PrepTest 114

[lcid:3554] Prep Test 114 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 1-8  .        The myth persists that in 1492 the Western  . Hemisphere was an untamed wilderness and that Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Sciences


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Some scholars' view (Western Hemisphere was largely untamed by native populations before European settlers)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Myth/some scholars' view:
      • The native populations did not alter or only minimally altered the Western Hemisphere before European settlers arrived in 1492 (first, fourth, and last sentences)
    • Author's view:
      • Evidence that forests were changed, especially through burning, before the arrival of the Europeans (second and third sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "myth" (first sentence); "scholarship shows" (second sentence).

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's rebuttal (extensive evidence of controlled burning) and support (charcoal, meadows, mosaic quality, herbaceous undergrowth)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • There's a lot of evidence that native populations engaged in controlled burning (first sentence)
    • List of evidence of controlled burning by native populations, according to the author:
      • The largest charcoal accumulations are located near the largest native settlements (second sentence)
      • Controlled fires had different effects than natural fires, including creating grassy openings (meadows/glades), forests in different stages of maturity, and herbaceous undergrowth (third through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "large body of evidence" (first sentence); "shows that" (third sentence); "markedly different effects" (third sentence); "created" (third sentence); "promoted" (fifth sentence); "another result" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's support (fire-tolerant plants, homogenous pine forests, pine forests in tropical regions like Nicaragua)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of evidence of controlled burning by native populations, according to the author (continued from last paragraph):
      • Created conditions favorable to fire-tolerant and sun-loving foods like berries (first sentence)
      • Converted mixed forests to homogenous forests, including longleaf, slash pine, and scrub oak forests
      • Modified forest composition in tropical environments, like the pine forests in Nicaragua (fourth through last sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "do account for some" (third sentence); "clearly extended and maintained it" (third sentence); "also influenced" (fourth sentence); "likely to have occurred" (seventh sentence); "also evident elsewhere" (last sentence).

Main Point: Some researchers' belief that native populations did not significantly impact the environment is wrong because a large body of evidence shows that such populations engaged in extensive controlled forest burning.

Meta-Structure?

Criticizing a Viewpoint: This passage utilizes a Criticizing the Viewpoint Meta-Structure.* In this case, the author is criticizing the view maintained by some researchers that native populations made, at most, minor alterations to Western Hemisphere forests before the arrival of Europeans. The author provides a firm and matter-of-fact correction to this "myth" throughout the passage, showing how the geographical record provides ample evidence that the native populations' use of controlled burning made major changes to these forests. While it may not appear like the author is being overtly critical of these researchers’ position, the extent of the author’s evidence against the researchers’ view strongly suggests that the author is no fan of their view and wants to refute it.

When a passage utilizes a Criticizing a Viewpoint Meta-Structure, the main point is often the author's criticism. The author summarizes this position in the first sentence of the second paragraph, but we added some detail to our anticipated main point.

*Of course, when a passage utilizes a Meta-Structure from the Critical family, there are generally a few valid options for that passage's major Meta-Structure. You could easily call this passage a Correcting the Record or Rebutting Critics passage and reach the same conclusions about the passage's organization and main point that we did. If you see the first paragraph as establishing a debate between "scholarship" and "myth/some researchers," you could even think of this as a Resolving a Debate passage.

List: The author lists item after item of evidence that native populations engaged in the controlled burning of forests in the Western Hemisphere. So, the passage's most prominent minor Meta-Structure is the list. Some of these items are characterized as examples, and many are clearly causal or comparative in nature. But since the author moves from one item to another in the second and third paragraphs, it's best to think of all of these pieces of evidence as a long list. We should highlight each item of the list because several questions will be asked about these lists.

Last Thoughts?

Each item on this passage's extensive list is fair game for the questions, but if you had to guess, which item is going to be tested most extensively? The Nicaraguan pine forest, right? We agree. That example takes up the most real estate, accounting for over half of the third paragraph. Moreover, that evidence seems the most persuasive, as we have present-day evidence to corroborate the "succession" from mixed-hardwood forests to pine-dominant forests that we think occurred after native populations burned these forests (P3, S6). So, it's important to understand this example, so let's distill it into a few bullet points below:

  • Nicaragua has some pine-dominant forests in places we should find mixed forests.
  • Today, we find these pine-dominant forests after the forests are burned.
  • We think the native populations did that in the past since Europeans found these pine-dominant forests in places where native populations lived.
  • In the past, when the native populations left, the forests would return to mixed forests.
  • This also happened in the Caribbean and Mexico.

