NA: you don't play for the Knicks

@ This is exactly what has happened to me! I was never worse than -3 in RC since the beginning, and now that I'm PTing at high 160s low 170s I'm doing much better on LR/LG but markedly worse on RC (-5 and -6 on my last two PTs). Have you thought about elements of fatigue coming into play? For instance, even now, if I do an RC Problem Set here on 7sage's CC, I usually have few to no problems. However, when during a full PT the RC section arrives in the third or fourth section, I find myself unable to maintain the same kind of concentration and retention that I usually have, leading to poor performance. I suppose this would only be solved by practicing RC sections when you're already fatigued... Also any other guidance you've received would be helpful for me as well!

How is D incompatible with the stimulus?

The stimulus only says that European music is an example of a sophisticated achievement, partly due to the fact that it is intelligible independent from its original function. (Note no superlatives here). It's not the most sophisticated, it's only sophisticated.

When D says, "Music that is unintelligible when it is presented independently of its original function tends to be the most sophisticated music", it appears to me that this does not preclude the possibility of there existing another sophisticated type of music that is intelligible independently of its original function. European music can be sophisticated, that's all well and good, but why can't there then exist on a higher plane of sophistication music that isn't intelligible independently of its original function?

This question is honestly BS.