PrepTest 156

This isn't one of our anticipated conclusions, but this answer choice still must be true. The passage tells us that time doesn't play a role in truly visual art forms. The passage tells us that, "in contrast," most art forms are "essentially temporal" and "require performance." By drawing an explicit contrast between truly visual art forms and most art forms, the author implies that visual art forms do not have the characteristics of most art forms. So, visual art forms are not essentially temporal and do not "require performance." Therefore, it's accurate to say that "truly visual art forms do not essentially involve performance." We can select (A) and move on to the next question.

This answer choice is probably false, based on the passage. The author claims that poetry and music are examples of art forms that are not truly visual. That means they both require performance and must be experienced in a fixed order and time. On the other hand, the author says that painting is a truly visual art form, meaning that it does not require performance and doesn't need to be experienced in a fixed order or time. These facts suggest that poetry has much more in common with music than painting.

This is not supported by the passage. The passage discusses temporality but not "spatiality." So, we can't make any supported inferences about spatiality — especially one as bold as this answer choice ("mutually exclusive").

This answer choice switches the order and misconstrues the meaning of the conditions of P4. We diagrammed P4 as "Time essential role → Fixed order and time." In other words, if time plays an essential role in an art form (if it is "essential temporal"), then it must be examined in a fixed order and time. This answer choice switches that order, stating that if an art form must be examined for a fixed period of time, then it is essentially temporal ("Fixed order and time → Time essential role"). This answer choice also changes "a fixed" period of time to "an extended" period of time, altering the meaning of that condition. Either of these issues would be enough to sink (D).

This isn't supported by the passage. Music and poetry are given as two examples of a performative art form, but that doesn't imply that they are the only two examples of performance. Perhaps there are performative art forms that are neither musical nor poetic (ever heard of acting?). This answer choice doesn't even specify that music and poetry are the only performative art forms. It says that they're the only things that are "capable of being performed"! So, this answer choice makes a universal statement that isn't supported by the passage.