Highlight the author’s conclusions:
p1:
Dunham’s success in bringing dance-isolation and other traditional techniques into the mainstream of modern North American dance is due in no small part to her training in both anthropological research and choreography.
p3:
Especially critical to her success was her approach to research
p4:
Her work was thus crucial in establishing African American dance as an art form in its own right
***
p1 is background until we see the author introduce what must their main thesis at the end, although we don’t see support for it yet. It’s totally cool if you came to highlight this conclusion only after reading the rest of the passage.
p2 starts with what could be another conclusion. I didn’t highlight it since the rest of this paragraph doesn’t support that she was a “pioneer”, only that other researchers hadn’t really studied dance much. The direct support that she was a pioneer is in the next paragraph, and by then we see a stronger conclusion that aligns more closely to the conclusion in the first paragraph.
p3 is all explaining Dunham’s research and how it “diverged radically” from everybody else’s.
p4 connects the info about her research back to the conclusion in the first paragraph, and also makes a more specific follow up conclusion. It should be clear at this point that the last sentence of the first paragraph is the main conclusion all the rest of this supports.
Map the wording of the answers to the reference in the prompt, or to the author’s conclusions:
8. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?
Map the answers to the author’s conclusions.
(A) …transformed the field of anthropology…
Stop. This doesn’t map to any of the conclusions, which don’t include wording like “transformed” anywhere.
(B) …Dunham’s ballets were distinct from others…
Too specific, and probably not even accurate. Her “ballets” don’t come up in any of the conclusions.
(C) …to express the aesthetic and political concerns of…
Where the hell would we get this from? The passage only mentions African American “themes”, and even that’s not in any of the conclusions.
(D) …her discovery that the dance traditions of the Caribbean were derived from earlier…
The passage does say she had a “special interest” in this, but there’s absolutely nothing about “discovery”, and again, this doesn’t map to any of the conclusions.
(E) …Dunham’s anthropological and choreographic expertise enabled her to make contributions that altered…
This sounds exactly like the main conclusion at the end of the first paragraph.
(E) is the correct answer.
9. According to the passage, Dunahm’s work in anthropology differed from that of most other anthropologists in the 1930s in that Dunham
Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. It’s referring to the conclusion in the 3rd paragraph, where the support says what she did so differently was she “eschewed” “complete detachment” and instead “participated in the dances herself”.
(C) employed a participative approach…
Boom. This is the only one that even comes close to mapping to the reference.
(A) …a very extended period of time.
(B) related the traditions she studied to those of her own culture.
(D) attached a high degree of political significance…
(E) had prior familiarity…
If you chose any of these, I’d ask you where in the passage it says any of this. Cuz it don’t. If you didn’t get this one right, I’d suggest you’re still misunderstanding what this test is asking you to do. Check the wording of the document carefully, and do NOT pick the one that you think “seems to make the most sense”.
(C) is the correct answer.
10. The passage suggests that the “peers” mentioned would have been most likely to agree which which one of the following statements about the study of dance?
Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. The clear implication is that the “peers” don’t think studying dance is “scientifically rigorous”.
(C) Research into dance…cannot be conducted with a high degree of scientific precision.
Boom. This maps perfectly to the reference in the prompt.
(A) Most…have misinterpreted it.
The author never says anything close to “misinterpreted.”
(B) Social scientists need not be well versed in dance…
I could see how you’d think this fits with scientists who value “complete detachment”, but the next sentence after the “peers” are mentioned says “no other social scientist was sufficiently trained in dance to be able to understand…” So this answer flat out contradicts the text.
(D) Most experts in the field of dance…
…are never mentioned. It’s just Dunham. We have no idea if the “peers” would agree with this.
(E) Dance forms are too variable…to permit rigorous means of data collection.
That’s not even close to the reasoning in the passage, there’s nothing about how much dance forms vary.
(C) is the correct answer.
11. In the last sentence of the second paragraph, the author mentions “experts in dance” primarily in order to
Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. The second paragraph was all background explaining that “dance had been neglected as an area of social research” before Dunham came on the scene.
