Reading comp PrepTest 157 · Section 1 · Question 5

Passage

 The late 1950s and early 1960s were a time of profound growth for the civil rights movement in the United Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary Topic: Social Sciences

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background on sit-in demonstrations (segregation only illegal in public schools, African-American community anticipated further change) and author's conclusion (sit-ins inspired major changes)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's conclusion:
      • Sit-ins inspired civil rights organizations, created new ones, and caused more people to support the civil rights movement (last sentence)
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Segregation was illegal in public schools but not in other areas (second sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "profound growth" (first sentence); "simple" (last sentence); "galvanized" (last sentence); "brought about" (last sentence); "generated support" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Background on sit-ins (students at a lunch counter) and their influence (showed students they could affect change and led to SNCC and FR)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of two events sit-ins inspired, according to the author:
      • Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Freedom Rides (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "spread rapidly" (second sentence); "important model" (third sentence); "influence" (last sentence); "particularly visible" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Two events sit-ins inspired: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (student-led, made protests sustained and national) and Freedom Rides (led to government protection, showed segregation's harsh realities, demonstrated methods to activists)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relationships, according to the author:
      • The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee caused small-scale student protests to become sustained and national efforts against discrimination (second sentence)
      • The Freedom Rides caused the U.S. government to intervene, causing the U.S. government and society to see the harsh realities of segregation and civil rights activists to see methods they can use to fight discrimination (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "solidified" (first sentence); "strong" (second sentence); "transform" (second sentence); "into a sustained effort" (second sentence); "clearest turning point" (third sentence); "the first government action" (fifth sentence); "new level" (last sentence); "harsh realities of the segregation system" (last sentence); "providing, for students and their elders alike, examples of the methods they might use" (last sentence)

Main Point:

Sit-in protests inspired and created civil rights organizations and movements, including the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Freedom Rides, which provided models of nonviolent protest and generated new support for the civil rights movement.


Meta-Structure?

Importance of Subject: We think this passage best fits the Importance of [Subject]. Meta-Structure. In such passages, the author describes why a particular person, artistic work, law or legal accomplishment, scientific breakthrough, or social movement was historically significant or meaningful. As we know, "[Subject]" is just a placeholder for whatever the passage focuses on. In this case, that's a movement of civil rights protests and organizations that started with sit-ins. So, we can dub this passage an Importance of Movement passage.

In an Importance of [Subject] passage, the main point is generally the author's opinions on why the subject was important. To identify this, we can look for whether the author provides a conclusion that summarizes their opinion. The author provides this summary at the end of the first paragraph, so we can use that to answer any question for which the main point is handy. Alternatively, we can make our own summary of the author's opinions on why the subject was important. We wanted to include the author's references to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Freedom Rides, so we formed our own summary.

List: The author uses several minor Meta Structures, but the list is the most prominent. The author lists two movements that illustrate the influence of sit-in demonstrations: the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Freedom Rides. The author provides details on both of these movements, so we can expect them to figure into a question or two.


Last Thoughts?

This passage has only five questions, which means the rest of the passages will have 7 or 8 questions each. We cannot afford to spend too much time on the questions, so it'll be crucial that we use the main point and our notes to quickly answer the questions, minimizing the number of times we check the passage—especially to eliminate wrong answers.

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.

Strategy Overview

Consult your notes or passage to recall the author's attitude about the topic in question, and find the answer that best reflects your understanding of the author's opinion on that topic

Answer Anticipation

Although the question stem sounds like an Author's Attitude question, the answer choices make clear that this question asks us to find the answer choice about the Freedom Rides that the author would most likely agree with. We can review our notes and what we highlighted/underlined to determine where the discussion of this topic takes place. Once we locate the relevant parts of the passage, we can review those to anticipate what the correct answer might say. Looking at our notes, we'll notice the author mentions the Freedom Rides in the second and third paragraphs. So, if you don't remember these details from your initial reading or the third question in this set, you can review those notes and the relevant parts of the paragraph. Our note for the third paragraph is, "Two events sit-ins inspired: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (student-led, made protests sustained and national) and Freedom Rides (led to government protection, showed segregation's harsh realities, demonstrated methods to activists)." This note probably gives us enough information to evaluate the answer choices. If an answer choice is consistent with that note, we can review the passage to verify that the author would agree with it. If an answer choice is not reflected in that note, we can table it and move on to the next one without checking the passage. We should also consider the author's main point when assessing each answer choice. After all, the author wrote the passage to prove the main point — it's the view the author holds with the most conviction, in all likelihood. The correct answer will need to be consistent with the main point. In fact, we may be able to eliminate one or more answer choices because they conflict with the main point.

