PrepTest 127

[lcid:3607] Prep Test 127 LSAT — Reading Comp — S4 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 1-7  .        With his first published works in the 1950s, Amos  . Tutuola became the first Nigerian writer Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Critics' debate on Tutuola (fresh approach to novels vs. inaccurate retelling of local tales) and the author's rebuttal (he doesn't write novels)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Some literary critics' view:
      • Praise Tutuola for writing fresh/inventive novels (second sentence)
    • Other literary critics' view:
      • Criticize Tutuola for retelling local tales with unwelcome liberties (third sentence)
    • Author's view:
      • Critics assume incorrectly that he's a novelist, but they need to get his genre right to analyze him (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "estimate properly Tutola's rightful position" (last sentence); "essential to be clear" (last sentence); "assumed too facilely" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author contrasts Tutuola's folktales genre with the novel (novel is realistic and original; folkltales are drawn from tradition)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Tutuola's genre is folktales, and the best approach to evaluate his works should consider that he works within the African oral tradition (first and last sentences)
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Novels are expected to be real and original, while folktales use traditional stories and frameworks (third sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "not designed to satisfy" (first sentence); "right" (third sentence); "important" (third sentence); "most useful approach" (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Expectations of the teller of folktales within the African oral tradition (inventive changes, improvisation, strong delivery of a familiar story)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Audiences anticipate inventiveness and improvisation — not accuracy — from the teller of folktales within the African oral tradition (second sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "depends on" (second sentence); "the most brilliant tellers" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author on how Tutuola's works within the tradition (repeats, embellishes, modern settings, blends English/Yoruba, uses traditional accents and techniques like a summary)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of the characteristics from folktales and the African oral tradition present in Tutuola's works, according to the author:
      • Repetition for emphasis (first sentence)
      • Embellishes to personalize (first sentence)
      • Blends English with local words and Yoruba grammar (second sentence)
      • Uses traditional accents and techniques that a traditional teller would use (last sentence)
    • Example of one of the traditional accents and techniques in Tutuola's works, according to the author:
      • Omniscient narrator summaries at the end of work (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "clear" (first sentence); "singular ways" (second sentence); "perhaps most revealingly" (last sentence); "clearly discernible" (last sentence)

Main Point: Critics misinterpret Tutuola's works because they incorrectly assume he wrote novels, but the best way to analyze his work is by seeing him as a teller of folktales within the African oral tradition.

Meta-Structure?

Correcting the Record: This passage best fits the Correcting the Record Meta-Structure.* In a Correcting the Record passage, the author will describe at least one common misconception or false belief. The author will then explain why the beliefs are false and occasionally offer an alternative belief. That description fits this passage perfectly. The author brings up two different critical appraisals of Tutuola in the first paragraph — one that says that Tutuola offers a fresh spin on the novel and another that says he's just rehashing Nigerian stories. The author spends the rest of the passage correcting those misconceptions in the fourth paragraph, saying that both sets of critics get it wrong because they all assume he writes novels. Instead, the author argues, his works should be viewed as folktales within the African oral tradition.

In a Correcting the Record passage, the main point is often the author's explanation of why the misconception is false (or just an assertion that the misconceptions are false). Alternatively, if the author provides an alternative belief or approach, the main point is the author's opinion about that belief or approach. The latter description applies to this passage because the author argues that Tutuola's work should be viewed as folktales. The author summarizes their opinion on this alternative approach at the end of the second paragraph, so we use that to help us understand and articulate the passage's main point. We can also frame that sentiment as a response to critics, which we did in our summary of the main point.

*As is the case with many passages that fall under the Critical Meta-Structure umbrella, we could use a few different Meta-Structures from that family to describe this passage. We could certainly call this a Rebutting Critics or Criticizing a Viewpoint passage and come away with a solid understanding of the passage's organization and main point. And if we thought of the two sets of literary critics in the first paragraph as two sides of a debate on Tutuola's merits, the Resolving a Debate Meta-Structure would work just fine for this passage as well.

Last Thoughts?

From our research, Tutuola from Law & Order: SVU is named in honor of Amos Tutuola. The more you know!

