Reading comp PrepTest 147 · Section 3 · Question 11

Passage

Questions 7-13  .       The government of Mali passed a law against  . excavating and exporting the wonderful terra-cotta  . sculptures Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Legal Studies

Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • A situation is described which implies a problem
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Mali/Djenne-jeno sculptures - Mali couldn't enforce law against excavation/export of sculptures, so people did so illegally
    • Author - These collectors "rightly" admired them
    • Problem - A lot of important info is now lost
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • A relevant doctrine is described
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • UNESCO Doctrine - Cultural artifacts belong to the culture
    • Some countries have gone further - These artifacts are state property
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • The doctrine is applied to the situation, and a paradox is noted
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Mali's government should have been in control
    • Irony/paradox - These regulations can result in people keeping things secret to get around them, making problem worse
Paragraph 4
  • Paragraph note
    • A thought experiment is done to "rank" different outcomes and suggest one
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Suppose - UNESCO helped Mali to educate, register artifacts, and tax their export
    • Worst - What did happen (illicit excavation export)
    • Better - Supposed situation, where people are excavating and exporting things under some regulations
    • Best* - Professional archaeologists did the excavation
Main Point:
Simply passing laws or doctrines to protect cultural artifacts can ironically result in people illegally excavating/exporting them while hiding important information about them, so there need to be other possible solutions that allow for "better" outcomes, even if they're not the "best" outcomes.

Key Lines:
Lines 6-12 - The problem is outlined
Lines 18-20 - A doctrine to address the problem is described
Lines 22-25 - Laws building from the doctrine are discussed
Lines 30-34 - A paradox ("painful irony") about implementing the doctrine or laws is highlighted
Lines 51-56 - The Author implies a non-ideal but practical solution addressing the paradox

Meta-Structure:
Problem/Solution - Here, the Author notes a problem—cultural knowledge is lost when cultural artifacts are illicitly looted and exported from their country of origin. One solution—doctrines/laws making this illegal—can ironically result in the information being hidden and thus still lost. And while she does note an ideal solution—professional archaeologists doing the excavations—she recognizes that this isn't practical/realistic.

Rather, she imagines a solution whereby the government steps in to record, register, and tax these cultural items as they're excavated and exported by individuals. While not as good as the archaeologists, she notes it's better than them being looted and that knowledge lost forever.

Last Thoughts:
This is a tricky passage! The last paragraph, in particular, highlights a middle-of-the-road approach phrased in a convoluted manner. Making sure that you understood the comparison between the potential solutions will probably be key to answering questions.

Also, note that ironies and paradoxes can, more or less, be treated as the same thing on the LSAT. So when an RC passage notes an irony, think of it as a paradox—and we know paradoxes are important!

Question prompt

The author of the 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

  1. A
    Such regulations must be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 4-5; Lines 51-54) The passage talks about archaeologists only in the context of running the excavations, not approving regulations on how to treat the artifacts.
  2. B
    Such regulations must have Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 47-51) The Author advocates for registering and taxing cultural artifacts that are exported, which implies that such objects would be allowed to be exported. That doesn't line up with this answer about "maximizing" the number of objects that aren't exported.
  3. C
    Such regulations can be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Must Be True

    Strategy Overview:
    Review the Author's main point and then head to the answers, considering ones that line up with it and using the passage to confirm details or eliminate answers

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    This is an interesting Must Be True question. It's asking about something specific—trade in cultural antiquities in countries like Mali—but that specific topic is something that pervades the entire passage. So, as with a question that doesn't provide a topic at all, we're left with the main point and the individual statements of the Author's opinion.

    To reiterate, the main point is (on the real test, you can just reread the answer you selected):

    Simply passing laws or doctrines to protect cultural artifacts can ironically result in people illegally excavating/exporting them while hiding important information about them, so there need to be other possible solutions that allow for "better" outcomes, even if they're not the "best" outcomes.

    Overall, the Author believes that countries such as Mali should implement a practical set of regulations that will allow them to capture knowledge (and revenue) from their cultural artifacts without a blanket ban on their excavation/exportation. Let's find an answer in that world.

    Answer Explanation:
    (Lines 54-55) The Author closes the passage by stating that a certain set of regulations would be better than what actually occurred—so there are some benefits to implementing them. And this is despite "[s]ome people" avoiding those rules (Lines 54-55). So the Author believes that regulations can have benefits even if there are some people who don't comply with them, making this the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    Let's focus on answers (B) and (E). Each of those used strong language ("maximizing"; "most effective"). These answers highlight why it's important to note strong language in the passage. If it exists, then you can compare it against these answers to see if it's right. If it doesn't exist, then you can eliminate these answers without needing to head back to the passage!
  4. D
    Such regulations must be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. The passage doesn't talk about punishments for violations, so this answer is out of scope.
  5. E
    Such regulations are most Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. The Author doesn't use superlative language ("most effective") to describe any specific set of regulations (the closest is stating that excavations run by professional archaeologists would be better than other options), so this answer is unsupported.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 6%
  2. B 19%
  3. C Credited 68%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 3%

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