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

Which one of the 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

Legal

Answer choices

  1. A
    Passage A summarizes a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Methods of Reasoning

    Strategy Overview:
    Review what we said about the relationship between the two passages after we read them, then find an answer that backs that up

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    Another question about the relationship between the passages!

    Here, we know that Passage A introduced a new economic paradigm that was discovered by an economist. Castronova "noticed something curious" (Lines 7-8) as he played a game—it "had its own economy" (Lines 8-9). And it was "even more interesting" (Line 13) that people could sell virtual goods for real money.

    Passage B then analyzes the implications for this new phenomenon. The Author asks a series of questions (Lines 32-36) about the tax implications of these economies, and then answers them (Lines 44-45).

    Let's find an answer reflecting that relationship.

    Answer Explanation:
    (Lines 7-8; Lines 32-36; Lines 45-51) Passage A describes the curious and interesting discovery of Castronova, which he discovered while playing a game (an unexpected time to make an economic discovery). Passage B then brings up tax questions raised by this new economic paradigm, and it offers solutions for how to treat these virtual goods/currencies (Lines 45-51). This answer reflects the two passages, so it's the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    As with all Methods of Reasoning questions, we need all the abstract language in the answers to match up. Find the concepts that match with the abstract concepts, be pedantic in whether they match up correctly, and eliminate any that are missing a match or have a mismatch.
  2. B
    Passage A explains an Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. Passage A doesn't explain an economic theory, it describes an economic phenomenon. The online game economy is a thing that exists, not a theoretical underpinning of an economy. Passage B, though, arguably identifies a practical problem—how do we treat these economies for tax purposes?
  3. C
    Passage A reports on Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. Passage A doesn't really report on a subculture—it's not about the gamers, but rather the economy that has developed in their games. And Passage B doesn't think that the economies should largely be taxed, so it doesn't delve into the difficulty of policing that aspect of it.
  4. D
    Passage A challenges the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 41-44) Passage A doesn't mention a common interpretation of a phenomenon—it introduces the phenomenon! Passage B brings up a common belief, but the Author concludes that that belief is correct.
  5. E
    Passage A states a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. Passage A arguably states a set of facts—the actual emergence of an economy in online games. However, Passage B doesn't draw theoretical consequences from those facts. Rather, it discusses the practical consequences on those facts for tax law. The question it asks is whether these virtual worlds should be taxed, which is something that can happen, and thus it's not theoretical.

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