Reading comp PrepTest 154 · Section 3 · Question 1

Passage

 Complex societies flourished on the central plateau of southern Africa from the ninth through sixteenth centuries. Their regional political centers, Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Social Science

Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Background, and competing theories, with the Author taking sides
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Time period - 9th-16th century
    • A lot of background on the central plateau of southern Africa/Great Zimbabwe (GZ)
    • Phenomenon - GZ took over the area and had a high quality of life
    • Scholars - GZ controlled gold mining and trade
    • Author - GZ agricultural system was the key element in their control
Paragraph 2.1 (Lines 20-31)
  • Paragraph note
    • Problems with traditional agriculture for GZ
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • GZ population was over 10k (extraordinary), and crop agriculture wouldn't be able to feed that many because of soil, distribution, and storage
Paragraph 2.2 (Lines 31-43)
  • Paragraph note
    • GZ's agricultural solution to feeding its people
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cattle - they grazed in different areas during the year to avoid disease
    • This required coordination, which required centralized control, which led to a ruling class
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • Implications of GZ's system for society and gold mining (Scholar theory)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Crucial in understanding two aspects of GZ
    • Cattle were given out as patronage and influenced all aspects of life
    • Cattle were the incentive that led people to take on the dangers of gold mining
Main Point:
While some scholars maintain that the regional power of Great Zimbabwe was due to their control of gold mining, their complex cattle agricultural system is the actual key to understanding that power.

Key Lines:
Lines 12-19 - Both sides of the debate are presented, with the Author presenting an alternative explanation to the opposing point's
Lines 31-34 - The specifics of the Author's explanation are given
Lines 48-50 - The Author highlights how her explanation also explains the alternative explanation

Meta-Structure:
Phenomenon/Explanation. Here, the Author starts with a lot of background that highlights the phenomenon of Great Zimbabwe control over a certain region over a period of time. She presents what scholars believe explains this power before stating that the true explanation lies elsewhere.

Last Thoughts:
First, note how we broke up Paragraph 2. It was super long, and it pivoted halfway through. Some of our instructors would even draw a line at that point to physically note the shift! Breaking up a paragraph and digesting it in two pieces will both make it easier to remember and make it easier to find material when working on questions.

Second, while we can't be sure until we've headed through the questions, it seems likely to be important that the Author circles back to the alternative explanation that she says isn't the true explanation at the end of Paragraph 3. Viewpoints are important on RC, and when an Author refers back to one, it's almost always going to be important to take note of it.

Question prompt

Which one of the 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

Social Science

Answer choices

  1. A
    Understanding the basis for Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Main Point

    Strategy Overview:
    Reiterate the main point that we anticipated after reading the passage

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    In the passage, the Author starts with a bunch of background information leading to a phenomenon that needs explanation—the power of Great Zimbabwe over an area during a certain time period.

    The Author offers two explanations for that phenomenon—one attributed to Scholars, the other that she puts forward as a correct alternative (Lines 12-19). Generally, when an explanation is presented for a phenomenon—whether in LR or RC—there's a good chance it's the main point of the passage.

    This is backed up by the Author going to to spend Paragraph 2 going into detail with her explanation, and Paragraph 3 tying it back into the other explanation.

    Therefore, the main point of the passage is that explanation—that the power Great Zimbabwe had over the region can be explained by their agricultural system that focused on cattle (rather than their control of gold mines).

    Answer Explanation:
    (Lines 16-19; Lines 31-34) The Author says that the ""agricultural basis"" of GZ's economic system is ""actually the most crucial element"" in understanding its power, and this alternative agricultural system was ""a complex cattle economy."" This answer reflects that view, making it the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    You wouldn't be wrong to approach an RC passage as a really long LR argument, in that many of the patterns present in the latter section repeat in the former. And the same trends show up in RC as in LR—including what elements tend to show up in these patterns, and what the main point of the argument featuring them states. Here, we saw an example of a Phenomenon/Explanation pattern, and—as in LR—the Author's preferred explanation served as the main point of the argument.
  2. B
    The diversity and abundance Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 31-34) The Author attributes the success of GZ to a single natural resource (cattle). And it mentions only two (cattle and gold), making ""diversity and abundance"" an incorrect description.
  3. C
    The power of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 24-27) The passage notes that a crop-based system wouldn't allow for the population or population density seen by GZ, and it attributes the success to the cattle system, not the crop system.
  4. D
    Great Zimbabwe's economic system Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 12-16) This answer reflects the explanation put forward by the Scholars, not the Author. While she ties her explanation back into a discussion of the gold mining and exporting of GZ, she believes the cattle serve as ""the most crucial element"" in understanding GZ's power.
  5. E
    The communal nature of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. (Line 43) The cattle was ""the property of a ruling class""—their use was more communal, but it was still due to royal patronage.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 85%
  2. B 3%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 9%

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