PrepTest 114

Incorrect. The stimulus doesn't discuss African music, and it never notes that European music has been the most influential (just that it has had a strong influence), so this could be true and is thus incorrect.

Incorrect. The stimulus notes that the separation of function and style is one reason that European music has been so influential, so military and economic expansionism could be other reasons for it.

Incorrect. The stimulus doesn't discuss Chinese music at all, so almost anything could be true of it.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Cannot Be True

Stimulus Summary:
Question - Why is European music so influential and sophisticated?
(One) Answer - The function became an aspect of the style, not the entirety of it, allowing it to stand on its own

Answer Anticipation:
This question stem tells us that four of the answers are compatible with the claims in the stimulus, and the correct answer is incompatible. When we're looking for an answer that's incompatible with a stimulus, we're looking for an answer that can't be true. Hence, this is a Cannot Be True question (not a Bizarro Must Be True, which are actually quite rare).

With that noted, we need an answer that contradicts the information in the stimulus. When the stimulus has conditional logic, or it describes a situation but leaves a piece of information out, we can look for specific answers. Neither of those situations apply here, though, so we're a little more up in the air.

The stronger the statement, the more likely it is to be contradicted, so the last statement might be a factor in the correct answer. However, since we don't have anything in the stimulus that suggests a specific type of answer, we should head into them with an idea of what the stimulus states but flexibility as we consider each one.

Answer Explanation:
The stimulus notes that one reason European music is a sophisticated achievement is because it separated function and style. If that's a reason for the sophistication, it makes no sense for the most sophisticated music to lack that feature. This answer contradicts the logic of the stimulus, so it's the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
Cannot Be True questions sometimes have answers that contradict the logic of the stimulus, not an individual statement.

Incorrect. Since the stimulus only discusses one "type" of art (European music), there may be another type of art out there that does lose its appeal when serving a function other than the original. It's possible that the connection between influence/sophistication and the function/style split only holds for music.