PrepTest 135

[lcid:3638] Prep Test 135 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 20-27  .        As part of an international effort to address  . environmental problems resulting from agricultural  . overproduction, Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Environmental problems from overproduction in Europe (depleted nutrients, fertilization encourages problem weeds) and some solutions (replace topsoil, end production, accelerated restoration)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relationships, according to the author:
      • Overproduction causes the depletion of nutrients, among other environmental problems (first and second sentences)
      • Overfertilization causes the growth of problem weeds, which make it difficult for native plants to establish themselves (third sentence)
    • Author's view:
      • The quickest solution is removing and replacing the topsoil, but that is impractical on a large scale (fourth sentence)
      • Most people believe that doing nothing will allow the soil to restore itself, but the Netherlands study is trying to accelerate this natural rehab (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "environmental problems" (first sentence); "will be difficult" (second sentence); "problem weeds" (third sentence); "impractical" (fourth sentence); "generally believed" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Netherlands study described (plots planted with native grasses/herbs have fewer thistles)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the study:
      • One the control plots planted with nothing or corn, thistles became dominant; on the plots planted with native grasses/herbs, thistles were forced out (first through last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Conclusion from additional stage of the Netherlands study (spreading beneficial microorganisms and native herbs/grasses restores soil more quickly)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the study:
      • Researchers spread untouched soil (which has beneficial microorganisms) into the plots and found the plots with native herbs/grasses and the soil fared better than plots with just native herbs/grasses, but not as well as unfarmed soil (first and second sentences)
    • Researchers' view:
      • Farmed soil has harmful organisms and no good ones, so we can accelerate soil's restoration by returning beneficial microorganisms (which fight the harmful organisms) and native herbs/grasses (third through last sentences)
    • Examples of beneficial organisms, according to the author:
      • Nematodes, mycorrhiza (first and third sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "beneficial microorganisms" (first sentence); "preliminary results" (fourth sentence); "hinges on" (fourth sentence)

Main Point: Studies by researchers in the Netherlands have shown that the natural restoration of ecological health can be accelerated by sowing beneficial microorganisms into the soil while planting a wide variety of native seeds.

Meta-Structure?

Problem/Solution: This passage is an interesting variation on the Problem/Solution Meta-Structure. It introduces a problem — the environmental problems associated with agricultural overproduction — and it explores a spectrum of solutions. These vary from the non-workable (removing and replacing all of the topsoil) to the slow (do nothing and let nature run its course) to the speculative one promoted by the study from the Netherlands.

In general, the main point of a Problem/Solution passage will be the author's preferred solution or, absent that, their opinion on the main solution. In this case, the author doesn't really express their preference for or even their opinion on any of the solutions. Therefore, the main point will simply summarize the solution that the passage dedicates the most space to — the speculative solution from the Netherlands studies. We'll need to make sure the main point mentions that any conclusions drawn from the study are held by those researchers, not the author. Those conclusions are summarized in the last sentence of the passage, which we used to construct our anticipated main point.

Last Thoughts?

Each paragraph involves a lot of detail and will require a lot of checking in the questions. In Paragraph 1, that's the list of contributing factors to the problem and the different solutions noted. In Paragraph 2, there are the differences between the four types of plots and their results. In Paragraph 3, that's micro...mycro...mycorrhiza? It's the difficult details around the harmful microorganisms, especially since the paragraph also talks about beneficial microorganisms. Let's be sure to rely heavily on the passage to help us on the detail-oriented questions.

Question prompt

In which one of 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

Science

Strategy Overview

Review the main point and any relevant parts of the passage and notes, if necessary, to anticipate what might happen in the scenario described

Answer Anticipation

For questions that ask us to make an inference, from a few details in the passage, about hypotheticals described by the answer choices, we can start by quickly finding and reviewing those details. Once we review the relevant part of the passage, we can anticipate what to look for in the hypothetical situation described by the answer choices.In this case, we're asked to find the hypothetical field that's been in constant agricultural use that would be least likely to benefit from the techniques used in the Netherlands's study. This is a strange question stem. If we think about the big picture of the passage, the basic problem that the Netherlands study is meant to address is how to regenerate fields that have been in constant agricultural use and thus have environmental problems. And we didn't note any exceptions or situations where the work done by the Netherlands study wouldn't work. So, this question can't be asking about an overworked field that the Netherlands methods won't work on — we don't know whether any such fields exist!So, instead, it must be asking about a field where the Netherlands methods work but not as well as something else — and, therefore, it would be least advantageous to use them. After all, if something else works better, there's no advantage to using the worse method. This question is phrased very particularly!So, do we know a method that works better than the accelerated natural restoration promoted by the Netherlands study? We sure do. As we noted in the first paragraph, one solution to overworked fields is to "replace [the] topsoil." Reviewing the first paragraph, we'll see that this is "the quickest way" to restore overworked farmland (P1, S4). The reason it wasn't being used in Europe was that it was impractical to do so over hundreds of thousands of acres (P1, S4). But if there's an overworked field that is small enough where removing and replacing the topsoil is practical, then that would be the method to go with.Let's find an answer describing such a field.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The field's natural nutrients Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this describe a field where we can remove and replace the topsoil?

    Nope. So, we can eliminate — or at least table — (A). Besides, the depletion of nutrients was one of the two baseline problems that the solutions in the passage, including the methods put forward by the Netherlands study, were meant to address (P1, S2-S3). So, the methods put forward by the Netherlands study would be helpful in this field.

  2. B
    The field's topsoil can Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    (B) Does this describe a field where we can remove and replace the topsoil?

    Yes! The passage says that the "quickest" way to restore fields that have been overfarmed is to remove and replace the topsoil (P1, S4). The Netherlands study was looking at alternative methods because replacing topsoil was impractical at the scale being done in Europe (P1, S4). As such, replacing topsoil would be the better option in a field that can have its topsoil easily removed and replaced. So, the methods from the Netherlands study wouldn't be very advantageous. This answer is, therefore, correct. We would be justified in selecting it and advancing straight to the next question.

  3. C
    The field has been Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this describe a field where we can remove and replace the topsoil?

    No. So, we can eliminate — or at least table — (C). Besides, overfertilization was one of the two baseline problems that the solutions in the passage, including the methods put forward by the Netherlands study, were meant to address (P1, S2-S3). So, the methods put forward by the Netherlands study would be helpful in this field.

  4. D
    The field has the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this describe a field where we can remove and replace the topsoil?

    Nope. So, we can eliminate — or at least table — (D). Besides, if the field has the potential to grow commercial plants, then it would be advantageous to restore its natural state so those plants could be grown. There are no details here that would make us think the Netherlands methods or any other methods would be better or worse, and, as such, we can't say that this is a field where the Netherlands methods are least advantageous. Since this field might benefit from those methods, we can rule it out.

  5. E
    The field is adjacent Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this describe a field where we can remove and replace the topsoil?

    Nope. So, we can eliminate — or at least table — (E). Besides, the Netherlands study involved control plots planted with corn next to crops planted with native seeds (P2, S2-S3). Since the study involved fields similar to the one described here, we can be pretty confident ruling out this answer choice.

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