PrepTest 150

[lcid:3699] Prep Test 150 LSAT — Reading Comp — S4 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 1-7 This passage was adapted from an article published in 2003.  .       For two decades, Wynton Marsalis complemented  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background on Marsalis's peak and his/jazz's uncertain future
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • At Wynton Marsalis's peak, he was a major influencer and advocate for jazz music, but now he faces a critical backlash for his "neotraditionalism," and he and the jazz music genre face an uncertain future (second through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "extraordinary gifts" (first sentence), "pursuasive advocacy" (first sentence); "importance" (first sentence); "virtually unqualified admiration" (second sentence) "unsurpassed influence" (second sentence) "But…" (last sentence), "the biggest name in jazz" (last sentence), "uncertain" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Elaborates on Marsalis's/jazz's uncertain future
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Examples showing how Marsalis and jazz face uncertain futures, according to author:
      • Marsalis has not released any new music since 1999 (second sentence)
      • Marsalis no longer has a record contract with any company (third sentence)
      • Record companies are not signing or promoting contemporary jazz artists (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "prestigious" (third sentence); "essentially gave up" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Critics: Marsalis is to blame since he emphasized classicism and discouraged innovation
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relaionship, according to critics:
      • Marsalis' emphasis on tradition has stifled innovation in jazz the genre, which has partially caused some of the problems facing jazz (first through last sentence)
    • Example to support critics' point of view:
      • Quote from Columbia music executive (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "grim state of affairs" (first sentence); "evident master" (first sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's rebuttal: Marsalis encouraged innovation, but record companies took the wrong lesson
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Marsalis never just replicated tradition — he explored how traditional elements could be reimagined in new contexts (second sentence)
    • Record executives' view:
      • Marsalis showed how great and timeless old jazz artists were, so record companies should exclusively release older jazz recordings instead of investing in new jazz artists (third through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "Indeed" (first sentence); "great emphasis" (first sentence); "Still" (second sentence); "never advocated mere revivalism" (second sentence); "individualistic expression" (second sentence); "push it forward" (second sentence)

Paragraph 5

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's explanation of the current state of jazz
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Marsalis's promotion of jazz masters led record companies to see the jazz masters as "brand names," which led the companies to re-release jazz albums from these masters rather than fund new talent (first and last sentence)
    • Comparison of responses to Marsalis's promotion of jazz masters, according to the author:
      • Young jazz musicians viewed jazz masters as role models, critics viewed this promotion as excessive worship, and record companies realized the jazz masters are profitable brand names (first sentence)
    • Comparison of market incentives for record companies, according to the author:
      • It's far more profitable to re-release old albums than to find, record, and promote new artists (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "brand names" (first sentence); "the ultimate prize" (first sentence), "irresistible" (last sentence), "far more profitable" (second sentence)

Main Point: By championing an appreciation for jazz traditions amongst his followers, Wynton Marsalis has ironically helped record companies realize that they should exclusively re-release old jazz albums rather than promote modern artists.

Key Lines?

Paragraph 1, Sentence 3 (P1, S3)- Introduces phenomenon

P3, S1 - Critics' explanation

P3, S3 - Example supporting critics' point of view

P4, S2-3 - Author's explanation

Meta-Structure?

Phenomenon/Explanation: We think the Phenomenon/Explanation Meta-Structure best fits this passage's structure*. In this passage, the author introduces a phenomenon and offers two related explanations for that phenomenon. In the first paragraph, the author introduces the phenomenon — that jazz music now faces an uncertain future. After providing the specifics of this "grim state of affairs" in the second paragraph, the third paragraph describes some critics' explanation for jazz's decline. The critics allege that Wynton Marsalis, a popular jazz trumpeter and jazz history advocate, is to blame for jazz's downfall (P3, S1). The author provides their own account in the fourth paragraph. The author argues that the critics are only partially correct. The author notes that Marsalis never wanted to stifle jazz's innovation; however, his promotion of jazz masters led record companies to realize that it's more profitable to re-release jazz masters' recordings than to find and promote new artists (P4, S2 - P5, S2).

In a Phenomenon/Explanation Meta-Structure, the main point is generally the explanation that the author presents or endorses. Here, the author presents their explanation in the fourth and fifth paragraphs. Because the author did not summarize the main point in one sentence, we did so for the author: "By championing an appreciation for jazz traditions amongst his followers, Wynton Marsalis has ironically helped record companies realize that they should exclusively re-release old jazz albums rather than promote modern artists."

