PrepTest 131 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 16

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The Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was an artist who intuitively asked—and responded to—deeply original questions. ██ █████ ████ ████ ██████ █ █████████ ██████ █ ████████ ██████████ ███████████ ███ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████████ ██ ██████████████ ████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ███████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ███

Intro topic · Sculptor Isamu Noguchi and his originality as an artist

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Focus topic · How one sculpture reveals Noguchi's originality

Possibly the main point, though too early to say for certain

Noguchi's early career · Won award for his sculptures, traveled to Paris, began working for sculptor Brancusi as stonecutter

Evidence of Noguchi's originality · Noticed that sculptors focus on use of shadow, rather than use of reflected light

Noguchi's plan · Create reflective sculpture of Buckminster Fuller using chrome-nickel steel

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Characteristics of reflective sculpture · Can only be properly viewed and understood when it reflects other objects

Analogy between reflective sculpture and calm water: difficult to see directly; instead, you see what's reflected

Further evidence of Noguchi's originality · After completing reflective sculpture, moved on to new things

Passage Style

Single position

Spotlight

16.

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Question Type

Main point

Structure

Immediately before the highlighted text, the author notes that Noguchi polished bronze and brass sculptures and questioned why sculptors had relied only on negative light. This implies that there are certain metals, such as brass and bronze, that do not give off positive light. In other words, they rely on shadows. But the highlighted text tells us that there are some metals, such as nonoxidizing gold, which “could be relied on” to give off positive-light reflections. In other words, these other metals do not rely on shadows. So one potential distinction drawn is between metals that rely on shadows and negative light, and those that rely on positive light.

The next paragraph provides evidence of another distinction. Notice that the author describes chrome-nickel steel as a “permanently reflective surface, economically available in massive quantities.” This was something Noguchi had been looking for. Connect this description back to the highlighted text. Before the discovery of chrome-nickel steel, only the “expensive, nonoxidizing gold’ could be “relied upon to give off positive-light reflections.” This implies that chrome-nickel steel was a new material that could also be relied upon to give off positive-light reflections. Given that the author points out that chrome-nickel steel was a “permanently reflective surface,” apparently “relied upon to give off positive-light reflections” means the same thing as “permanently reflective surface.” The author uses these descriptions interchangeably. This implies that in the highlighted text, the author is drawing a distinction between metals that do not have a permanently reflective surface and those that do.

a metal that ███ ██ ████ ██████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ████████████

The author never distinguishes “moderately reflective” from “highly reflective.” The distinction is between permanently reflective metals and non-permanently reflective metals.

11%

a naturally highly ██████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ██ ██████

The author never distinguishes metals that are “technically suited” for sculpture and those that aren’t. The distinction is between permanently reflective metals and non-permanently reflective metals.

29%

metals that can ██ ████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████ █████ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ████ ███ █ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██████████

This is a way of capturing the distinction in the highlighted text. Notice that the author describes chrome-nickel steel as a “permanently reflective surface, economically available in massive quantities.” This was something Noguchi had been looking for. Connect this description back to the highlighted text. Before the discovery of chrome-nickel steel, only the “expensive, nonoxidizing gold’ could be “relied upon to give off positive-light reflections.” This implies that chrome-nickel steel was a new material that could also be relied upon to give off positive-light reflections. Given that the author points out that chrome-nickel steel was a “permanently reflective surface,” apparently “relied upon to give off positive-light reflections” means the same thing as “permanently reflective surface.” The author uses these descriptions interchangeably. This implies that in the highlighted text, the author is drawing a distinction between metals that do not have a permanently reflective surface and those that do. (C) best captures the distinction between metals with a permanently reflective surface (those that don’t lose their reflective properties over time) and a non-permanently reflective surface (those that do lose their reflective properties over time).

48%

a highly reflective ██████████ ████████ █████ ███████ ██ ██ █ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ███ ███████████

The author doesn’t distinguish metals from nonmetals.

a highly reflective █████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ███████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██████ █████ ███ ██ █████████ ███ ██████ ████████████

The author hasn’t introduced the idea of “experimental” use in sculpture, so it doesn’t make sense for the highlighted text to draw a distinction between materials with a purely experimental use in sculpture.

PrepTest 131 - Section 4 - Passage 3 - Question 16

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