Q3 - Although it is unwise

[ohthatpatrick]

What does the Question Stem tell us?
ID the Conclusion

Break down the Stimulus:
Conclusion: It makes some sense to talk about musical knowledge growing over time.
Evidence: We know more about certain sounds now compared to 500 years ago. We discovered options for certain sounds that previous composers didn't have (so they avoided those certain sounds).

Any prephrase?
Whenever you're doing an ID the Conclusion question, remind your brain that the Conclusion will almost always be in one of two places: 1. The 1st sentence (and the rest of the argument unpacks that claim) 2. The author's rebuttal to some person/claim/idea (usually prefaced by "but/yet/however". This one is a #1. The first sentence is an opinion that gets unpacked over the rest of the paragraph.

Correct answer:
E

Answer choice analysis:
A) Premise

B) Never said. "Consonant" DOES mean appealing, but there is no contrast between how old vs. modern listeners would perceive this sound differently. More importantly, this is not the first sentence, so it's not the conclusion.

C) Counterpoint

D) Example from the Counterpoint

E) 1st sentence. Boom!

Takeaway/Pattern: When you prime your brain with the expectation that there's a 50% chance the FIRST sentence will actually be the conclusion, you're more receptive to hearing it as an opinion. And if you hear it as an opinion, read the following sentences with the expectation that the author is going to try to convince you of that first sentence. Once we identify the opinion in the 2nd half of the first sentence as the Conclusion, we can ignore the 1st half of the first sentence. We don't care about counterpoints that authors present in concessions (f.e. "although [conceding a point], here's my actual thought.")

#officialexplanation

[anjalibbpatel]

Can someone please help me untangle the first sentence in order to properly determine which phrase is the passage's conclusion?

[ohthatpatrick]

Sure thing.

It's basically a formula you can follow 98% of the time you see 'although'/'despite'/'while' _____, _____.

The first idea is always a counterpoint, or an objection the author concedes to his opponents.

The second idea is what the author is REALLY trying to stress.

Think about how we use those in real life:
Although avocados are high in fat, they're high in unsaturated fats, which are good for you.

Despite his injury, he won the race.

While the campus is far from any public transportation, University of Maryland is a wonderful school.

So in LR and in RC, whenever I see "although/despite/while", I read the first half thinking, "this is something the author will admit is true, but he's about to tell me something that goes the opposite way". I read the second half thinking, "this is what the author really wants me to believe".

In terms of our task here (i.e. Find the Conclusion), we could also ask ourselves, "Which half of the first sentence is supported by the rest of the paragraph?"

The rest of the paragraph is trying to support how we could say that "musical knowledge has grown over time".

How has musical knowledge grown over time?

Well, "we certainly know more about certain sounds than was known five centuries ago ..."

In case you haven't already heard this, the conclusion on most Find the Conclusion questions is near some but/yet/however type contrast, so you should really expect, when you read a Find the Conclusion question, that you will see a counterpoint pivot into the author's conclusion, followed by the author's premises.

Since we're identifying "there are ways in which it makes sense to talk about musical knowledge growing over time" as the Main Conclusion, we just need to figure out which answer choice is the closest paraphrase.

(E) is the closest.

Let me know if you still have questions.