Reading comp PrepTest 157 · Section 1 · Question 15

Passage

Passage A is from a newspaper article. Passage B is from UNESCO's 1999 Draft Convention on the Protection of Underwater Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary Topic: Legal

Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background on HMS Sussex discovery (agreement between N.A. company and British government is a legal breakthrough)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author's attitude: "legal breakthrough" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author on ocean exploration tech and legal agreement (allows governments to recover sunken objects, end unauthorized treasure hunting)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • While technology allows for the discovery of sunken treasures, governments often lack the money, skills, and legal precedent to recover these goods (first and second sentences)
      • The HMS Sussex agreement could end the days of unauthorized treasure hunting and allow nations to oversee the recovery of their lost ships (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "could end" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Specifications of agreement (calls for "archaeological integrity"; only sell coins) and archaeologists' view (disapprove sale of artifacts)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Archaeologists' view:
      • The HMS Sussex company probably cannot maintain "archaeological integrity" (third sentence)
      • The sale of recovered artifacts prevents scholarship and public display (fourth sentence)
    • Comparison, according to the agreement:
      • A distinction is drawn between different types of artifacts on the HMS Sussex; can sell items (like coins) with less archaeological value (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "likely" (first sentence)

Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Definition of "underwater cultural heritage" (UCH) (artifacts underwater for more than 100 years)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Point of intersection with passage A:
      • HMS Sussex qualifies as UCH

Paragraph 2 (includes all numbered paragraphs)

  • Paragraph note
    • UNESCO rules for recovering UCH (preserve first; don't sell; harm as little as possible; don't disturb human remains; promote public access)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Points of intersection with passage A:
      • Removing UCH "only when they make a significant contribution to knowledge, protection, and/or enhancement of UCH" matches passage A’s distinction between coins and "cultural items have greater archaeological value" (second sentence)
      • The agreement between the British government and the company recovering the HMS Sussex violates the rule against "trade, sale, barter, or speculation" (third sentence)
      • The agreement's aim to maintain archaeological integrity follows the rule that activities "shall not impact UCH more than is necessary" (fourth sentence)
      • The archaeologists' preference for scholarly analysis and public display matches the stipulation for "scientific studies" and "[p]ublic access" (sixth and last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "best achieved" (first sentence); "fundamentally incompatible" (third sentence); "must be as nondestructive as possible" (sixth sentence)

Main Points?

Passage A: An agreement between the British government and a company that discovered the sunken HMS Sussex could end the days of unauthorized treasure hunting and allow nations to oversee the recovery of their lost ships, although archaeologists likely disapprove of the arrangement.

Passage B: A series of UNESCO rules govern the recovery of "underwater cultural heritage."


Meta-Structure? Overall Relationship?

Relationship - Different Scopes: Both passages discuss the recovery of sunken artifacts. However, the topic of passage B is also quite a bit broader in scope than the topic of passage A. Passage B discusses general rules that apply to any artifacts that qualify as "underwater cultural heritage" (UCH). However, passage A is just about recovering artifacts from one ship that qualifies as UCH. Because the scope and topics of these passages are different (and there's very little author's opinion in either), expect very few questions to ask us to compare the passages' details or the authors' views. Expect some questions to apply the rules from passage B to the situation described in passage A.


Last Thoughts?

Hey, it's a passage that literally invites us to apply laws (passage B) to a fact pattern (passage A). Get ready for a lot more of this in law school.

Question prompt

Which one of the 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.

