Highlight the author’s conclusions:

p1:
Gordy’s entrepreneurial skills and his belief in economic independence played a great role in Motown’s success, as did the artistic situation in Detroit in the 1960s.

p2: 
Motown’s status as an independent company allowed Gordy considerable freedom to oppose recording industry convention.

p3: 
Another crucial factor in Motown’s success was Detroit’s well-developed public school music-education program

p4: 
the invention and growing popularity of electric instruments also played a noteworthy role in Motown’s rise to prominence.

Map the wording of the answers to the reference in the prompt, or to the author’s conclusions:

1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

Map the answers to the author’s conclusions.

(A) Newly established independent record companies must…

Nope, the passage is only about one company, and only about what it did, not what it “must” do.

(B) …made possible by African American musicians trained in…

This was only one of the author’s conclusions, so it doesn’t really capture the overall “main point”.

(C) …was vindicated by the success of Motown Records.

That word doesn’t map to anything the author says. That would only work if Grody had been proven innocent after being found guilty, or proven right after being doubted or dismissed.

(D) …deserves credit that is long overdue…

There’s nothing in the conclusions about Gordy not getting the credit he deserves.

(E) …through the efforts of an entrepreneurial individual in a favorable artistic environment.

This captures all the conclusions, about Gordy’s business moves and the “favorable” training program and technology.

(E) is the correct answer.

2. Which one of the following most accurately describes Gordy’s attitude…

Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. In the middle of the second paragraph the author said that “Gordy insisted” that Motown “would appeal…to a much wider market”.

(A) uncertainty…

Stop. Where would we get that from the reference we just checked in the prompt? He sounds pretty certain about the “widespread appeal”.

(B) …anticipated popular indifference

That’s the exact opposite of what the reference says.

(C) courage in the face of unpromising statistics

I might be okay with “courage”, although that’s just implied. But there are definitely no “unpromising statistics” cited by the author anywhere.

(D) confidence rooted in firm personal conviction

You love “confidence”. And even though the rest doesn’t map to any explicit statement, the test expects you to agree it’s clearly implied since Gordy was “independent” and “rejected” “recording industry convention”.

(E) optimism based on changing economic conditions.

Be careful. You love “optimism”, but there is nothing in there about “economic conditions”. We have a much stronger basis for choosing (D).

(D) is the correct answer.

3. The passage provides information sufficient to answer which one of the following questions?

Map the answers to the author’s conclusions. It’s possible the answer relies on a specific detail, but since you don’t know where to look, eliminate answers that don’t map to the author’s conclusions first. There won’t be much if any work left to do after that.

(A) What musical innovation…

This maps to the conclusion in the last paragraph about “the invention and growing popularity of electric instruments”. Definitely keep this one.

(B) What musical styles…

None of the author’s conclusions, or any of the details in the passage, were about “styles”.

(C) How long after…

The only specific date in the passage is “1959”. We have no info on how much time elapsed before anything else happened.

(D) Why did Berry Gordy, Jr. insist on following certain standard practices…

We have no idea, since the passage only mentions that Gordy “rejected” some of those practices. Whether he followed others, and why, never came up.

(E) Why did E. Azalia Hackley dedicate herself…

We could guess that this “Detroit native” wanted to give back to her local community, but the passage doesn’t actually say that.

(A) is the correct answer.

4. Based on information in the passage, it can be inferred that the author most likely believes which one of the following?

Map the answers to the author’s conclusions.

(A) Gordy’s own expertise in the technical aspects of record production…

Did Gordy have technical “expertise”? If he did, you wouldn’t know it from this passage, which never said that.

(B) …largely due to the dearth of innovative popular music…

All the reasoning in the argument is about Motown. The author didn’t explain anything about other “popular music”, so there’s no support for this.

(C) …would not have occurred if…

Just because it went down that way doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have happened otherwise. The passage never says anything close to this.

(D) …if his company had been a subsidiary of a major recording company.

This is directly implied by the conclusion in paragraph two about “Motown’s status as an independent company”.

(E) …would have been equally popular if…

This doesn’t map to anything stated in the passage. I also want you to agree that saying two things are “equal” is a really, really specific statement that will always be wrong unless the author specifically said so.

(D) is the correct answer.

5. The author states which one of the following about Berry Gordy, Jr.?

Map the answers to the author’s conclusions or the reference in the prompt. There was a lot of stuff about Gordy in the passage, although he’s only the main focus of the 2nd paragraph. I’d still recommend eliminating answers that don’t map to conclusions before doing any re-reading.

(A) to help him recruit talented performers…

Tricky, but the passage only says “talent produced by the local school system” without mentioning recruiting or Gordy having help.

(B) …prior to founding Motown Records.

The question is not asking for an inference, so even though this is totally reasonable to assume, it doesn’t fit what “the author states”.

(C) …ensuring high-quality recordings at Motown Records

The author made a conclusion about the “recording industry”, so this should survive the first round of elimination even if you don’t remember the exact detail in there. But the end of paragraph two says “he devoted the necessary resources” to “maintaining the highest possible technical quality”.

(D) He was educated in…

The author didn’t say anything about what Gordy was up to before he founded his company.

(E) …to promote the extensive use of electric instruments.

This is badly misquoting the author, and this doesn’t map to any of the conclusions in the passage.

(C) is the correct answer.

6. The author most clearly intends to include which one of the following within the scope of the phrase “the artistic situation”?

Map the answers to the reference in the prompt.

(A) the willingness of Detroit financiers…

This brings in “financiers”, which should indicate to you that this doesn’t map to a reference about “the artistic situation”.

(B) …ready access to musical training…

Yup, there was a conclusion and a whole paragraph about this.

(C) …manufacturer’s production…

Do you see how they’re trying to tell us this doesn’t map to “artistic”? It also never said the instruments were made in Detroit.

(D) Detroit residents’ disenchantment…

The author never said anything that means “disenchantment” or anything even close to that.

(E) …well-established tradition of supporting…

This doesn’t map to any of the conclusions. No such tradition is ever mentioned.

(B) is the correct answer.

7. The author’s discussion of E. Azalia Hackley serves primarily to illustrate

Map the answers to the author’s conclusions. The author brought in Hackley to support the conclusion about music education being “another crucial factor in Motown’s success”.

(A) the existence of a long-standing tradition of musical education…

This wants to sound pretty good, but you might need to double check the text on those details. Eliminate what you can first before re-reading. Right before introducing Hackley, the author said “The roots of this program reached back to the turn of the century,” which is what “long-standing” maps to.

(B) the specific type of musical education…

…was never mentioned. That would work if we had heard about details like learning by ear, or everybody learning to play recorder first. But we didn’t.

(C) …directly influenced by Hackley

Careful, that word is in there so we’ll know this is wrong. The author says there were other “locally renowned public school music teachers”, so we don’t know if Hackley’s influence was actually “direct”.

(D) …had changed over the years.

The reference to Hackley does not include any description of things changing over time.

(E) …would have languished without such ardent supporters

The author doesn’t speculate about what would’ve happened with Hackley around.

(A) is the correct answer.