Reading comp PrepTest 153 · Section 4 · Question 12

Correct. Question Type:
Must Be True

Strategy Overview:
Head back to the section that talked about the recent resurgence, and read the surrounding language

Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
This question asks a bit about the background leading into the rest of the passage, so it's likely that we'll find it in the first paragraph. On top of that, we just read this section for question 10! RC questions frequently build on each other, so don't forget about the important topics you read about to answer earlier questions.

Heading to that section, we can see the "resurgence" is discussed in Lines 9-11. And there, it notes that this resurgence has happened "despite the residual effects of this effort." Heading back to the preceding sentence to see what "this effort" was, we can see it was the misguided US government policies.

And then, reading the follow-up section, we can see that the resurgence is reflected in an increase in universities offering courses in native languages, and indigenous communities establishing radio stations in their native languages.

Any of these details could be reflected in the correct answer, though the way it's phrased suggests that it's going to deal with the misguided US policy.

Answer Explanation:
(Lines 5-11) The passage noted that the resurgence is "despite the residual effects" of US government policies mandating the teaching of English to Native Americans. This answer is thus backed up by the passage, making it correct.

Key Takeaway:
RC questions will frequently ask about the same section of the passage more than once. This is because certain sections are more dense and include more relevant information! Don't view the questions as being one-offs—they all build off of the same passage, and they can all relate to each other.

Incorrect. (Lines 5-10; Lines 13-15) First, the stimulus never speaks to the attitudes of government and university officials—just their actions. Even ignoring that, the government policies changed in the Ô60s, but the "recent[]" resurgence is in the Ô90s, suggesting that it's not tied to any change in attitude that led to a policy change.

Incorrect. (Lines 13-15) There's no discussion of the loss of these languages being a "great loss to scholarship," so this answer is out of scope.

Incorrect. (Lines 13-18; Lines 49-52) The stimulus notes that university courses are being offered and radio broadcasts are being established to preserve these languages. The stimulus doesn't tie the resurgence in interest to a "supplant[ing]" of the former by the latter. In fact, there's no sign that the university courses are a more traditional way to transmit language—maybe radio is more traditional, as it's closer to the oral tradition and teaching language by listening to it spoken natively! On top of all that, the stimulus discusses how radio broadcasts that take on an instructive nature aren't that successful in preserving languages. In short, there are a lot of problems with this answer!

Incorrect. (Lines 13-15) The stimulus notes that the university courses are being "developed by Native American scholars," but it never cites a shortage of them.