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

Which one of the 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

Social Science

Strategy Overview

Review the purpose of the paragraph including Line 45, then use that big-picture understanding and the immediate context of that line to define the word in question

Answer Anticipation

Line 45 shows up in Paragraph 4, where the Author is relating Sembene’s films to African oral tales that discuss a journey bringing about a change in the protagonist and the viewer, so let’s keep that in mind as we read the specific context here.Line 45 shows up in the first sentence of Paragraph 4 - that’s generally where the Author lays out the topic and general point that she’s going to make in the rest of the paragraph, so our big-picture understanding of this paragraph should be directly reflected in our interpretation of the word here. And the immediate context is that the Author says that this type of story involves an “initiatory journey[]” - one where the protagonist undergoes a basic change in their worldview.So “initiatory” in this case must be related to bringing about a change in the main character - let’s find an answer reflecting that.

Answer choices

  1. A
    beginning a series
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) This is a tempting answer because “initiatory” sounds like “initial,” which is reflected in this answer (“beginning”). Looking at the immediate context, though, there’s no indication that there is a series of journeys in these tales - it sounds as if one of Sembene’s narratives features a protagonist that goes through a journey that changes them. So while the word itself suggests this as an answer, the text doesn’t support it, and we should rule it out.

  2. B
    experimental
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) There’s nothing in the immediate context suggesting that Sembene’s tales feature “experimental” journeys. And, in fact, a tale that involves a journey that changes the main character is, essentially, the basis for almost all fiction!

  3. C
    transformative
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) This answer reflects the purpose of the paragraph, so it’s a key contender to be correct. Checking the immediate context, the Author defines an “initiatory journey” as one that “bring[s] about a basic change” in the protagonist. A transformative journey would definitely make sense in that context, making this the correct answer. (Note that we don’t want answers in these questions that are repetitive. However, in this case, the “repetitive” clause here is an explanatory one that is repeating the initial idea in other terms to clarify it for the reader.)

  4. D
    unprecedented
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) This answer does line up with the Author’s main point that Sembene’s films are innovative, but it doesn’t line up with the immediate context since the word in question is modifying the “journeys” in these films. In fact, the passage notes that Sembene was influenced by West African oral tales - so the journeys in his films do have a precedent.

  5. E
    prefatory
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) If there’s another difficult vocab as the answer to a Meaning in Context question, it’s almost certainly wrong - they throw these in to see if you just pick the word that isn’t in common use. This one, in particular, is attractive for the same reason as (A) - “prefatory” sounds like a beginning, much as “initiatory” does. However, “prefatory” means that it serves as an introduction, and the journeys in question seem to make up the entirety of the film in this case.

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