PrepTest 142

Passage SummaryTopic: Humanities

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • A question/conundrum is presented and explored
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Art experts spend a lot of time on paintings/music/etc, but not on perfume - a mistake
  • Similarity - They all stimulate senses

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Similarities between painting and perfume are discussed - focus on painting
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Similarity - Painters and perfumers combine chemical compounds (for paint and perfume, respectively)
  • Painting process is described in detail

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • The similarity is continued - focus on perfume
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Perfumers layer scents with different evaporation speeds to evoke images and memories
  • Focus on perfumes

Paragraph 4

• Paragraph note
  • A potential answer is presented
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Answer - Big companies have taken over perfumes and required cheap substitutes; can't split these from fine perfume

Main Point:
Great perfumes should be considered works of art, as are great paintings/music/literature/etc . . . , even if some have been coopted by corporate profit-seeking.

Key Lines:
Line 7 - A question is introduced Lines 13-18 - Similarities between perfumes and oil paintings are discussed
Lines 29-33 - The comparison is continued
Lines 44-47 - The question is answered

Meta-Structure:
Question/Answer - The Author asks a question in Paragraph 1 that is then answered in Paragraph 4. While the answer to a question is generally the main point of the passage, here, it takes a secondary seat to the comparison between great perfume and great works of art in other media, and the argument that great perfume should be regarded as a work of art. That makes up the bulk of the passage and also serves as a necessary part of the question. Even the answer to the question reflects on this argument.

Comparisons - The passage reaches a comparative conclusion (great perfume should be treated similarly to great works of art in other media), and it does so by bringing up similarities between the compared elements. As such, we should expect questions on these points of comparison.

Last Thoughts:
This passage is interesting in that it presents a Question/Answer structure, but the argument is more about a point that goes into setting that question up. One key way we can tell that that's the case is the certainty between the two parts of the argument.

The Author, without a doubt, believes that great perfume should be considered great art, and studied as such. That's a very certain conclusion. However, in answering the question of why it isn't, she says only that "[p]erhaps" the reason is that perfume is manufactured by corporations looking to make money, and they're messing with the formulas. The uncertainty presented in that answer suggests that it's a secondary point.