PrepTest 136

[lcid:3642] Prep Test 136 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 1-6  .        Many critics agree that the primary characteristic  . of Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène's work is  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Critics, background, and the Author’s view on Sembene
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Critics - Sembene’s primary characteristic = sociopolitical commentary
    • Background - Trained in Moscow; from Senegal
    • Sembene (Goal) - Not entertain, raise social awareness
    • Author - Original filmmaking = adapting Western film to West African culture

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Similarity - West African storytelling - characters/motifs
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Examples - Tree (motif); trickster (character)
    • Characters = collective ideas/attitudes facing archetypical problems (Example)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Similarity - Dilemma tales - Structure
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Dilemma tale - Audience debates/decides outcome
    • Sembene - Open-ended plots with several alt endings (and freeze frames)
    • Examples

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Similarity - Oral tales - Journeys that change protagonist (and viewer)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Movies - Emerging social consciousness from change
    • Critics - Opposites are from Marxism
    • Author - Opposites are from African oral storytelling

Main Point: While critics focus on the Marxist influence on Sembene, his originality in filmmaking actually derives from adapting the Western medium of film to the storytelling traditions and cultural expectations of West Africa, communicating his social views to audiences there.

Key Lines?

Lines 8-11 - The Author’s opinion on Sembene’s innovation

Lines 16-18 - One similarity backing up the Author’s opinion

Lines 33-38 - Another similarity

Lines 44-48 - Another similarity

Lines 54-58 - The Author contrasts her view with the critics

Meta-Structure?

Innovative Artist - As with many Humanities passages, the Author here explains the innovative nature of an artist (“originality as a filmmaker”; Line 8). In this case, she argues that Sembene was original because he “successfully adapted film” (Line 9) to the “needs, pace, and structure of West African culture” (Lines 10-11). She then goes on, in the rest of the passage, to highlight three aspects of his filmmaking that are related to West African traditional storytelling. When a Humanities passage falls into this category, the innovative nature of the artist (and the innovation) make up the main point, as noted above.

Generalization/Examples//Comparisons - The Author sets out her general point in Paragraph 1 - Sembene is an original filmmaker because he adapted a Western cultural medium (film) to the needs, pace, and structures of West African culture. From there, she goes into three examples, comparing his films to African storytelling traditions - one in each paragraph. By using these specific examples (and examples within the examples) to prove the general point, the Author is using the Generalization/Examples Meta-Structure, with each Example serving as a comparison (specifically, a similarity). We should expect questions about these examples/comparisons, as both of those types of elements are frequently featured in questions!

NOT Defense from Critics - A common type of Humanities passage will defend an artist from what the Author believes is unfair criticism. While there are critics present in this passage, they’re not saying anything negative about Sembene. Rather, the Author is arguing a different point from the critics - she doesn’t think they’re unfairly criticizing him, but rather that they’re commentary misses a key aspect of his work.

Last Thoughts?

Let’s not lose sight of the overall structure, with the intro paragraph providing a general argument that’s backed up by examples/similarities in each subsequent paragraph. That structure is going to help us identify relevant information - e.g., if a question asks about characters or motifs, we should head to Paragraph 2.

Question prompt

The author says that Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Question Type

Social Science

Strategy Overview

Rely on our notes to find an answer that lines up with the content of the supporting paragraphs

Answer Anticipation

The entire passage discussed elements of Sembene’s films, so the question stem here is pretty open-ended. Since it doesn’t specify anything we can focus on, we’ll need to use our big-picture understanding of the passage to help us focus on answers more likely to be correct.As such, let’s head to the answers with the topic of each supporting paragraph in mind, and focus on answers that line up with one of them. Looking at our notes, we can see the Author discussed: characters/motifs; structure (open-ended endings); and journeys that change the protagonist.

Answer choices

  1. A
    uses animals as symbols
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Paragraph 2) Animals as a symbol would likely show up in Paragraph 2, where there’s a discussion of motifs. However, none of the examples there discuss the inclusion of animals, so this answer is wrong.

  2. B
    uses slow motion for Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Line 42) First, this answer doesn’t line up with the Author’s main point. She focused on Sembene’s communication of social and political messages in his films, not the “artistic” value of them. Second, the passage discusses his use of “freeze-frames,” not slow motion - nice try, LSAT!

  3. C
    provides oral narration of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 12-13) This answer appears to be trying to get you to erroneously pick it because the Author mentions the African oral culture, but that’s not the same as including oral narration in a film. If this were to show up anywhere, it’d be Paragraph 3, where structure is discussed, but there's no mention of narration there.

  4. D
    juxtaposes West African images Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 55-59) This answer doesn’t line up with the Author’s main point, as it was the critics who argued that Sembene’s films were Marxist in nature. The Author argues that they’re more closely tied to African oral storytelling. Imagery was brought up in the motifs from Paragraph 2, but there’s no relating of those images to Marxist symbols.

  5. E
    leaves part of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) (Lines 36-38) Paragraph 3 established the similarities between Sembene’s films and West African dilemma tales. A key element of both are outcomes debated and decided by the audience - in the case of the films, Sembene left the ending open-ended, or provided several alternatives. That detail backs up this answer as correct.

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