PrepTest 132

[lcid:3624] Prep Test 132 LSAT — Reading Comp — S1 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 15-21 Passage A  .        Because dental caries (decay) is strongly linked to  . consumption of the sticky, carbohydrate-rich Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Science


Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Factors in decay; connection; what it can show
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Connection - Dental caries (decay) and sticky carbs
    • Show - When humans went from hunting to agriculture
    • Factors in decay (don’t try to memorize)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Research and examples of connection
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Conclusion - Carbs are linked to caries
    • Leigh - Sioux (meat, no caries) and Zuni (carbs/agriculture, caries)
    • Others confirm

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Exceptions (examples)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Exceptions - Nonagricultural groups who had caries - at more cariogenic carbs
    • Examples - Western North America (stone-ground acorns); Hopi (pinyon nuts and tubers)

Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Ban Chiang skeletons found - 2000 year period from hunter to agriculture

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • A trend is noted and explained
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Trend - More agriculture = declining health (including caries)
    • Why? More sticky carbs
    • Why? Less tooth wear (fiber/grit) that removes fissures in carb diet
    • (Exception - Too much wear causes caries)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Expectation in example from Paragraph 1
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Ban Chiang - Ate carbs throughout 2000 year period
    • Expectation - Carbs should have led to caries

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • A paradox is introduced; potential resolutions noted
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Paradox - More frequent caries in early group despite increasing agriculture
    • Ruled out explanation - Changes in tooth wear (no changes seen)
    • Potential explanation - Diet remained varied and switched to less bad carbs

Main Points:

Passage A - While there are some exceptions, a shift to agriculture and consumption of “sticky” carbs increases the frequency of dental caries in a population.

Passage B - Remains found at Ban Chiang present a paradoxical case where increased reliance on agriculture resulted in fewer dental caries - contrary to expectations - which may be explained by their overall diet and switch from certain carbs to others.

Key Lines?

Passage A:

  • Lines 1-3 - A relationship is established
  • Lines 3-5 Using one thing as a proxy for another is discussed
  • Line 6 - A list of factors is introduced
  • Line 12 - A list of examples/research is started
  • Lines 23-25 - An exception is noted
  • Line 25 - More examples are started

Passage B:

  • Lines 39-41 - A relationship is established
  • Lines 42-44 - Two potential explanations are established
  • Line 57 - A paradox is previewed (“should theoretically”)
  • Lines 58-60 - The paradox is stated
  • Lines 61-62 - One explanation from earlier is ruled out
  • Lines 63-69 - Potential explanations are presented

Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?

Generalization/Example (Passage A) - Passage A presents several generalizations that it follows up with examples. This happens in both Paragraphs 2 and 3.

Exception (Passage A) - After discussing a general rule throughout the first two paragraphs, the Author shifts to discussing a class of exceptions to that rule.

Overarching Example (Passage B) - Unlike Passage A, Passage B focuses on a single example - that of the skeletal remains found in Ban Chiang.

Paradox/Resolution (Passage B) - Passage B introduces a paradox (“Yet”). According to expectations, as the Ban Chiang population relied more on agriculture, they should have seen more caries. Evidence says that the frequency of caries went down. The passage then rules out one explanation before presenting alternatives as possibilities (“more likely that”).

The two passages both deal with the same topic - the relationship between an increased reliance on agriculture and the frequency of dental caries/tooth decay. And both are largely aligned in that they treat it as a general rule that more agriculture results in more tooth decay (Lines 11-12; Lines 39-41). And neither concludes that this is wrong - instead, they both present exceptions. In the case of Passage A, the Author explicitly mentions exceptions (Paragraph 3). In Passage B, the Author explores an exceptional case (Line 57; Lines 58-60) and presents potential reasons that this case doesn’t conform to the norm (varied diet; switch to less cariogenic carbs).

Last Thoughts?

These passages have a lot of overlap between them, so we should expect more questions about similarities than differences.

Question prompt

The evidence from Ban Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

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

Question Type

Social Science

Strategy Overview

Start with the generalization in Passage A, then look at the evidence from Ban Chiang in Passage B and see how they line up

Answer Anticipation

We’re calling this an Argument Evaluation question. Why? Look at the answers - they talk about the evidence strengthening, weakening, or doing nothing to the argument. That’s the same thought process we use when evaluating answers in an Argument Evaluation question, so we should apply that here.Since we’re checking to see what effect the evidence in Passage B has on the generalization in Passage A, let’s start with the generalization (it doesn’t hurt that we have a specific line cite for that, too). Lines 20-22 say that “in general, the greater a population’s dependence on agriculture, the higher its rate of caries formation will be.” So there’s a positive correlation between dependence on agriculture and caries formation.Before we get to Ban Chiang, we should note that we said this generalization shows up in Passage B, as well - it’s in Lines 39-41. And our overall view of Passage B was that the Ban Chian situation presented a paradox - a situation that went against this generalization.Specifics - what did we learn about Ban Chiang? Well, over time, they became increasingly dependent on agriculture (Lines 36-38). However, the paradox was that the caries frequency was slightly higher in the Early Group (less dependence on agriculture) than the Late Group (more dependence) (Lines 58-60).Now, the passage does go on to offer an explanation as to why this case is an exception, and Passage A itself offers exceptions in Paragraph 3. The statement is also qualified by saying “in general,” telling us that the Author doesn’t believe it applies in all cases. So this single counterexample doesn’t disprove the generalization. However, it certainly doesn’t strengthen or conform to it, so let’s find an answer saying so.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The evidence confirms the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 20-22; Lines 36-38; Lines 58-60) The generalization says that there’s a positive correlation between agricultural dependence and dental caries, but the Ban Chiang saw their caries rate decrease as they depended more on agriculture, so that evidence doesn’t confirm the generalization. Also, it would be nearly impossible for a single example to confirm a generalization, so this answer couldn’t really be correct even if the example did line up with the generalization.

  2. B
    The evidence tends to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 20-22; Lines 36-38; Lines 58-60) The generalization says that there’s a positive correlation between agricultural dependence and dental caries, but the Ban Chiang saw their caries rate decrease as they depended more on agriculture, so that evidence doesn’t support the generalization.

  3. C
    The evidence is irrelevant Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 20-22; Lines 36-38; Lines 58-60) The generalization talks about dependence on agriculture and dental caries. The evidence on Ban Chiang talks about the inhabitants’s dependence on agriculture and dental caries rate. It’s absolutely relevant.

  4. D
    The evidence does not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) (Lines 20-22; Lines 36-38; Lines 58-60) The generalization says that there’s a positive correlation between agricultural dependence and dental caries, but the Ban Chiang saw their caries rate decrease as they depended more on agriculture. This is noted as paradoxical by Passage B’s Author (“Yet”), highlighting that the specific case here doesn’t match expectations. As such, this answer stating that the specific case “does not conform to the generalization” is correct.

  5. E
    The evidence disproves the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 20-22; Lines 36-38; Lines 58-60) The generalization says that there’s a positive correlation between agricultural dependence and dental caries, but the Ban Chiang saw their caries rate decrease as they depended more on agriculture, so the evidence doesn’t line up with the generalization. However, much like (A), this answer is too strong. Unless the generalization is absolute (e.g., “All lawyers are smart” leaves no wiggle room), a single counterexample can’t disprove a generalization, as this answer choice claims. Since the generalization in Passage A isn’t absolute (“in general” means that there can be some exceptions - and Passage A even notes some), there was no chance that this answer could be correct.

What this tests

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