PrepTest 122

[lcid:3586] Prep Test 122 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 1-6  .        The use of computer–generated visual displays in  . courtrooms is growing as awareness of their ability Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal Studies


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Trend and benefits of it
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Trend - Computer-generated visual aids in trials
    • Benefits:
      • Show different vantages
      • Highlight specifics
      • More impact on jury (better retention/stats)
      • Help with technical info
      • Seamless

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Critics - List of downsides
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Downsides - Abuse and misuse
      • Manipulate impression of event
      • Undermine critical faculties
      • Bias to one side if only one can afford them
      • Can incorporate evidence otherwise inadmissible

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author - Steps to avoid misuse
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Steps to avoid misuse:
      • Counsel alert to misuse, data analyzed, judges vigilant
      • Judges forewarn juries
      • If one side uses, ensure other side can, too (financial aid)

Main Point: There are both pros and cons to the use of computer-generated visual displays in courtrooms, so practical steps must be taken to allow their use while avoiding their downsides.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-3 - A new trend

Line 15 - Pros are introduced

Lines 26-28 - Cons are introduced

Lines 46-47 - The Author weighs in and introduces a list of safeguards

Meta-Structure?

Resolving Debate by looking at Pros/Cons - The Author here presents the advantages of computer-generated visual displays in courtrooms (starting in Line 15, though a few are noted before then), and the disadvantages of that technology as brought up by some critics (Paragraph 2). When an Author presents the pros and cons of something, representing two sides of a debate, her opinion on the balance of those tends to be the main point - in other words, is the underlying idea a good one? Here, the Author splits the difference. She accepts both the advantages and disadvantages - the advantages explicitly by being the one to present them in Paragraph 1, and the disadvantages implicitly by recommending in Paragraph 3 safeguards to address them. Since the Author is recommending that the technology have safeguards put in place, that’s the main point, as summarized above.

Recommendation - The Author presents a series of practical steps that should be taken in order to prevent the abuse and misuse of computer-generated visuals in the courtroom. This serves as a recommendation that highlights her views on the pros and cons of the technology, which reinforces that as the main point, as summarized above.

Lists - Each of the paragraphs includes a list. Paragraph 1 has a list of advantages of computer-generated visual displays. Paragraph 2 has a list of disadvantages. Paragraph 3 has a recommended list of practical steps so that computer-generated visual displays can be used in courtrooms without being misused. The elements on these lists are going to be important in the questions, so we should be sure to have noted in some way the elements on each list. This can be with full notes in the margins, or with numbers inside the text to highlight where each starts. Develop your own method for doing so, but be sure to develop some method!

Last Thoughts?

These questions are likely going to be an exercise in time management because of how many elements were included across three lists, so let’s head to them ASAP!

Question prompt

As described in the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Review how the passage describes recreating an accident with a computer-generated display, generalize from that, and apply that generalization to the answer choices

Answer Anticipation

The passage notes that “recreat[ing] crime scene spreads” is the primary function of computer-generated visual displays, so this answer is asking not about a specific application of them, but about how they’re used in general.So how does the passage present how they work? It seems they take details from the crime scene and create “sophisticated simulations based on complex applications” of math and physics.So, in other words, they take what is known (witness statements, pictures), apply general rules, and recreate what happened - let’s find an answer that mirrors this process.

Answer choices

  1. A
    using several of a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) This answer doesn’t create an “artificial” version of events, as a computer-generated visual display does. Rather, it brings several pieces of information together to draw an inference about motive. (It’s also very close in content to the original situation, and those answers are usually wrong in Parallel Reasoning questions.)

  2. B
    using an author's original Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) If anything is analogous to the computer-generated visual displays in this answer, it’s the current edition of the novel. But there’s no indication that original evidence is used to correct errors in the computer displays - that’s more of what the Author argues should be done by lawyers and judges!

  3. C
    using information gathered from Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) The information here is being applied to make a prediction - the computer-generated visual displays bring information together to present them in an artificial manner. That’s not analogous. Now, if this answer used those satellite images to create a video for a weather forecaster to display on TV, we might have an answer!

  4. D
    using a video camera Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) The campaign ad here is made up of the original and real footage - there’s no artifice or anything recreated!

  5. E
    using detailed geological evidence Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) This answer describes a process by which actual evidence is taken and then used to recreate a “fake” version of it. That’s the same as taking witness testimony and crime scene photos, applying rules of physics and math, and recreating what happened there despite not having a video of it. This answer is therefore correct.

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