Reading comp PrepTest 140 · Section 4 · Question 9
Passage
Passage A is from a source published in 2004 and passage B is from a source published in 2007. Questions
Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Legal Studies
Passage A
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
Passage A - According to Castronova, multiplayer online games end up with a virtual economy that creates wealth with value in the real world
Passage B - Earning in-game items or trading them shouldn't be taxed, but selling them for real money or earning them in a game that intentionally commodifies them should be taxed
Key Lines:
Passage A:
Lines 7-9 - The phenomenon is described
Lines 13-16 - A new level to the phenomenon is described
Lines 18-19 - An implication of the phenomenon is described
Passage B:
Lines 26-29 - A distinction is made
Lines 32-36 - Questions are asked
Lines 44-45 - The Author's answer is presented
Lines 52-56 - An exception/distinction is made to the answer
Meta-Structure - Relationship Between Passages
Phenomenon/Implication and Question/Answer - Passage A (excitedly) describes a phenomenon. Likely, the writers of the LSAT assumed that this topic was a bit outside of most people's experience, and so they felt the need to highlight the situation before including an argument. And that argument features in Passage B, where the economy in online games described in Passage A is then subjected to a question—should these things be taxed?
So the two passages are strongly related. Passage A describes a phenomenon, and Passage B asks a question about how that phenomenon should be treated.
Last Thoughts:
Note how most of our notations on Passage A are about what is being described. While it's filtered through a specific viewpoint—Castronova's—it's largely describing an online economy that creates goods for real-world sale. That said, the language used is definitely more on the positive side—down to the punctuation (exclamation marks).
Also, note that Passage B has a callback to the original distinction when it draws another distinction in the last paragraph. When it kicked off, it talked about games that prohibit real-world trade in virtual items versus those that encourage it by providing IP rights to those goods. The last paragraph is about games that are "intentionally commodified," which is referring to that latter set of games.
Passage A
Paragraph 1
- Paragraph note
- Background
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
- Details on online multiplayer games
- Paragraph note
- A viewpoint is introduced
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
- Castronova - These games develop their own economies
- Paragraph note
- A new layer
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
- Castronova - People would sell their accounts for real money on eBay
- Paragraph note
- Bringing it all together
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
- Castronova - Virtual currency has real-world value, and online "work" was creating value
Paragraph 1
- Paragraph note
- A split is introduced
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
- Some online games prohibit selling stuff for money; other encourage it
- Example - IP rights
- Paragraph note
- A question is posed
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
- Sell virtual stuff for real money? Taxed!
- If someone gets virtual stuff but doesn't sell it, should it be taxed?
- Paragraph note
- An answer is provided
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
- Most people - It shouldn't be
- Author - I agree! Analogy - Fish that are caught are only taxed when sold
- Author - Trading in-game items for others shouldn't be taxed
- Paragraph note
- Distinction is made to above answer, calling back to Paragraph 1
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
- Author - Selling virtual items for money should be taxed; games that commodify items should be taxed
Passage A - According to Castronova, multiplayer online games end up with a virtual economy that creates wealth with value in the real world
Passage B - Earning in-game items or trading them shouldn't be taxed, but selling them for real money or earning them in a game that intentionally commodifies them should be taxed
Key Lines:
Passage A:
Lines 7-9 - The phenomenon is described
Lines 13-16 - A new level to the phenomenon is described
Lines 18-19 - An implication of the phenomenon is described
Passage B:
Lines 26-29 - A distinction is made
Lines 32-36 - Questions are asked
Lines 44-45 - The Author's answer is presented
Lines 52-56 - An exception/distinction is made to the answer
Meta-Structure - Relationship Between Passages
Phenomenon/Implication and Question/Answer - Passage A (excitedly) describes a phenomenon. Likely, the writers of the LSAT assumed that this topic was a bit outside of most people's experience, and so they felt the need to highlight the situation before including an argument. And that argument features in Passage B, where the economy in online games described in Passage A is then subjected to a question—should these things be taxed?
So the two passages are strongly related. Passage A describes a phenomenon, and Passage B asks a question about how that phenomenon should be treated.
Last Thoughts:
Note how most of our notations on Passage A are about what is being described. While it's filtered through a specific viewpoint—Castronova's—it's largely describing an online economy that creates goods for real-world sale. That said, the language used is definitely more on the positive side—down to the punctuation (exclamation marks).
Also, note that Passage B has a callback to the original distinction when it draws another distinction in the last paragraph. When it kicked off, it talked about games that prohibit real-world trade in virtual items versus those that encourage it by providing IP rights to those goods. The last paragraph is about games that are "intentionally commodified," which is referring to that latter set of games.
Question prompt
With regard to their
Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right
Credited answer: C
The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.
Question Type
Legal
Answer choices
-
Acritical and apprehensive
Why choice A is not credited
Incorrect. (Line 19) Exclamation points are not the sign of an apprehensive mind! -
Bacademic and dismissive
Why choice B is not credited
Incorrect. (Lines 8, 13, 19) The Author of Passage A uses positive language to describe the discoveries of Castronova, so she isn't dismissive. Academic writing also tends to shy away from exclamation marks. -
Cintrigued and excited
Why choice C matches the stem
Correct. Question Type:
Author's Attitude
Strategy Overview:
Review the tone of each passage, seeing where the Author showed an opinion
Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
Passage B definitely makes a stronger, more definitive argument—virtual goods shouldn't generally be taxed unless they're sold for real money or are in a game that's intentionally commoditizing its goods.
Passage A, on the other hand, largely brings up what Castronova noticed and argued. Is there any opinion on that? Well, there are some words that highlight a bit of opinion. She says that Castronova noticed something "curious" (Line 8) implying that it raises an interesting question. And that things got "even more interesting" (Line 13). There's also an exclamation point thrown into a revelation in Paragraph 3 (Line 19).
So while Passage B is more authoritative and reaches a conclusion, Passage A is more descriptive while being excited by this new discovery. Let's find an answer reflecting that.
Answer Explanation:
(Lines 8, 13, 19) The Author of Passage A uses phrases like "curious" and "even more interesting" before throwing an exclamation point around. Curiosity and interest back up "intrigued," and the exclamation point is the punctuation mark of someone who's excited, so this answer matches up with the tone of Passage A. And there's nothing in Passage B to suggest the Author feels either intrigue or excitement—rather, he pretty clearly thinks the issue is resolved and matches expectations (Lines 41-45).
Key Takeaway:
Opinions. Opinions. Opinions. If you can frame out the opinion of the relevant viewpoints—including the Author's—and find the specific language backing that up, you'll be able to work through the questions with relative ease. Sometimes, that will be enough by itself to answer the question, as here. However, even for the detail questions, the correct answers tend to line up with the viewpoints in the passage. -
Dundecided but curious
Why choice D is not credited
Incorrect. (Lines 8, 13) Curious lines up with the language in Passage A, as it's a similar word to "intrigued" from (C). However, there's no sign of indecision in Passage A—the Author seems on board with these games having their own emergent economies that can create wealth in the real world. A question mark instead of an exclamation point might have changed that. -
Eenthusiastic but skeptical
Why choice E is not credited
Incorrect. (Lines 8, 13, 19) That exclamation point builds from a note that something is "even more interesting" to create a sense of enthusiasm. However, there's no sign of skepticism in Passage A.
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Discussion
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C & D 4 replies
Started by AndrewArabie