PrepTest 118

[lcid:3569] Prep Test 118 LSAT — Reading Comp — S2 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 1-6  .        A number of natural disasters in recent years—  . such as earthquakes, major storms, and floods—that Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Old approach is being reevaluated
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Old approach to disaster relief - Send a ton of resources, people, and money as soon as possible after the disaster
    • Agencies/communities/nations rethinking this

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Why old approach is bad
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Hard-hit communities have second disaster - how to house/feed personnel and how to manage aid in wake of disaster
    • Examples - Food goes to black markets; billions of dollars in aid go missing

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • New Approach - Prior planning of long-term aid
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Shift focus to long-term
    • Work with disaster-prone areas to plan out aid ahead of time
    • Short-term - Community takes lead
    • Benefit - Community defines what would help, not just a flood of resources

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • What new approach depends on - donor attitude
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Donors tend to donate just right after crisis
    • Disaster-hit communities have long-term needs (Example - Rebuild infrastructure)

Main Point: The old approach to disaster relief of immediately flooding an area with aid and personnel has led to secondary disasters, and a better approach is to plan with these communities ahead of disaster how to respond and let them take the lead, though this requires donors to respond positively to this long-term focus.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-6 - Set up reevaluation of old approach

Lines 11-15 - Old approach

Lines 20-26 - Why old approach is bad

Lines 31-36 - New approach

Lines 45-47 - A requirement for the new approach to work

Meta-Structure?

Old Approach/New Approach - This passage talks about the “traditional ways” of dealing with natural disasters in Paragraph 1, and a discussion of such traditional ways of approaching something generally previews an Old Approach/New Approach passage. This is especially true here, since the Author opens the passage by stating that this approach is being reevaluated. She then points out why it isn’t working (Paragraph 2) before bringing up an alternative New Approach (Paragraph 3). In Old Approach/New Approach passages, the Author’s opinion of the new approach generally makes up the main point. Here, the Author says that the proposal “appears sound” (Line 45), but that it depends on donors responding positively to the long-term focus (Lines 45-47; Lines 54-59). This qualified positive view should be reflected in the main point, which is how we arrived at our summary above.

Examples - There are a few places where limited examples are stated in the passage. Lines 1-2 provide a few examples of natural disasters. Lines 26-30 show a few examples of problems that have happened with the old approach. Lines 52-53 bring up an example of the type of long-term need a community has after a disaster. Each of these is pretty limited in scope, so we should expect them to feature in, at most, a single question - if they show up at all.

Last Thoughts?

There’s one particularly unexpected element that it would be important to note, showing up in Paragraph 3. That paragraph focuses on the new approach to disaster relief, and it states that there should be a shift of focus “to the long term” (Line 32). However, the passage also talks about what should happen in the “immediate aftermath” of the disaster (Line 39). This makes sense - if you don’t provide some relief right after the disaster, you’re not going to make it to the long-term! However, since the paragraph features a discussion of a new approach that focuses on the long-term, it’d be easy to think that it's at the expense of short-term aid. That’s not the case - the long-term view includes how to address short-term issues while not losing sight of the needs of the community a year or two down the road.

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

Social Science

Strategy Overview

Define which approach involves a shift to a more long-term perspective, then review the Author’s opinion of that approach

Answer Anticipation

Which of the two approaches involved a shift toward a more long-term perspective? That is the new approach - which makes sense, since this question is about a shift to an approach. Lines 31-32 define the new approach as involving a shift to long-term thinking What’s the Author’s opinion on this new approach? She references experts several times when describing them, which doesn’t mean she definitely agrees with them but is a good sign that she will, eventually, be on board. She says that the proposal “appears sound,” which isn’t a ringing endorsement, but she follows up by saying that it requires a shift in the mindset of donors - so it’s not the plan that is leading to her qualification (“appears”), but rather a question about feasibility. She ends by stating that if donors can be brought around to the new plan, it would lead to “strategies that more effectively” use immediate aid and set up the community to be repaired over the following years.So, in short, she believes that such a shift would be a good thing if the donors can be brought on board with it. Let’s find an answer reflecting this viewpoint.

Answer choices

  1. A
    a development that would Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) (Line 45; Lines 54-59) The Author says that, should the new approach be effectively implemented, then it will allow communities to utilize immediate aid and successfully deal with difficulties over the following years. This answer captures this opinion of a shift to a long-term focus as a good thing, so it’s the correct answer.

  2. B
    a change that would Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 54-57) The Author says that, should donors buy into the new approach, it could help communities “more efficiently utilize immediate aid,” but she never states that it would “inevitably” lead to less short-term aid.

  3. C
    an approach that would Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 54-57) This answer is similar to (B), so the lines we cited for that are relevant here. The Author says that, should donors buy into this long term-focused approach, it could help communities more efficiently utilize immediate aid, suggesting that the shift in focus would address this mismanagement.

  4. D
    a movement that, while Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 45-47; Lines 54-59) The Author does say that donors have traditionally sent aid only in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, and that would need to change for the new approach - the shift to a long term-focus - to work. However, the Author never says that the donors are unlikely to accept this shift, and so this answer is unsupported.

  5. E
    the beginning of a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 34-36; Lines 40-41; Lines 54-59) The passage does state that the new approach involves dialogue with disaster-prone communities and those communities taking the lead in the wake of a disaster. However, there’s no indication that the donors currently play a “major role” after a disaster occurs that will shift to a “minor role” after - the passage makes it sound as if donors are sending checks/resources, and the relief agencies are playing a major role. In fact, the Author closes by bringing up an important role for donors in the new approach - having that dialogue with affected communities - that suggests their role might even increase once it’s implemented.

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