PrepTest 132, Section 2, Question 14
Music professor: Because rap musicians can work alone(79 more words not shown)
The music critic's response to(4 more words not shown)
- Achallenges it by(17 more words not shown)
- Bchallenges its conclusion(20 more words not shown)
- Cchallenges the grounds(22 more words not shown)
- Dchallenges it by(19 more words not shown)
- Echallenges each of(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Recording alone doesn't mean every part of making music happens in isolation. What if a rapper works with friends to develop ideas, or builds connections with other musicians? And learning informally doesn't mean the music has no traditions. It could still follow familiar rhythms or styles.
Those are possible objections to the professor's leap. We can accept that rappers can record alone and don't learn through the same formal process as instrumentalists while questioning the sweeping description of rap as extremely individualistic and nontraditional.
What we’re looking for
The critic makes that kind of response with three specific observations. Rap uses older songs, has developed traditions in its themes and styles, and is shaped by what the public wants. None of that says rappers cannot record alone or must undergo formal training. The critic adds features the professor left out, then uses them to challenge the conclusion. That's the method we want the answer to describe.
Working the answers
- A
Which stated premise does the critic reject? The critic doesn't deny that rappers can work alone or that learning to rap is less formal than learning an instrument. The response challenges what the professor concludes from those facts, using additional information.
- BCorrect
The critic offers further observations about tradition and outside influence: borrowing older music, developing established themes and styles, and responding to listeners' preferences. These give us reasons to question the professor's description without having to reject the facts the professor supplied.
- C
The professor draws a conclusion about rap from observations about rap. There is no generalization from rap to music as a whole. The critic says the account of rap is incomplete, not that rap is an inadequate sample for a claim about all music.
- D
An alternative explanation would tell us something different about why the professor's cited facts occur—for example, why rappers can work alone or why their training is informal. The critic doesn't offer new causes for those facts. The response adds other facts that bear on the conclusion.
- E
The critic doesn't challenge every claim the professor gives as evidence. Those claims can remain true while rap also draws on traditions and responds to an audience. E confuses disagreeing with the resulting description with denying each reason used to support it.
More Strategy of Argument questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Strategy of Argument questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.