Reading comp PrepTest 156 · Section 1 · Question 8

Passage

Passage A  What public interest is served by an earmarked tax for the arts? This is a most important question, Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic:
Social Science

Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Question, insufficient answer
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Question: Does taxpayer-funded for the arts serve a public interest?
    • Why most important — Only way to justify it
    • Insufficient answer: Lots of orgs, so diverse audiences (why not privately fund?)


Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's answer
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Answer - Left to private sector, art won't be equitably distributed
    • No money or regions without cultural offerings left behind


Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Why the arts are important
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Build social ties
    • Participating also leads to civic engagement (Examples - Voting/volunteering)


Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Requirement for taxpayer funding of arts
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Benefit: Incidental benefits (Example: Tourism)
    • Requirement: Direct benefit to public — More people enjoy better art


Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Why art funding doesn't meet requirement
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Better art isn't guaranteed
    • Can't guarantee more widespread enjoyment
    • Why? Selection committees pick subsidized art, so most people don't enjoy it


Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Comparison, thought experiment, conclusion
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison: National defense — Art different (can't buy own defense)
    • Thought experiment: Give people money to buy their own art (ridiculous)
    • Wrong for government to choose what people like, so not justified


Main Points:

Passage A: Public funding of the arts is justified because the private sector can't equitably distribute art, and engagement with art increases civic activities and social bonds.



Passage B: There can be no justification for the public funding of the arts because it's wrong for the government to decide what artistic experiences people should enjoy.



Key Lines (P(aragraph)X, S(entence)Y)

Passage A:

  • P1, S1 - Question
  • P1, S2 - Requirement for answer
  • P1, S3 - Insufficient answer
  • P2, S1 - Answer
  • P2, S2 - Reason
  • P3, S1 - Another reason


Passage B:

  • P1, S2 - Requirement
  • P2, S1 - Failure to meet requirement
  • P2, S4 - Reason for failure
  • P3, S6 - Another reason for failure
  • P3, S8 - Conclusion


Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?

Relationship — Opposing Viewpoints: While only Passage A explicitly asks a question, both passages provide an answer to it. Passage A's author argues that "public support of the arts is, in fact, eminently justifiable" (PA, P2, S1), while the author of Passage B comes to the opposite conclusion in stating that "there can be no justification for arts subsidies" (PB, P3, S8). Since they hold opposed opinions on the same topic — a topic that is central to each passage — we should view those opinions as the main points of each passage, as reflected above. (This is reinforced by the Question/Answer Meta-Structure analysis for Passage A, below.)



Question/Answer (Passage A): Passage A opens up with a question. This generally means that the author will provide an answer or a set of answers, and the preferred answer is the main point. Here, although the author raises an insufficient answer in P1, S3 ("not enough to claim"), the author does eventually answer that public subsidies for the arts are justified (P2, S1). After that, the author provides reasons for why that's the case. As such, the author's support for public arts subsidies is the main point, reflected in our summary above.



Examples (Both): Both passages bring up an example to prove a minor point. In Passage A, the author cites two examples of the types of civic activities that become more common for those engaged in the arts (PA, P3, S3). Passage B sees the author bringing up an example of an incidental benefit of support of the arts - tourism (Pb, P1, S1). Since these are limited and incidental to the main point, we should expect, at most, one question on each of them.



Comparison (Passage B): The author of Passage B compares national defense to culture at the beginning of Paragraph 3. This contrast is used to prove the main point — there are differences between the two that justify public spending on the former but not the latter. This comparison builds directly to the main point of the argument, so we should expect a question on it.



Last Thoughts?



Passage B starts with an interesting feature — a concession. Normally, we don't see authors lead with exceptions or concessions to their argument. However, this author concedes there is "admittedly" a benefit of public subsidies for the arts. And yet, the author's main point is that there is"no justification" for such subsidies. Since this is an odd way to start off a passage, there might be an Argument Structure question about it, so we should think about why he does it. Since it's a concession, it's likely to show that he has some respect and understanding for the opposing argument to strengthen the audience's willingness to listen to his argument against it. That's the general idea behind a concession, and it makes sense here.



Also, we know that the authors reach the opposite conclusion on the same central topic, so we should expect questions about the differences between the two passages!

Question prompt

Both passages are concerned 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
    Does public funding for Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    (PB, P2, S1) These passages were written to address the question of whether public funding of the arts is justified in general, not whether public funding would produce one specific benefit. Moreover, neither passage frames increased quality as a benefit of public funding of art. Passage A doesn't discuss the quality of art, just the equitable distribution of art and the benefits of exposure to art. Passage B does bring it up as a consideration, but the author says, "even if we could guarantee better art," failing to fully resolve the question of whether we could.
  2. B
    Does broader access to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    These passages were written to address the question of whether public funding of the arts is justified in general, not whether public funding would produce one specific benefit. Moreover, neither passage frames more diverse audiences as a benefit of public funding of art. The author of passage A says that it is not enough to say that public subsidies will result in more diverse audiences, so it's unclear if that author believes it will. And passage B doesn't talk about a diverse audience, so this question is unanswered by both passages.
  3. C
    Is public funding for Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    Question Type:
    Main Point

    Strategy Overview:
    Review the main point of both passages, looking for a way to frame the question that they answer in the same way for both

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    This Main Point question is framed as finding a question that both passages are meant to answer. Our first thought, then, should be to the Question/Answer Meta-Structure present in Passage A. And while only Passage A explicitly asks that question, both passages provide an answer to it.

    Passage A's author argues that "public support of the arts is, in fact, eminently justifiable" (PA, P2, S1), while the author of Passage B comes to the opposite conclusion in stating that "there can be no justification for arts subsidies" (PB, P3, S8).

    Since both passages answer the question from Passage A, and the respective answers are the central opinions in both passages, we should look for the answer choice that brings up something about whether public arts subsidies are justified.

    Answer Choice Explanation:
    (PA, P2, S1; PB, P3, S8) Passage A asks whether such subsidies are justified, and answers that question with a "yes" — it is justifiable. On the other hand, Passage B comes to the opposite conclusion — there "can be no justification for arts subsidies." So both passages focus on answering this question, and this answer choice is correct.

    Key Takeaway:
    These comparative Main Point questions can seem weird when the authors reach diametrically opposed conclusions. However, when that's the case, the question that ties those opposed opinions together will generally be reflected in the answer, as we saw here.

  4. D
    Is access to the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    (PA, P2, S2; PB, P2, S1) The equitable distribution of arts is not the central topic of either passage. Passage A argues that the arts aren't distributed equitably, and that there are regions with few cultural offerings, but uses this to support the passage's central point: that public funding of the arts is justified. And passage B doesn't discuss the equitable distribution of arts at all. The passage talks about how widespread enjoyment of the arts is, but it doesn't talk about how widespread the art itself is (it could be broadly distributed and yet certain places just don't care for it).
  5. E
    Is there a direct Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    (PA, Paragraph 3) The relationship between arts and civic engagement is not the central topic of either passage. The author of Passage A dedicates just one paragraph to this topic, and it is absent from passage B.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

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

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