PrepTest 125

[lcid:3598] Prep Test 125 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 16-20  .        Because the market system enables entrepreneurs  . and investors who develop new technology to reap  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Author: Unexpected effect of market system
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison between expectation and reality of market system, according to the author:
      • Under the market system, rich people invest in new technologies and make money, so we’d expect the rich get richer
      • Although the rich get richer, everyone benefits from new tech and the gap has narrowed over time
    • Author’s attitude: “may sesame” (line 3); “But in spite of the fact” (lines 5-6); “remarkable democratizing force” (line 9); “In fact” (line 9), “the gap in benefits accruing to different groups of people has been narrowed in the long term” (lines 10-12)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Examples of technologies that have benefited everyone
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of examples of technologies that have benefited everyone, according to the author:
      • Printing press - Significantly more people can read and own books
      • Computer/modem - Computing power and database access
      • Leisure(/Communication) - TV, phones, email

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • How it works (causal chain)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
      • Entrepreneurs want to increase market, so they lower prices, resulting in tech getting to more and more people
    • Author’s attitude: “not an accident (line 50);

Main Point: While the market system can be expected to make investors richer as new technologies they invest in sell well, the market actually serves as a democratizing force in that it leads to lower prices that provide access to new technologies to broader swathes of the population.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-5 - Expected outcome

Lines 8-9 - Unexpected outcome

Lines 13-14 - A list of examples is introduced

Lines 49-52 - Examples are said to be part of a general pattern

Lines 57-60 - Causal chain on how it all works

Meta-Structure?

Phenomenon/Explanation: The passage starts by talking about what “may seem” to be the “primary result” of the market system - rich investors getting richer (Lines 1-5). And while the author doesn’t question that outcome, the author puts forward another outcome that’s unexpected - the market serves as a “remarkable democratizing force,” providing new technologies/developments to the broader population (Lines 8-12). When a passage describes an unexpected outcome, the author will likely explain how that outcome comes to pass. This strongly suggests a Phenomenon/Explanation Meta-Structure. Indeed, after providing several examples of technologies that benefit the larger population, the author describes how it all works. When the author spends so much time explaining how an unexpected outcome occurs, that explanation should be reflected in the main point.

Generalization/Example: The author opens up this passage with a generalization - the market has served as a remarkable democratizing force because it results in new technologies becoming available to the broader population (Lines 5-12). The author then spends a very long Paragraph 2 providing several examples of such developments/technologies, and opens Paragraph 3 by stating that these examples aren’t exceptions but rather “the result of a general tendency of the market system” (Lines 49-52). When the author spends that much of the passage providing examples for a generalization, the generalization will almost always be central to the main point.

Causality: The entire passage is dripping with causality. The opening paragraph’s generalization is a causal one — the market is a “democratizing force.” Paragraph 2 brings up example after example of a new technology that resulted in a benefit to the broader population. And Paragraph 3 explains the causal chain on how the market serves as a democratizing force. Since the passage features so much causality, we should expect correct answers that have causal language in them.

Last Thoughts?

There were a lot of small details, technologies, and benefits listed in Paragraph 2, so we should be careful when dealing with questions about those examples and be sure to check these minor details as they show up in the answer choices.

Question prompt

It can be most 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.

Question Type

Social 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 find the correct answer

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us about the author's view, but doesn't provide any insight into the topic of the correct answer or where the supporting information might show up in the passage. This means the correct answer is likely to relate back to the author's main point. As such, we'll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point (either by reviewing what we said after reading the passage or by rereading our answer to the main point question). We can also review any notes about the author's attitude or any text we highlighted because it expressed the author's opinion. After doing that, we can head to the answer choices, tabling those that don't line up with the main point. For those answer choices that conform to the author’s main point, we'll use our notes and the passage to see if it's correct.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The profits derived from Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this seem consistent with the author’s main point or what you recall about the author’s opinions?

    Probably not. The author’s main point doesn’t address which technology led to the greatest profits. So, experienced test-takers would table this choice or eliminate it outright.

    If we felt compelled to review the passage to verify whether this is correct, we’d see that the author brings up computer technologies in Paragraph 2. There, the author lists a bunch of technologies that have had a democratizing effect but never compares them in any way. Therefore, this answer choice is unsupported.

  2. B
    Often the desire of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    (B) Does this seem consistent with the author’s main point or what you recall about the author’s opinions?

    Yes. This answer more or less directly reflects the author’s main point and the causal chain/explanation as presented in Paragraph 3. This answer also directly deals with the lines cited in the previous question, which is a nice present from the LSAT! In that last paragraph, the author says that maximizing profits involves expanding markets, and expanded markets means that more people have access to the technologies being sold. As such, that desire of the inventors/entrepreneurs for profits results in prices being lowered, thus benefiting a larger and larger number of consumers.

  3. C
    National boundaries are rarely Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this seem consistent with the author’s main point or what you recall about the author’s opinions?

    Nope. The author’s main point doesn’t bring up natural boundaries at all. Consequently, expert test-takers would feel safe eliminating this option. Besides, we wouldn’t find any reference to natural boundaries if we reviewed the entire passage, making this incorrect.

  4. D
    Typically, investment in technology Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this seem consistent with the author’s main point or what you recall about the author’s opinions?

    No. The author’s main point doesn’t address how risky it is to invest in technology. And the author never brings up other types of investments. Therefore, we can justifiably eliminate this answer choice.

  5. E
    Greater geographical mobility of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this seem consistent with the author’s main point or what you recall about the author’s opinions?

    Not really. The author’s main point doesn’t have anything to do with population mobility. For this reason, decisive test-takers would feel comfortable eliminating this answer choice.


    If we felt the need to review the passage to verify whether (E) is supported, the closest the passage gets to discussing geographic mobility is in discussing the decreased cost of travel as it relates to communication. But this discussion has nothing to do with population mobility’s affect on profits.

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