Reading comp PrepTest 117 · Section 1 · Question 3

Passage

Questions 1-7  .        The Canadian Auto Workers' (CAW) Legal  . Services Plan, designed to give active and retired  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal Studies


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • New plan introduced; Adoption
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • New plan - CAW Prepaid legal services - Join plan, then pay lower legal fees (or free)
    • Options/Distinction - Plan lawyer (free), cooperating lawyer (free or fee), outside lawyer (fee + balance)
    • 45% eligible signed up; department store adopted plan

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Lawyers vs. Plan Directors
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Lawyers - Bad for profession; drives down overall fees in cities where it operates
    • Directors - Increase professional contact and referrals (3-4 per client that gets good service)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author - Unlikely the plans will be good for lawyers or clients
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Established lawyers won’t sign up → Marketing for new lawyers → Clients get inexperienced lawyers → Clients less satisfied
    • Downward pressure on fees → Referrals won’t make up difference → Lawyers spend less time per case → Clients less satisfied

Main Point: While the CAW’s prepaid plan members appear happy with the service and the directors argue it’ll be good for lawyers and clients, in reality, the increased use of such plans won’t result in long-term client satisfaction or increased profits for law firms, as its directors argue.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-12 - The new plan is outlined

Lines 14-15 - People like it

Lines 20-22 - Lawyers criticize the plan

Lines 29-33 - Plan directors rebut that criticism

Lines 38-40 - The Author says the plan is bad

Meta-Structure?

Old Approach/New Approach - The entire passage is designed around describing (Paragraph 1), explaining the debate around (Paragraph 2), and reaching a final determination on (Paragraph 3) a new approach to legal services. The old approach to legal services saw each person individually hiring lawyers, the new prepaid plans have people enroll in a service that gives them no- or low-price legal services from lawyers who sign up for the plan. When a passage falls into the Old Approach/New Approach, the Author’s opinion of the new approach generally serves as the main point of the passage. Here, the Author’s opinion is stated in Paragraph 3 - she’s not a fan of them, believing that they won’t result in long-term client satisfaction or increased profits from law firms. In short, no one (except maybe the plan directors who are running the plan) will likely be happy with it over the long term. The main point should reflect that opinion.

Causality - Paragraph 3 sees the Author presenting a few causal chains to explain why she doesn’t believe the prepaid legal plans will result in positive outcomes for either clients or lawyers.

Last Thoughts?

This passage is relatively straight-forward as far as the content and structure is concerned, so let’s work to get through the questions quickly and free up some time for a harder passage later in the section.

Question prompt

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Review the Author’s predictions on the eventual effects of legal plans, then find an answer reflecting those views

Answer Anticipation

The Author’s viewpoint is expressed in Paragraph 3, and, overall, she concluded that legal plans are unlikely to provide benefits to either lawyers or clients over the long-term, so her support for that will line up with this question’s talk of predictions.What does she believe the outcome will be? We noted two causal chains. The first resulted in clients getting inexperienced lawyers and thus being less satisfied with their legal representation (Lines 44-47). The second resulted in lawyers spending less time on cases, thus resulting in clients that are less satisfied (Lines 52-57). Let’s find an answer bringing up either of these predictions.

Answer choices

  1. A
    results that are largely Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 20-22; Lines 48-52) In Paragraph 2, the lawyers expressed fear at the impact of these plans on prices for legal services. In Paragraph 3, the Author validates these fears by stating that there will be downward pressure on legal fees without full-fee referrals to make up for them. So she predicts results that line up with the predictions of the lawyers.

  2. B
    a lowering of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 48-52) The Author predicts downward pressure on the price of legal fees charged by lawyers, not on the fees charged to members of the plans.

  3. C
    forced participation of lawyers Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 40-44) The Author talks about how the plans will largely serve as marketing opportunities for new lawyers, while established lawyers avoid them. There’s no indication she believes lawyers will be forced to participate in the plan.

  4. D
    an eventual increase in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 48-52) The Author predicts that downward pressure on legal services fees won’t be made up for with an increase in full-fee referrals, resulting in a decrease in profits (or, at least, no increase in profits), so this answer is incorrect.

  5. E
    a reduction in the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) (Lines 55-57) The Author predicts that the lower fees will provide less incentive for lawyers to devote time to complex cases, thus backing up this answer.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 2%
  2. B 2%
  3. C 3%
  4. D 1%
  5. E Credited 92%

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