Answer choices

  1. A
    By exposing the harsh Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    Is this consistent with our note for the third paragraph or what we can recall from the third question in this set?

    Yes! Our note for the third paragraph says that the Freedom Rides "led to government protection" and "showed segregation's harsh realities." This answer choice says exactly that! Therefore, we can review the third paragraph to confirm that the author would agree with this.

    Upon reviewing the third paragraph, we'll see that the author says, "Because the rides inspired violent reprisals in some regions, the U.S. government began using force to protect the safety of the Freedom Riders; this was the first government action taken explicitly in support of the cause of desegregation outside the public schools" (P3, S5). The author also claims that the "Freedom Rides thus helped take the civil rights movement to a new level by underscoring to the U.S. government, and to U.S. society generally, the harsh realities of the segregation system" (P3, S6). So, these details confirm that the Freedom Rides exposed the harsh realities of the segregation system and induced the U.S. government to address segregation. We can select (A) and wrap up this passage.

  2. B
    The Freedom Rides were Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    Is this consistent with our note for the third paragraph or what we can recall from the third question in this set?

    Nope. Our note doesn't suggest that the Freedom Rides were the last contribution from students. Moreover, the phrase "the final" is a strong, hard-to-support phrase that we don't like to see in Author Agree answer choices. Therefore, we can cross this off without checking the passage.

    Besides, if we had to check the passage, we'd see that the author claims that the "Freedom Rides thus helped take the civil rights movement to a new level" and provided, "for students and their elders alike, examples of the methods they might use to achieve a more equal society" (P3, S6). So, far from being the end of student involvement with civil rights, the Freedom Rides marked the beginning of a new era of student involvement.

  3. C
    The Freedom Rides introduced Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    Is this consistent with our note for the third paragraph or what we can recall from the third question in this set?

    Nope. Our note doesn't suggest that the Freedom Rides were an "entirely new technique." Moreover, the word "entirely" is a strong, hard-to-support word that we don't like to see in an Author's Agree answer choice. So, we can cross off (C) without reviewing the passage.

    Besides, if we had to check the passage, we'd see that the Freedom Rides were very similar to the original sit-in demonstrations. After all, like the sit-ins, the Freedom Rides involved occupying "'whites only' seats" in segregated spaces to protest this discrimination (P3, S4). The similarity of these two approaches further suggests that the author would disagree with (C). In fact, the author claims in the second paragraph that the freedom rides were "a second form of sit-ins" (P2, S4).

  4. D
    Because the Freedom Rides Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    Is this consistent with our note for the third paragraph or what we can recall from the third question in this set?

    No. Our note for the third paragraph says the Freedom Rides led to violent reactions, but that the violence "led to government protection" of the demonstrators. So, far from "revers[ing] earlier progress," the Freedom Rides led to greater protection against discrimination. We can cross off (D) without reviewing the passage.

    Indeed, if we checked the passage, we'd also see that the author says that "Freedom Rides thus helped take the civil rights movement to a new level" (P3, S6), which shows that the author disagrees with (D).

  5. E
    The Freedom Rides transformed Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    Is this consistent with our note for the third paragraph or what we can recall from the third question in this set?

    Negative. Our note doesn't suggest that the Freedom Rides started out as uncoordinated. Therefore, we can eliminate — or at least table — (E) without checking the passage.

    Besides, if we had to check the passage, we wouldn't find any evidence that the Freedom Rides started off as a series of uncoordinated student protests. On the contrary, the author says the Freedom Rides were "organized in 1961 by the already well-established Congress of Racial Equality" and had deliberate objectives (P3, S4). This suggests that the author would disagree with (E).

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 74%
  2. B 3%
  3. C 8%
  4. D 1%
  5. E 13%

Deeper help

Ask follow-ups on any step

Optional AI tutor mode will let you interrogate assumptions, compare answers, and drill weak patterns without leaving the page.

Human-written explanations stay primary; AI is an add-on when you want it.

Discussion

No threads yet—be the first to ask a question or share an approach.

View all discussions Start a discussion