authors apply.

Also, the Authors speak in the first-person (“We propose”; Line 23). When that happens, it’s important to note as it tells us that the Authors are taking a proactive role in the passage, and there’s a good chance that a question will reflect on that.

Question prompt

According to the passage, 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.

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Head back to the passage to find what the Authors said about why the Great Migration didn’t start earlier, then find an answer reflecting that

Answer Anticipation

Looking at our notes, we can see that the answer here is almost certainly going to show up in Paragraph 1 or the beginning of Paragraph 2, where the causes of the Great Migration were listed and then summed up. Let’s start with the summary to see if that provides an answer before we dig into the list of causes.Looking at Lines 16-19, we can see that it does provide an answer - it talks about why the Great Migration started in 1915 “and not earlier.” That reason? It was “only then” that the North-South income gap was big enough to make the move worth it for a large group of people. Let’s find an answer stating that.

Answer choices

  1. A
    the income gap between Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) (Lines 16-19) The passage states that it was only after 1915 that the North-South income gap was large enough to induce mass migration, so before then, it must not have been. This answer reflects the reason given in the passage, so it’s correct.

  2. B
    the cost of living Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Line 29) First, this answer isn’t explicitly tied to the reasons for the mass migration kicking off in 1915 and not before. Second, even when such costs are discussed, the passage talks about the “one-time costs” of migration, not the ongoing living expenses.

  3. C
    industrial jobs in the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 9-10) The passage does note that there were industrial jobs in the North that had demand for workers, but there’s no discussion of training.

  4. D
    previous migration had yet Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 16-22) This answer has a bit of a chicken and egg problem. If migration is necessary for future migration, how does mass migration kick off to begin with? The Authors present momentum as an explanation for the acceleration of migration after other causes kicked it off, not as the impetus for migration to begin with.

  5. E
    agricultural jobs in the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 13-15) When discussing boll weevils in the South, the Authors talk about labor demand, not what those jobs paid. And when discussing the cause of the move, it’s the relative income gap, which doesn’t tell us anything about how well the jobs paid. Maybe the jobs in the North paid poorly - just much better than unbelievably low wages in the South!

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 96%
  2. B 1%
  3. C 1%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 1%

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