*Since the author ultimately disagrees with the critics' explanation, you might see this as a Criticizing a Viewpoint, Rebutting Critics, or Correcting the Record passage. We don't think the author spends enough time criticizing/rebutting/correcting the critics to apply any of these Meta-Structures. Alternatively, there's an argument that this is an Importance of Subject passage. Despite our quibbles, any one of these designations would likely lead you to a solid understanding of this passage's structure. Let's keep in mind that the Meta-Structures are tools to help us think about and describe the passage's structure. We don't need to be 100% correct in which Meta-Structure we choose to develop a strong structural understanding.

 

Last Thoughts?

There's plenty of author's attitude here (which shouldn't surprise us, given the humanities subject matter). Tracking the author's attitude is one of our primary jobs as we read Reading Comprehension passages. Doing so will help us understand the Meta-Structure and the main point and even predict where the author's argument will go. When we can trace this much attitude, we should also expect an abnormally high percentage of the questions to relate to the author's beliefs.

Question prompt

By stating that many 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

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review the purpose of the paragraph in which the expression is found, including the expression in question, then use the purpose and the immediate context to define the expression's meaning.

Answer Anticipation

This question asks about a phrase from the third paragraph, so we should start by defining the role of that paragraph. Reviewing our notes, we'll see that the author uses the third paragraph to describe the criticisms against Marsalis. More specifically, Marsalis's critics say that his emphasis on traditionalism has stifled new developments in jazz and encouraged record companies to stop promoting new artists (P3, S2).Now, turning our attention to the expression in question — what did the record executive mean by "retro ideology" (P3, S3)? We highlighted the executive's quote as an example that illustrates the critics' point of view. "Retro" connotes something that comes from the past, while an "ideology" refers to one's adherence to a set of beliefs. So, if we put the two words together, we can understand "retro ideology" to refer to Marsalis's adherence to jazz history. This phrase checks out with the critics' viewpoint: that Marsalis emphasizes tradition in jazz much too closely. Therefore, we'll look for a similar formulation in the answer choices. (Even if we didn't know what the word "retro" means, we would at least be able to lean on our understanding of the paragraph's role to deduce the quote's meaning.)

Answer choices

  1. A
    revived a discredited set Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this answer choice say Marsalis's "retro ideology" refers to his adherence to jazz history?

    Nope. (A) says it refers to how Marsalis revived a discredited set of ideas. While we might be able to say that Marsalis wants to revive traditional forms of jazz, there isn't any evidence in the passage to suggest that these traditions were ever discredited. Remember that every word counts in a Reading Comprehension answer choice! Well-prepared test-takers will catch this inaccurate adjective and confidently eliminate (A).

  2. B
    merely recombined other people's Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this answer choice say Marsalis's "retro ideology" refers to his adherence to jazz history? 

    No! This answer choice states that the expression "retro ideology" refers to how Marsalis just recombined other people's ideas. While we might be able to say that Marsalis engages with other people's ideas in his music, the critics never allege that Marsalis simply recombined their ideas. For this reason, (B) is unsupported, and we can safely eliminate it. 

  3. C
    overemphasized strict adherence to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) Does this answer choice say Marsalis's "retro ideology" refers to his adherence to jazz history?

    Yes, it matches our anticipation almost exactly! We anticipated that the phrase "retro ideology" refers to Marsalis's adherence to the jazz masters of the past. Furthermore, we know that this expression was used to help illustrate the critics' view that Marsalis over-emphasizes tradition in jazz. (C) reiterates that meaning in almost identical terms, so we could confidently select (C) and move on to the next question.

  4. D
    reinvented and reinterpreted traditional Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this answer choice say Marsalis's "retro ideology" refers to his adherence to jazz history?

    Not quite. The author mentions that Marsalis reinvented and reinterpreted traditional forms of jazz; the critics never discuss Marsalis's reinventions or reinterpretations. What's more, we know that the reference to "retro ideology" is part of an example meant to demonstrate Marsalis's critics' view — that Marsalis is overly strict in his adherence to tradition. The positive-leaning words "reinvented" and "reinterpreted" convey the opposite sentiment. Therefore, we can eliminate this answer choice.

  5. E
    seized on a set Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this answer choice say Marsalis's "retro ideology" refers to his adherence to jazz history? 

    Definitely not. While it could perhaps be said that Marsalis's critics believe his approach to jazz was unoriginal, the word "inauthentic" suggests that Marsalis made music that was not genuine jazz. There isn't anywhere in the passage to support this idea, so we can quickly eliminate (E).

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