The best advice I do have for a student at any level, beginner or who retake the test one million of time, is always the same: read CAREFULLY and think what you read. Not just a sequence of facts facts facts.
Now, essentially you do have 3 strategies to use to tackle even the most daunting passage:
- simply every sentence and get its meaning
- understand which role plays every sentence in the economy of the paragraph and the entire passage
- spot signal words.
Above 160 level you should use all 3. Below is up to you and your level of standard English and the ability to read complex scenarios and connect the dots.
African American newspapers in the 1930s faced many hardships. Ok somewhere in time they had difficulties of different genre
For instance,
knowing that buyers of African American papers also bought general-circulation papers, advertisers of consumer products often ignored African American publications. Advertisers’ discrimination did free the African American press from advertiser domination. Who purchased the Afro American paper also purchased the generals' ones. So, those who were interested to the adds on paper went for the general, discriminating the Afro.here I am employing all 3 strategies: the signal word for instance which is very important, the second one because this second sentence is related to the crisis of the Afro paper of before, and the meaning per se of this second sentence which shows us the gist of the entire passage: no ads, no gain.
However, the afro less ads, no gain BUT more freedom. SUPER IMPORTANT concept
Editors could print politically charged material more readily than could the large national dailies, which depended on advertisers’ ideological approval to secure revenues.This sentence address what we said before: more freedom. Positive side
Unfortunately, it also made the selling price of Black papers much higher than that of general-circulation dailies. More freedom but the negative side
Often as much as two-thirds of publication costs had to come from subscribers or subsidies from community politicians and other interest groups. the reason why the negative side had consequences
And despite their editorial freedom, African American publishers often felt compelled to print a disproportionate amount of sensationalism, sports, and society news to boost circulation.Turns out, more freedom, no gain so the afro paper had to fill the contents of sport or else to attract readers and push the gains up. Otherwise, close and die.
The passage suggests that if advertisers had more frequently purchased advertising in African American newspapers, then which of the following might have resulted?
African American newspapers would have given more attention to sports and society news than they did.Not really, the passage says that the afro papers inserted more ads for more gain. This question is the other way around. If any, the papers already gave attention to sport or else as filler.
African American newspapers would have been available at lower prices than large national dailies were.Price is not mentioned.
African American newspapers would have experienced constraints on their content similar to those experienced by large national dailiesCorrect.
In 20 seconds thanks to the reading of the passage and its analysis.
Regards
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