PrepTest 140

[lcid:3659] Prep Test 140 LSAT — Reading Comp — S4 Reading comp

Passage

Passage A is from a source published in 2004 and passage B is from a source published in 2007. Questions Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Legal Studies

Passage A
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Background
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Details on online multiplayer games
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • A viewpoint is introduced
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Castronova - These games develop their own economies
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • A new layer
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Castronova - People would sell their accounts for real money on eBay
Paragraph 4
  • Paragraph note
    • Bringing it all together
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Castronova - Virtual currency has real-world value, and online "work" was creating value
Passage B
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • A split is introduced
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Some online games prohibit selling stuff for money; other encourage it
    • Example - IP rights
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • A question is posed
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Sell virtual stuff for real money? Taxed!
    • If someone gets virtual stuff but doesn't sell it, should it be taxed?
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • An answer is provided
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Most people - It shouldn't be
    • Author - I agree! Analogy - Fish that are caught are only taxed when sold
    • Author - Trading in-game items for others shouldn't be taxed
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • Distinction is made to above answer, calling back to Paragraph 1
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author - Selling virtual items for money should be taxed; games that commodify items should be taxed
Main Point:
Passage A - According to Castronova, multiplayer online games end up with a virtual economy that creates wealth with value in the real world

Passage B - Earning in-game items or trading them shouldn't be taxed, but selling them for real money or earning them in a game that intentionally commodifies them should be taxed

Key Lines:

Passage A:
Lines 7-9 - The phenomenon is described
Lines 13-16 - A new level to the phenomenon is described
Lines 18-19 - An implication of the phenomenon is described

Passage B:
Lines 26-29 - A distinction is made
Lines 32-36 - Questions are asked
Lines 44-45 - The Author's answer is presented
Lines 52-56 - An exception/distinction is made to the answer

Meta-Structure - Relationship Between Passages
Phenomenon/Implication and Question/Answer - Passage A (excitedly) describes a phenomenon. Likely, the writers of the LSAT assumed that this topic was a bit outside of most people's experience, and so they felt the need to highlight the situation before including an argument. And that argument features in Passage B, where the economy in online games described in Passage A is then subjected to a question—should these things be taxed?

So the two passages are strongly related. Passage A describes a phenomenon, and Passage B asks a question about how that phenomenon should be treated.

Last Thoughts:
Note how most of our notations on Passage A are about what is being described. While it's filtered through a specific viewpoint—Castronova's—it's largely describing an online economy that creates goods for real-world sale. That said, the language used is definitely more on the positive side—down to the punctuation (exclamation marks).

Also, note that Passage B has a callback to the original distinction when it draws another distinction in the last paragraph. When it kicked off, it talked about games that prohibit real-world trade in virtual items versus those that encourage it by providing IP rights to those goods. The last paragraph is about games that are "intentionally commodified," which is referring to that latter set of games.

Question prompt

Based on what can 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

Legal

Answer choices

  1. A
    "Advances in Artificial Intelligence" Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. The first title lines up with a new discovery, but the second doesn't apply the law. Even if the second passage doesn't have to deal with the law, this answer still misses the mark—the question in Passage B is how does tax law apply to virtual economies. Here, the title suggests that we're applying human psychology to robots, not investigating if/how it applies.
  2. B
    "Internet Retailers Post Good Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. The first title here doesn't really discuss a new phenomenon. And the second title is too close in content to the stimulus. It's also not asking whether taxes should apply—it's discussing that lawmakers are trying to apply tax law.
  3. C
    "New Planet Discovered in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. The first half of this answer is great. The second, not so much. It describes a debate, whereas Passage B didn't feature an opposing point—just the Author presenting his answer to the question.
  4. D
    "Biologists Create New Species Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Parallel Reasoning

    Strategy Overview:
    Reiterate the relationship between the passages, and then generalize from it, using that generalization to analyze the answer choices

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    In Comparative passages, we should always be thinking about the relationship between the two passages after we're done reading them. Also, in this set, Questions #7 and #8 already had us think about the relationship between the two from different angles.

    To reiterate, we said that Passage A was about a new phenomenon—emergent economies in online games. Passage B then asked about the implications for this for existing law—should tax law apply to it? This lines up with our answer to Question #7, where it stated that Passage A was about the discovery of a new economic territory, and Passage B was about how tax law applies to it.

    So let's find an answer where, similarly, the first title suggests some type of new discovery and the second discusses how existing law applies to it.

    Answer Explanation:
    The first half of this answer discusses a new discovery—that matches up with the emergent online economies in games. The second half of this answer asks how an existing body of law applies to it—just as Passage B does for tax law. This answer is therefore correct.

    Key Takeaway:
    Especially when the relationship isn't a straightforward agree/disagree, it's important to understand that relationship in Comparative passages. As we've seen already in this set of questions, three of them have dealt with that topic!
  5. E
    "A Renegade Economist's Views Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. First, this answer is too close in content in discussing tax law. Second, Passage A didn't discuss the law. Third, Passage A never claimed that Castronova was a renegade. Fourth, the second title here is more descriptive than asking and answering a question.

What this tests

Discussion

  • Option C 1 reply

    Started by Minerva

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