PrepTest 156 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 14

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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

14.

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.

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Author A argues that public arts subsidies are only justifiable if they serve the public interest, but she doesn’t say anything about whether people would be willing to pay the taxes. This is enough reason to eliminate (A). Author B doesn’t express any opinion about taxpayers’ willingness to pay for public arts subsidies either.

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Author A explicitly states that the range of arts organizations reached and the resulting diversity of audiences are not enough to justify public funding for the arts. Author B agrees with her; he thinks that there is no justification for public arts funding at all. We need an answer choice that the authors would disagree on.

39%

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Author A argues that people without means will miss out on cultural events if they aren’t publicly funded, but she doesn’t say anything about how most people with means are likely to spend their discretionary income. This is enough reason to eliminate (C). Author B says that people can buy their own aesthetic experiences, but he doesn’t express any opinion about how most people are likely to spend their discretionary income either.

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The authors would likely disagree over this. Author A implicitly agrees with (D). She thinks that publicly funded arts events build social capital by giving people opportunities to get together. This suggests that she believes that many people would actually take advantage of these cultural opportunities. Author B implicitly disagrees with (D). He thinks that the subsidies would not “enable many more people to enjoy works of art,” since subsidized art reflects the tastes of selection committees rather than audiences, leaving most people with art that they don’t like. This suggests that he believes that more people would not take advantage of subsidized cultural opportunities.

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art that is ████████ ██████ ██ █████████ █████████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ██████

Author A never compares the aesthetic qualities of publicly funded and privately funded art; we have no reason to believe she’d have an opinion on this. This is enough reason to eliminate (E). 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.

PrepTest 156 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 14

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