Reading comp PrepTest 120 · Section 2 · Question 16

Passage

Questions 12-18  .        Individual family members have been assisted in  . resolving disputes arising from divorce or separation,  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal Studies


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Two types of ways of resolving disputes compared
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Court adjudication - Decisions binding (appeal), forma rules, open to public
    • Family mediation - Private, less formal, no binding decisions; communicate and cooperate to find agreement

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Benefits of court adjudication over mediation (Author - “some validity”)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • (The Author’s claim that there’s some validity suggests that, at the very least, she’s going to also see validity to family mediation, if not outright prefer that method)
    • Interpret and apply broader societal values
    • Courts protect those at power disadvantage
    • Protect full rights
    • Formal record, so easy to later modify agreement
    • Sets precedent/refines law

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author - Mediation better than court adjudication
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • More efficient/less damaging
    • Develop autonomy/avoid government
    • Develop skills to resolve future disputes and spirit of cooperation
    • Emotional (not just legal) issues
    • Studies - Most reach agreement and like the process

Main Point: While there is some merit to using the court system to adjudicate family disputes, family mediation is actually a superior way to handle them.

Key Lines?

Lines 5-16 - The two methods are compared

Lines 17-20 - Proponents of one method; Author says there’s “some” validity to claim

Lines 44-46 - Author sides with other method

Meta-Structure?

Resolving a Debate - The Author here starts by comparing two methods of resolving family disputes - court adjudication and family mediation (Lines 1-5). The first paragraph contrasts the methods of the two without editorializing on which is better, so while a debate is suggested, it isn’t yet established. That changes in Paragraph 2, where the Author starts off by bringing up “supporters” of court adjudication. She even goes so far as to say that there is “some validity” to their argument that court adjudication is better, though that some suggests she’s going to come out on the other side. That anticipation is backed up at the beginning of Paragraph 3, where the Author steps in to say that family mediation is better suited to family disputes. Since the passage features a debate between two sides, with the Author picking one of those sides and arguing in its favor, the Author’s preferred side is the main point, as reflected above.

Comparisons - This passage is chock full of comparisons. Paragraph 1 contrasts family mediation with court adjudication as far as how they work is concerned. Paragraphs 2 and 3 each list the benefit of one over the other, which is not the same as listing the benefits of each. By framing each paragraph as why one of the two methods is better than the other, we can infer that any pro of the one featured in that paragraph is missing from the alternative method. Since the passage is so heavily comparative, we should expect correct answers to frequently include comparative language.

Pros/Cons - Certain passages will balance the pros and cons of a decision, or compare the pros and cons of two different options. This passage does that in comparing court adjudication to family mediation, ultimately deciding that the balance is better for the latter than the former (as reflected in our first Meta-Structure).

List - Paragraphs 2 and 3 both feature lists of benefits of one approach over another, so it would be important to have some way to quickly find the elements on this list. Whether you write out a shorthand version of them, number where each one starts, or some other method, you’ll almost certainly need to have a general awareness of them for the questions.

Last Thoughts?

Note that if you viewed the passage as an Old Approach/New Approach passage, there’s nothing wrong with that! Family mediation isn’t really “new,” but the important thing about that Meta-Structure is that the two approaches are compared/contrasted, and the Author’s opinion on the “new” approach serves as the main point. That would have led you to the exact same place as we ended up!

Question prompt

It can most reasonably 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

Remind ourselves of the main point of the passage, then head to the answers, focusing on those that line up with the main point and then using our notes/the passage to find the correct answer

Answer Anticipation

The entire passage is about the differences between court adjudication and family mediation, so the question stem here provides no guidance as to where in the passage the correct answer will show up.As such, we’ll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point (either by reviewing what we said after reading the passage or by rereading our answer to the main point question). From there, we can head to the answers, deferring on those that don’t line up with the main point. For those that do, we’ll use our notes and the passage to see if it’s correct.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The differences are minimal Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 44-46) The Author concludes that “in the final analysis,” family mediation is better than court adjudication for certain types of cases. On top of that, she presents many, many differences throughout each paragraph of the passage. So this answer stating that the differences don’t matter much runs counter to her overall viewpoint.

  2. B
    The two processes are Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    (B) (Lines 44-46; Lines 56-61) The entire point of the passage is to look at differences between family mediation and court adjudication, so this answer lines up with the overall viewpoint of the Author. And she does ultimately conclude that family mediation is better, with a study backing up that people “express positive feelings about the process,” believing it to be better than the court system. That supports this answer that the two are very different and leave people with different feelings towards the outcome, so this is the correct answer.

  3. C
    The main difference between Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 46-48) First, we would have identified if the Author said something was the “main difference” between the two - since we didn’t, that part of this answer is incorrect. Second, we know that the Author claims that family mediation is both less damaging and more efficient, so this answer is contradicted by the text.

  4. D
    Family mediation led by Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) There’s no discussion in the passage of different levels of mediator expertise, nor is that related back to similarities with court adjudication. This answer is out of scope.

  5. E
    While family mediation differs Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 44-46) You should have been suspicious of this answer choice after the first clause, as the “While” suggests a concession that the Author is going to pivot away from, but the attached idea is the main point of the passage - the two processes are very different. That determination is reinforced by the second half of the answer - the Author absolutely believes mediation is better than adjudication in resolving family law disputes, so this answer is incorrect.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 4%
  2. B Credited 74%
  3. C 16%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 4%

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