Reading comp PrepTest 128 · Section 1 · Question 12

Passage

Questions 6-13  .        In many Western societies, modern bankruptcy  . laws have undergone a shift away from a focus Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal Studies


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Old Approach and New Approach
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Old Approach - Bankruptcy focuses on punishment
    • New Approach - Bankruptcy as a remedy for individuals/businesses/creditors
    • Critics - Trend to more bankruptcies is bad; we should go back to punishment
    • Author - New approach serves needs of society and lets people participate in economy, so it’s good

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Why Old Approach; Author’s rebuttal
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Old approach - Throw people in jail; dissolve businesses
    • Why? - Breaking social contract, need to be removed from society
    • Author - That doesn’t help anyone - creditors don’t get paid, businesses closing disrupts employees and customers

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • New approach - Underlying beliefs; mechanism; goals
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Underlying beliefs (2) - 1) public good is paramount; 2) public good better served with businesses existing and people not in jail (they can earn and pay back)
    • Mechanism - Courts reorganize debt and transfer assets
    • Still have punitive functions (Examples - public record of bankruptcy; affect credit rating)
    • Goal - Restore business/individual to economic health and get creditors paid

Main Point: Modern bankruptcy laws, with their focus on getting people and businesses back to economic health so that they can repay creditors, are better than the old punitive bankruptcy laws.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-6 - An Old Approach and a New Approach

Lines 6-9 - An argument to go back to the old approach

Lines 13-18 - Author’s overall opinion (pro New Approach)

Lines 24-29 - Why Old Approach adopted

Lines 29-34 - Author rebuts

Lines 54-59 - Author sums up her argument

Meta-Structure?

Old Approach/New Approach - The first sentence pretty explicitly raises an Old Approach to bankruptcy law and the shift to a New Approach. This strongly suggests that the Author is going to explore the two approaches to see which one is better, or take elements from each to recommend a “compromise” approach. In this case, we get the former - she concludes the first paragraph by stating that the New Approach “serve[s] the varied interests of the greatest number of citizens.” Paragraph 2 then explains why the Old Approach was adopted, but the Author then pivots away from that (Line 30 - “But”) to show why it wasn’t helpful. She then closes out the passage by spending the last paragraph arguing why the New Approach (modern bankruptcy law) is better - it is the most likely way to restore businesses, individuals, and creditors to economic health. When a passage falls into this Meta-Structure, the Author’s opinion of the New Approach is generally the main point. Since she argues in favor of it here, that should be our main point, as we stated above.

Last Thoughts?

Paragraph 3 had a series of elements in it that are likely to show up in the questions - underlying beliefs, a mechanism, and goals. Each of these are generally important on the exam, so we should have noted where each one is in the paragraph, and also kept quick notes on what they were. While it would take a bit of time to do that while reading, it should save us a lot of time on the questions!

Question prompt

The information in the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

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 topic mentioned in this question stem is the shift in bankruptcy laws, but that was the central topic of the passage! The support for this answer could show up anywhere throughout the passage.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
    Bankruptcy laws always result Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) This answer is too extreme. The passage talks about a single shift in bankruptcy laws, but this answer is about what “always” happens. There may have been a shift in ancient times that didn’t follow this generalization!

  2. B
    Changes in bankruptcy law Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 1-5) There’s no indication where the shift started. That said, in discussing changes in bankruptcy laws and not changes in how this law is enforced/applied, the passage does suggest that the legislators played arole.

  3. C
    The adjustment of bankruptcy Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 8-9) The passage does discuss criticism of a recent trend. However, that trend is the “increased reliance on” bankruptcy for those who are in debt, not the shift in the laws. While these two things coincided, they’re not the same. Additionally, there’s no indication that the opposition was by creditors, nor that it was bitter! Widespread criticism doesn’t have to be strong criticism.

  4. D
    Bankruptcy laws underwent change Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) (Lines 29-36) This answer aligns with the Author’s viewpoint - that the Old Approach didn’t serve the widest number of citizens well, and the New Approach does. However, this answer ties that rationale to the reasoning behind the changes, not the Author’s argument. Is there support for the shift being because there was a recognition of this? There is - at the end of Paragraph 2, the Author highlights shortcomings of the law, and she then continues in Paragraph 3 by stating that the modern laws have attempted to address these shortcomings. That’s different from saying that they do address these shortcomings, as that could be a coincidence. But in stating that these laws attempt to address the shortcomings, the Author suggests the motive behind them, thus justifying this answer.

  5. E
    The shift away from Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 6-8) The passage doesn’t discuss more general trends towards rehabilitation. The only other trend it discusses also has to do with bankruptcy - an increased reliance on it.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 3%
  2. B 1%
  3. C 4%
  4. D Credited 87%
  5. E 6%

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