Reading comp PrepTest 104 · Section 2 · Question 13

Passage

Questions 7-14  .        By the mid–fourteenth century, professional  . associations of canon lawyers (legal advocates in  . Christian ecclesiastical Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph Note
    • Phenomenon introduced (professional canon lawyers guilds, unlike other guilds, rarely disciplined members)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Definitions
      • Professional associations of canon lawyers: legal advocates in Christian ecclesiastical courts (first sentence)
      • Christian ecclesiastical courts: courts that dealt with cases involving marriage, inheritance, etc. (first sentence)
    • Comparison
      • Professional associations of canon lawyers did not play a prominent role in enforcing standards of conduct, unlike other guilds at the time and modern professional associations do (second sentences)
    • Example of a professional association of lawyers hobbling conduct enforcement efforts, according to the author:
      • Florentine guild forbade its members to play any role in the discipline of another member (fifth sentence)
      • Few recorded examples of disciplinary enforcement are initiated by clients and not fellow lawyers (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "might expect" (second sentence); "often did" (second sentence); "seems not to have happened" (second sentence); "little fervor" (third sentence); "erring" (third sentence); "some even" (fourth sentence); "few" (last sentence); "apparently" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph Note
    • Two possible explanations for phenomenon (1. canon lawyers were more ethical, or 2. discipline was less efficient)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of two explanations for why canon guilds, rarely disciplined members
      • They all followed the rules, or they didn't but the enforcement mechanisms were so bad no one was caught/punished (first through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "[a]t first glance" (first sentence); "seem" (first sentence); "possible" (first sentence); "may have" (second sentence); "possible" (last sentence three)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph Note
    • Author on why explanation 2 is more likely (1: civil courts, with similar rules and members, disciplined more frequently)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparisons, according to the author:
      • The econd explanation is more plausible than the first (first sentence)
      • Unlikely that church lawyers were more ethical than civil court lawyers (last sentence)
    • List of reasons why the second explanation is more likely, according to the author:
      • First reason: Non-church legal courts show plenty of examples of disciplinary proceedings, and these courts had similar rules and members as the church courts (second through last sentences)
    • Author attitude: "makes it clear" (first sentence); "more plausible" (first sentence); "many more" (second sentence); "could well indicate" (third sentence); "seems inherently weak" (last sentence); "especially" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph Note
    • Author on why explanation 2 is more likely (2: church records reveal many complaints about ethics violations)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of reasons why the second explanation is more likely, according to the author (continued from previous paragraph):
      • Second reason: Church authorities complained about ethical failures and lack of disciplinary measures (first sentence)
    • Examples of complaints, according to the author:
      • Council of Basel declared the canon lawyers were lacking ethics and directed Cardinal Cesarini to address the problem (second sentence)
      • In England, there were many complaints about the lack of a functioning discipline system (last sentence)
    • Author attitude: "deplored the shortcomings" (first sentence); "extraordinarily rich" (last sentence)

Paragraph 5

  • Paragraph Note
    • Implications of explanation (caused lawyers to defend themselves rather than discipline members)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
      • Criticism about ethics in the profession caused solidarity among lawyers, which caused them to start a professional association to defend themselves rather than improve ethics (first through last sentence)
    • Author attitude: "paradoxical result" (first sentence); "apparently" (first sentence); "may actually have" (second sentence); "may also have" (last sentence)

Main Point:

Although professional associations of canon lawyers ostensibly were created to uphold professional standards since the mid-fourteenth century, there weren't many disciplinary proceedings against members because these associations may have focused more on defending members from critics than enforcing ethical standards.

Key Lines?

Paragraph 1, Sentence 2 (P1, S2) - Phenomenon introduced

P2, S1 - Two possible explanations introduced

P3, S1 - The author chooses the second explanation

P3, S2 - First reason why

P4, S1 - Second reason why

P5, S2 - Conclusion regarding the real purpose of the association

Meta-Structure?

Phenomenon/Explanation: This passage utilizes a Phenomenon/Explanation Major Meta-Structure. In the first paragraph, the author introduces the central phenemonon: although other medieval guilds played a prominent role in enforcing their own professional standards, professional associations of canon lawyers did not seem to do this much at all. The author then gives two possible explanations to the rarity of disciplinary proceedings: either all these canon lawyers followed the rules, or they didn't but the enforcement mechanisms were so bad no one was caught or punished. The author then explains why the latter is the more likely reason, using comparison and example minor Meta-Structures to support their explanation.

The main point is generally the author's explanation in a Phenomenon/Explanation passage. The author more or less summarizes their explanation in the last sentence of the passage. But we decided to flesh out the explanation a bit more. So, we summarized the author's explanation as: "Although professional associations of canon lawyers ostensibly were created to uphold professional standards since the mid-fourteenth century, there weren't many disciplinary proceedings against members because these associations may have focused more on defending members from critics than enforcing ethical standards."

