16Hit1600
Information and IdeasVery hardCentral ideas and inferences

Information and Ideas practice question

Reviewers dismissed the composer's symphony as chaotic noise when it premiered, and audiences walked out. Yet within a decade, orchestras across Europe were competing to perform it, and students studied its once-derided harmonies as models of innovation.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

  1. A. The symphony was poorly written but became popular anyway.
  2. B. The composer wrote music that no orchestra could perform correctly.
  3. C. A symphony first rejected as chaotic later came to be admired as innovative.Correct
  4. D. Audiences of the era disliked all forms of new music.

Answer: C. A symphony first rejected as chaotic later came to be admired as innovative.

The text traces a reversal — initial rejection ('chaotic noise') giving way to admiration and study as a model of innovation — which C captures. A contradicts the text, since the harmonies were later held up as models rather than judged 'poorly written'; B and D overgeneralize claims the passage never makes.

Why the other answers are wrong

A. The symphony was poorly written but became popular anyway.
The passage never says the symphony was poorly written; its harmonies were later studied as models of innovation, so 'poorly written but popular anyway' contradicts the reversal the text describes.
B. The composer wrote music that no orchestra could perform correctly.
The text says orchestras competed to perform the symphony, which is the opposite of no orchestra being able to play it correctly.
D. Audiences of the era disliked all forms of new music.
The passage describes reactions to this one symphony; extending that to a dislike of *all* new music goes well beyond what the text supports.

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