PrepTest 156 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 12

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Passage A.

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Question · What public interest do tax-funded art subsidies serve?

If nothing, then art should be exclusively funded through the private sector.

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Conclusion · Public art subsidy is justified

Premise 1 · To ensure equitable access to arts

Private funding will not ensure equitable access

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Premise 2 · To build social capital

By creating opportunities for citizens to come together and thereby increase civic involvement

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Concession · Public art subsidy has incidental benefits

Premise · Justification requires showing direct benefit to taxpayers

Requires more people having more enjoyment

Premise · Unlikely to meet that requirement

Because the general public's taste in art won't be the same as the selection committees that distribute the funding.

Premise · Public good argument doesn't apply

Culture is not a public good

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Premise · Income argument fails

If the concern is income inequality, then fix that.

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Conclusion · Public art subsidies are unjustified

Passage Style

12.

The authors would be most ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ████ █████████

Question Type

Author’s perspective

Implied

We’re looking for an answer choice that the authors would have opposing opinions on.

Split Approach: After passage A, eliminate any answer choices that author A would have no opinion on. Then, after passage B, eliminate any remaining answer choices that author B either (1) would have no opinion on, or (2) would have the same opinion on as author A. There will only be one answer choice that the authors would have opposing opinions on.

Sequential Approach: We know that the authors disagree about whether public arts subsidies are justifiable and what the benefits of such subsidies might be. But we’ll have to use POE on the answer choices to determine which one the authors would likely disagree over.

build social capital

The authors would likely disagree over this. Author A thinks that public arts subsidies would serve the public interest by building social capital. We can infer that author B believes that public arts subsidies would not build social capital, since social capital is a public good and he thinks that culture is not a public good. Also, author B doesn’t seem to think that the subsidies have many social benefits at all; his argument only addresses aesthetic benefits for individuals, not social benefits for communities.

40%

provide any benefits

Author A thinks that public arts subsidies would provide benefits: they’d provide more equitable access to the arts and they’d build social capital. Author B also concedes that such subsidies “provide some incidental benefits, such as increasing tourism.” Thus, the authors would agree that public arts subsidies would provide at least some benefits. We need an answer choice that the authors would likely disagree on.

28%

negatively impact private ████ ███████

Author A doesn’t say anything about whether public arts subsidies would impact private arts support, so we have no reason to believe she’d have any opinion on this. This is enough reason to eliminate (C). Author B doesn’t address the impact of public arts subsidies on private arts support either.

guarantee better art ████ ███████ ████ ███████

Author A doesn’t say anything about whether public arts subsidies guarantee better art than private arts support, so we have no reason to believe she’d have any opinion on this. This is enough reason to eliminate (D). Author B never expresses an opinion about whether publicly or privately funded art is better either. He just says that public funding for the arts isn’t justifiable, even if it does guarantee better art.

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encourage fiscal responsibility █████ ████ ████████████

Author A doesn’t say anything at all about the fiscal responsibility of arts institutions, so we have no reason to believe she’d have any opinion on this. This is enough reason to eliminate (E). Author B doesn’t say anything about this either.

PrepTest 156 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 12

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