Last Thoughts?

This author hits for the minor Meta-Structure cycle — there are comparisons, examples, cause and effect, and lists galore. Given the sheer number of important details in this passage, we expext a higher-than-usual percentage of Minor Point, Author Agree, and Application questions.

Question prompt

The passage suggests that Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Refer to notes or what you highlighted/underline to locate where the passage discusses medieval guilds, and refer to the relevant part of the passage as needed to find that answer choice that must be true

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us to infer, based on the entire passage, a statement that must be true about "medieval guilds." Such guilds are described throughout the entire passage, so this question doesn't provide any hints as to what we should review to anticipate the answer. That makes this question potentially challenging. Moreover, the correct answer probably won't restate something from the passage. Instead, the question will likely require us to draw a connection between a few different pieces of information.We'll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer these questions. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point (either by reviewing what we said after reading the passage or by re-reading our answer to the main point question). From there, we can head to the answer choices. If something in an answer choice doesn't seem familiar and isn't reflected in our notes on each paragraph, we shouldn't check the passage to see if it was mentioned. Instead, we'll table it and move on to the next answer choice. If something seems inconsistent with the main point, we can eliminate it. If something seems familiar, consistent with the main point, or reflected in our notes, we'll use our notes/highlights/underlines to find the part of the passage that proves the answer choice must be true. If we can find that confirmation, we'll select that answer choice and move on.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Few guilds of any Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is this answer choice consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    No. Neither the main point nor our notes indicate whether guilds existed before the mid-fourteenth century. Experienced test-takers would table this answer choice and quickly move on to the next one.

    If we had to review the passage to verify whether (A) is correct, we wouldn't find any support. The beginning of the passage says guilds for canon lawyers existed by the "mid-fourteenth century" (P1, S1), but it doesn't clarify whether other guilds existed before then.

  2. B
    Many medieval guilds exercised Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    (B) Is this answer choice consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    Sure. Our note for the last paragraph is, "Implications of explanation (caused lawyers to defend themselves rather than discipline members)." If canon lawyer guilds could unify their members and focus their attention on defending rather than disciplining each other, the guild must exercise at least some "influence over the actions of their members."

    Moreover, we can research some of the minor Meta-Structures we highlighted to gain further support. The Florentine guild "forbade its members to play any role in disciplinary proceedings against other guild members" (P1, S5). And critics of the guilds "induced advocates to organize professional associations for self-defense" (P5, S2). Both of these excerpts show how guild members influenced other members. Therefore, the passage suggests that (B) must be true. We can select it and move on.

  3. C
    Most medieval guilds maintained Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this answer choice consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    No. In fact, this runs contrary to one of our notes. Our note for the third paragraph is, "Author on why explanation 2 is more likely (1: civil courts, with similar rules and members, disciplined more frequently)." That suggests at least one other field had similar standards to the canon lawyer guilds. That might not be enough to eliminate (C) outright, but it's certainly a good reason to table it and quickly advance to the next choice.

    If we had to examine (C) more closely, we'd see that it's not supported by the passage. Although it's probably true that other guilds would have disciplined their members more than canon guilds, the passage never says other guilds had higher standards. The passage claims that the canon guilds were extremely reluctant to actually enforce their standards (P3, S1). The canon standards may have been extremely high compared to other professions, but the other professional guilds may have been more willing to make their members follow their standards.

  4. D
    Medieval guilds found it Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Is this answer choice consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    No. This answer choice applies to enforcement in medieval guilds generally, so it's not reflected in our main point or notes. Experienced test-takers would, at the very least, table this answer choice and keep looking.

    If we had to review the passage to eliminate (D), we'd see that it's factually untrue. Although canon lawyer guilds did not seem to enforce discipline, other guilds did often do so (P1, S2). So, it apparently wasn't very difficult for many guilds to discipline wayward members. 

  5. E
    The ethical standards of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Is this answer choice consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes?

    No. Neither our main point nor our notes distinguish ethical standards in different cities' guilds. That should be enough to table this answer choice and research whichever answer choices you've determined was the strongest contender.

    If we had to review the passage to verify whether (E) is supported, we wouldn't find any indication that the standards were changed depending on the city. Although different cities' reactions to ethical violations by lawyers are mentioned (P1, S5; P4, S2), we don't learn about the standards in different cities. Plus, this answer choice is about medieval guilds generally, and we only have information about medieval canon lawyer guilds. So we definitely can't support a claim about ethical standards in all guilds.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 4%
  2. B Credited 48%
  3. C 21%
  4. D 22%
  5. E 4%

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