Question prompt

It can be inferred Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Science

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 eliminate the incorrect answer choices

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us to identify a characteristic a forest burned "as described in the passage" — through controlled burning by native populations in North and South America before 1492 — would NOT possess. That makes this a Bizarro Must Be True. For these Bizarro Must Be True questions, the correct answer will either present a topic not discussed by the passage or assert a claim contradicted by information in the passage. For the former, we’ll generally use a process of elimination to get rid of each answer that does show up in the passage. For the latter — we’re in luck — as we can find a line citation to prove that the passage contradicts the correct answer. In that case, we can feel a lot more comfortable about picking it — while also likely getting it correct faster. But we won’t know if this is the case for the correct answer until after we analyze it, so we should expect to use a process of elimination.Moreover, since this type of burning is discussed throughout the passage, reviewing the passage to anticipate what some incorrect answers will say is not feasible. As such, we’ll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point. From there, we can head to the answer choices. If something seems familiar, consistent with the main point, or reflected in our notes, it’s probably supported by the passage. We can eliminate it without checking the passage. If something seems inconsistent with the main point, it’s probably the correct answer. We can use our notes/highlights/underlines to find the part of the passage that proves the answer choice must be false. If we can find that confirmation, we’ll select that answer choice and move on. If something in an answer choice doesn't seem familiar and isn’t reflected in our notes on each paragraph, we should mark that answer choice as the possible correct answer. Once we've eliminated the remaining answer choices, we can select it.

Answer choices

  1. A
    numerous types of hardwood Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) Is this reflected in our notes on the effects of controlled burning by native populations?

    No. In fact, our note for the third paragraph mentions "homogenous pine forests." "Homogenous" suggests there's just one type of pine tree, not "numerous types of hardwood trees." So, this answer choice is almost certainly correct.

    This opens up two paths for us on this question. For the first path, we can table (A) and attempt to eliminate the remaining answer choices. Once we eliminate the field, we can select this answer choice. By the way, this path is always available to us on Bizarro Must Be True questions.

    However, a second path is available to us because our note suggests that this answer choice is false. Instead of analyzing the remaining answer choices, we can review the passage to see if we can find the excerpt that disproves (A). Once we find the part of the passage proving (A) false, we can select (A) and advance to the next question without reviewing the remaining answer choices.

    (Some test-takers use a combination of both approaches for these questions, eliminating all the wrong answer choices and confirming that the correct answer is not supported. We think this is redundant and a waste of your precious time.)

    If we take the latter approach, we can review the third paragraph, which says, "Burning also converted mixed stands of trees to homogeneous forest" (P3, S2). Later, the author says that forests in Nicaragua only comprise "mixed hardwoods" after burning stops (P3, S7). This tells us that forests start with numerous hardwood trees, but burning causes them to lose their variety and become homogenous pine forests. This proves that (A) is false, so we can select it and advance to the following question.

  2. B
    extensive herbaceous undergrowth
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Is this reflected in our notes on the effects of controlled burning by native populations?

    Yes. Our note for the second paragraph mentions "herbaceous undergrowth." At the end of the second paragraph, the author says this is an effect of controlled burning (P2, S6).

  3. C
    a variety of fire–tolerant Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this reflected in our notes on the effects of controlled burning by native populations?

    Yes. Our note for the third paragraph mentions "fire-tolerant plants." At the beginning of the third paragraph, the author says this is an effect of controlled burning (P3, S1).

  4. D
    various stages of ecological Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Is this reflected in our notes on the effects of controlled burning by native populations?

    Yes. Our note for the second paragraph mentions these forests' "mosaic quality." If you do not recall what this means, you may need to review the second paragraph. There, the author says that the mosaic quality is found in "forests in many different stages of ecological development" (P2, S5). So, "various stages of ecological maturity" is an effect of controlled burning.

  5. E
    grassy openings such as Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Is this reflected in our notes on the effects of controlled burning by native populations?

    Yes. Our note for the second paragraph mentions "meadows." Midway through the second paragraph, the author says these grassy openings are among the effects of controlled burning (P2, S4).

What this tests

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