(A) …a group of social scientists did not embrace the study of a particular cultural form.
That’s backwards, isn’t it? The reference is to “experts in dance” who aren’t trained in research, but this is talking about researchers who aren’t into studying dance.
(B) …a certain group was more qualified to study…than was another group.
There’s no comparison of qualifications anywhere in the passage. It only says as a matter of fact that these experts “were not trained.”
(C) …that motivated a particular social scientist…
Where does it say these experts’ lack of training in social research “motivated” Dunham? It doesn’t, so this answer is bringing in something totally new.
(D) …why a particular field of research was not previously pursued
Why wasn’t dance research pursued? Because “experts in dance were not trained in the methods of social research.” Boom. That’s definitely why the author brought these people up.
(E) …the tension between the members of two distinct fields of research.
Tension? Just because the author describes two different views doesn’t mean the people involved have tension between them. There’s no wording in the passage that “tension” maps to.
(D) is the correct answer.
12. According to the passage, which one of the following was true of the dance forms that Dunham began studying in 1935?
Map the answers to reference in the prompt. The reference is at the beginning of paragraph three, and it only says three things about the dances she was studying: they’re “traditional”, “Caribbean”, and they have “their origins in African culture”. The right answer has to map to at least one of those.
(A) They were more similar to…
Stop. There’s no comparison of the similarities of these dances to any others.
(B) They represented the first use of…
The passage only says Dunham was the first to do something, but there’s no info on whether the dances are the first use of anything.
(C) They shared…characteristics with the dance forms in North American ballets.
Not even close. North American ballet doesn’t come up until a lot later in the passage.
(D) They had already influenced certain popular dances…
I think the whole point is that Dunham introduced these dances in the first place, so no way they “had already influenced” anything.
(E) They were influenced by the traditions of non-Caribbean cultures.
That maps perfectly to the statement about “origins in African culture”.
(E) is the correct answer.
13. Which one of the following is most analogous to Dunham’s work in anthropology and choreography as that work is described in the passage?
Map the answers to the author’s conclusions. It’s possible the answer relies on a more specific reference, but “Dunham’s work” in these two fields is basically the subject of the whole thing. So I’d expect the answer to map nicely to the main conclusion.
(A) …the basis for a Korean engineer’s designs for devices to simulate…
This says someone use’s someone else’s research to “design” a new thing, but Dunham used her own research to “incorporate” new stuff into dance. This doesn’t seem that close.
(B) …pharmaceutical company uses her findings to develop…
Same as (A), a company uses someone else’s research to “develop” something new, which doesn’t map to what Dunham did in the passage.
(C) …to collaborate with…
Nope. There’s just Dunham doing things in the passage, no collaboration gets mentioned.
(D) …introduces the most effective of those procedures to teachers in his own country.
This sounds more like what Dunham did, and I also like that the “teacher” in this answer has training in “social psychology”, just like Dunham is a dancer with training in anthropology.
(E) …presents his research in a highly acclaimed book…
As far as we know, Dunham didn’t write a book.
(D) is the correct answer.
14. The passage suggests that the author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements about the colleagues mentioned?
Map the answers to the reference in the prompt. The author’s attitude toward these “colleagues” is made clear right there in the sentence in which they’re mentioned: their view is “now fortunately recognized as unrealistic”. Expect the right answer will map to that disagreement.
(A) They were partly correct…
(B) They were partly correct…
Out. The author disagrees with these folks.
(C) …since extensive personal investment in fieldwork generally enhances…
We don’t know what the author thinks “generally”, since we only really heard them talk about Dunham.
(D) They were incorrect in assuming that researchers…are able to gather data in an entirely objective manner.
This is exactly what the author says is “unrealistic”. Love this.
(E) …the same degree of scientific rigor…
The passage never compares dance to “other areas of ethnology.”
(D) is the correct answer.
Elliot Hirsen / LSAT coach 
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