Question prompt

Tutuola's approach to writing Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review the relevant part of the passage and notes, if necessary, to anticipate key features of Tutuola's approach to writing folktales

Answer Anticipation

These Application/Analogous Situation questions closely resemble Parallel Reasoning questions in Logical Reasoning. We want to find the answer choice that is structurally similar to the element we're asked to analogize. The correct answer won't have the same subject matter as the passage; instead, it will feature similar characteristics or themes as the element from the passage. Therefore, we should start by reviewing the key features of the element we're asked to parallel.In this case, we're asked to identify what an Irish writer would do to parallel Tutuola's approach to writing folktales. Looking at our paragraph notes for the fourth paragraph, we can see quite a few characteristics of Tutuola's works. In his works, Tutuola "repeats, embellishes, modern settings, blends English/Yoruba, [and] uses traditional accents and techniques like a summary." The second paragraph note also brings up that folktales generally are stories that "are drawn from tradition." Many test-takers will be satisfied with this list and use it to evaluate the answer choices.However, if we want to get a more precise anticipation, we can review the fourth paragraph itself. Digging in, we see that the author brings up repetitions, personal interpretations, transfers to modern settings, and the blend of English, idiom, and Yoruba constructs (P4, S1-S2). The author also brings up the use of an omniscient, summarizing voice at the end of the work, a tactic employed in "most folktales" (P4, S3).Now, some of these characteristics seem specific to Tutuola's African oral tradition, and this Irish writer probably doesn't belong to that tradition. So, we shouldn't look for an answer choice that says the Irish writer combines English and Yoruba. But the Irish writer might do something analogous, like combining English with Celtic. The Irish writer might also do something that tellers of most folktales do — like take stories from tradition or use an omniscient, summarizing voice at the end of the work — and combine that with something specific that Tutuloa does — like transfer those stories to a modern setting.

Answer choices

  1. A
    applied conventions of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this say the Irish writer combines English with their local dialect, transfers traditional stories to a modern setting, or uses an omniscient, summarizing voice at the end of the work?

    Nope, so we can eliminate (A). Moreover, the author doesn't believe that Tutuola wrote novels, so using the conventions of a modern novel would not parallel Tutuola's approach.

  2. B
    re–created important elements of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this say the Irish writer combines English with their local dialect, transfers traditional stories to a modern setting, or uses an omniscient, summarizing voice at the end of the work?

    No, so we can eliminate (B). Besides, this answer choice has it backward. The correct answer could describe someone who takes a story from an oral tradition and writes it down. This describes someone who takes elements from a literary style and says them aloud (i.e., puts them into a "purely oral art form"). While the author argues that Tutuola wasn't a novelist, the author still refers to him as a writer, and it's clear that he published written works. Even though his stories can be traced to the African oral tradition, he's writing the stories down. So, this answer choice misses the mark.

  3. C
    combined characters from English Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this say the Irish writer combines English with their local dialect, transfers traditional stories to a modern setting, or uses an omniscient, summarizing voice at the end of the work?

    Not quite. This answer is trying to entice you by referencing folktales and modern settings. However, simply using characters from folktales probably isn't enough. We want our Irish writer to actually use stories from English or Irish folktales and transpose them to a modern setting.

    This answer choice isn't awful, and we can keep it as a possible contender in case we hate the remaining options. But we should definitely look for something better.

  4. D
    transplanted traditional Irish folktales Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) Does this say the Irish writer combines English with their local dialect, transfers traditional stories to a modern setting, or uses an omniscient, summarizing voice at the end of the work?

    Here we go. One of the characteristics of Tutuola's work, highlighted by the author in the fourth paragraph, involves taking familiar tales from the African oral tradition and "transferring them to modern settings" (P4, S1). This answer sees an Irish writer transferring a traditional Irish tale to a modern setting, so it parallels what Tutuola did quite nicely (and much more closely than (C), which only involved using traditional characters in a contemporary setting). We can confidently select (D) and move on to the next question.

  5. E
    utilized an omniscient narrator Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this say the Irish writer combines English with their local dialect, transfers traditional stories to a modern setting, or uses an omniscient, summarizing voice at the end of the work?

    Not exactly. This is another tempting answer, as it seems to reflect the "most revealing[]" similarity between traditional folktales and Tutuola's works (P4, S3). However, the passage notes that this omniscient narrator shows up "at the end" of the story to summarize it (P4, S3), not to tell the entire story. And, perhaps even more to the point, the stories in folktales are retellings of classic tales, not "original stories," as this answer discusses.

What this tests

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