Reading comp PrepTest 154 · Section 3 · Question 22

Passage

Questions 21-27  .       In the absence of international statutes prohibiting  . nations from causing each other environmental damage,  . scholars Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Legal Studies

Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Two principles that make up a norm are introduced
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Absence of law, international environmental law relies on "customary law", i.e., norms
    • Principle 1 - Transboundary harm - Don't do anything that leaves your borders
    • Principle 2 - Precautionary principle - Don't put other nations at significant risk of harm
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • A question is implied
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Question - Do these principles amount to norms for court cases?
    • Normal rule - They do only if countries actually practice them instead of just saying them (Say vs. Do)
    • Current situation - Countries break the principles
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • More of the Say vs. Do situation is discussed
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Countries - Repeat principles, criticize others based on them, break them
    • Scholars - Evaluate countries based on what they say
    • Author - These "norms" aren't really norms - they're an "ideological system"
Paragraph 4
  • Paragraph note
    • Implications of the Author's conclusion; Author makes a recommendation
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Focusing on norms as law/courts is misguided
    • Focus instead on treaties/negotiations - use principle to make good agreements
Main Point:
Rather than focusing on environmental principles as norms to guide court cases, scholars interested in making progress on the environment should focus on them as a means of directing treaties and agreements.

Key Lines:
Lines 8-9 - The principles being debated are introduced
Lines 21-24 - The criterion for determining whether a principle is a norm is established
Lines 27-28 - The Author shows the principles in question don't meet that criterion
Line 43-46 - The Author classifies the principles
Lines 54-59 - The Author makes a recommendation

Meta-Structure:

Question/Answer - The Author asks whether the principles amount to actual norms for international law, and she determines they don't (Paragraphs 2 and 3).

Criterion/Classification - The Author establishes the criterion for classifying something as a norm, and she determines that the principles in question aren't norms but rather ideological systems (Line 44).

Problem/Solution - The Author presents international environmental problems to be addressed, and she recommends that those focused on these problems approach them by using principles to guide international agreements.

Last Thoughts:
There's an interesting relationship between what scholars are currently doing and what the Author recommends that they do. Currently, the scholars are focusing on two environmental principles as a means of solving international environmental issues. That's what the Author recommends! However, the scholars currently are appealing to these principles as a basis for international law that can be applied by courts, while the Author says that these principles should instead be used as the basis for international agreements.

So, in short, the Author agrees with the principles that the scholars are using, but she disagrees on how they're using them. There's not a complete disconnect between the two viewpoints, so that might come up in the answers.

Question prompt

Which one 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
    Because of their long-standing Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. (Line 52) While there's a lot of talk of international law and cases, there's no specifics given on the courts that would enforce them, so this answer is out of scope. The closest the passage gets to discussing this is discussing international court decisions.
  2. B
    The precautionary principle is Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 13-15) The precautionary principle is defined at the end of the first paragraph—nations need to exercise due care to avoid putting other countries at risk of environmental harm. That very well could have implications for the government's relationship with private industries under its jurisdiction, so this answer is incorrect.
  3. C
    Nations are rarely held Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Must Be True

    Strategy Overview:
    Reiterate the main point of the passage and then head straight to the answers, using our understanding of the passage and notes to find the correct answer in the text

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    The question stem gives no guidance as to what the answer is going to address—it could be big picture, it could be a small detail. As such, we should take a second to remind ourselves of the main point (which we just did in answering the last question), and then head straight to the answers. We should find an answer that's pretty close to explicitly stated in the text, so our final call is going to be based on finding the relevant line(s) in the text.

    Answer Explanation:
    (Lines 24-28; Lines 31-32; Lines 33-35 Lines 50-54) First, the main point of the passage is that relying on the enforcement of international norms/laws isn't a good way to prevent environmental harm, and stating that these norms are rarely enforced lines up with that. Diving into the passage, we see that principles viewed by scholars as ""norms"" are regularly violated (Lines 24-28), and that there are rarely any changes by the countries in response to this (Line 31; Line 33). This answer is therefore supported by the passage, so it's the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    For these Must Be True questions that give no guidance in the stem, focus on answers that align with the main point. They're more likely to be supported by the text!
  4. D
    Most violations of customary Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 33-35) The Author notes that the countries violating these principles ""routinely profess to accept them"" (Lines 34-35), so it doesn't seem as if there's disagreement over what these principles are.
  5. E
    Established norms of customary Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 56-59) The Author wants to apply these principles to international agreements—she doesn't think that they're outdated.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 4%
  2. B 5%
  3. C Credited 76%
  4. D 12%
  5. E 3%

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