Strategy Overview

Review the positions of the draft convention in passage B and the critics of for-profit archaeology in passage A, find similarities in their positions, determine weaknesses in those positions to anticipate how to improve it, and select the answer choice that makes their positions more convincing

Answer Anticipation

We'll approach Strengthen questions in Reading Comprehension in a very similar manner as we would in Logical Reasoning. We can review the claim from the passage, just like we'd carefully read an argument in LR. We'll then interrogate the claim for any weaknesses since the correct answer on both RC and LR will probably strengthen the claim by fixing a problem. Additionally, causation flaws are commonplace on Strengthen questions in both RC and LR, so we’ll be especially mindful of those. In this case, we're asked to strengthen the positions of the draft convention in passage B and the critics of for-profit archaeology in passage A. Before anticipating how to strengthen these positions, we should find common ground between them, so we can know what to strengthen. It'll be easy to find that common ground by reviewing the critics of for-profit archaeology from passage A, as that's the much more limited argument. Our notes point us to the third paragraph of passage A, where these critics hold that "the sale of recovered artifacts ... inhibits scholarly analysis and public display" (PA, P3, S4). Passage B makes a similar argument, stating that the "commercial exploitation of UCH for trade, sale, barter, or speculation...is fundamentally incompatible with the protection and proper management of the UCH" (PB, P2, S3). Passage B also promotes scholarship and public display (PB, P2, S6, S9). So, both parties argue that selling underwater artifacts is incompatible with the goals of preserving these artifacts for scholarship and display. What's wrong with that preference? Experienced test-takers will notice their conclusions are selections — they select one option (preservation) over another (sale). These selections usually lack sufficient evidence on the LSAT — they don't consider all the downsides of their selected option or the upsides of the alternative option. So, the correct answer will probably provide more evidence — either showing another downside of selling artifacts or another upside of preservation. That said, many things could feasibly strengthen these parties' arguments, so we should keep an open mind as we progress through the answer choices. We'll start by asking ourselves, "Does this make the preference for preserving artifacts over selling artifacts more convincing?"

Answer choices

  1. A
    Many archaeological sites require Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    Does this make the preference for preserving artifacts over selling artifacts more convincing?

    Nope. The fact that many archaeological sites require the public to pay a fee doesn't make preserving artifacts clearly better than selling artifacts. While this may present a revenue stream for the sites that preserve artifacts for public display, we have no idea how many visitors are actually willing to pay this fee or whether the fee is at all profitable for those managing the sites. If money's the goal, perhaps they could make a lot more by just selling some of the artifacts?

  2. B
    Selling artifacts that have Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    Does this make the preference for preserving artifacts over selling artifacts more convincing?

    Yep! As we anticipated, this answer choice presents a major downside to selling artifacts. Moreover, this is a downside that both the writers of the draft convention in passage B and the critics of for-profit archaeology in passage A explicitly don't want. Both want to preserve archaeological sites as much as possible (PA, P3, S4; PB, P2, S1). So, they'd both want to avoid "the looting of archaeological sites by nonscientists" as much as possible. Therefore, this definitely strengthens both parties' positions.

    While most test-takers wouldn't feel comfortable selecting an answer to a Strengthen question without first reading all the options. Still, we can mark this one as a strong contender. Once we've eliminated the remaining choices, we can select this one confidently.

  3. C
    Most of the archaeological Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    Does this make the preference for preserving artifacts over selling artifacts more convincing?

    No. In fact, this suggests that private collectors are pretty good at supplying artifacts for public display in museums. This weakens the parties' arguments by showing that selling artifacts is compatible with promoting public display.

  4. D
    While nonscientists often work Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    Does this make the preference for preserving artifacts over selling artifacts more convincing?

    Nope. This is irrelevant to the parties' preference for preserving artifacts. This doesn't present a benefit of preserving artifacts or a downside to selling artifacts. Therefore, it has no effect on the arguments in passage B.

  5. E
    The excavation and recovery Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    Does this make the preference for preserving artifacts over selling artifacts more convincing?

    No. This might strengthen the position of the draft convention in passage B, which prefers preserving artifacts in their original site as a "first option" (PB, P2, S1). However, passage A's critics don't discuss whether they're adamantly against disturbing human remains. And even if they are, this would probably weaken their position. They seem perfectly OK with recovering sunken artifacts, provided the recovery is for "scholarly analysis and public display" (PA, P3, S4). If they're against disturbing human remains, this answer choice presents a major downside of that type of recovery.

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 12%
  2. B Credited 57%
  3. C 11%
  4. D 10%
  5. E 10%

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