PrepTest 141

[lcid:3660] Prep Test 141 LSAT — Reading Comp — S1 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 22-27 Passage A  .       There are two principles that are fundamental to  . a theory of justice regarding property. Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic:

Passage A
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Principles are listed
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Property justice has 2 principles
    • Justice in acquisition - How someone gets property that was previously unowed
    • Justice in transfer - How someone transfers property to new owner
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • A description of a fully just world
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • In a fully just world, if and only if the principles from Paragraph 1 are followed are people entitled to property
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • The principles break down in the real world, requiring a new principle
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • It's not a fully just world - people steal and defraud
    • Principle of rectification - Look at history to determine where things went wrong and fix ownership to follow earlier principles
Passage B
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • History and purpose of a law
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • 1790 - Indian Nonintercourse Act - land transfers from Native Americans must be approved by federal government
    • Purpose - Prevent fraudulent acquisition of Native lands
    • Hasn't changed; several suits have been filed
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • Examining Native claims to lands and proposing a way forward
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Natural/ideal approach - Native Americans were here first and had their lands stolen from them, so it should be returned
    • Might need to make compromises
    • Easiest - Returning all land, or at least where feasible
Main Point:
Passage A - Certain principles guide property justice in a just world, and another can be used to address any situations where that ideal is violated.

Passage B - The Indian Nonintercourse Act provides a legal way of addressing land stolen from Native peoples, and Native claims to land would be most easily and naturally addressed by returning the land to them, though compromises may need to be made.

Key Lines:

Passage A:
Lines 1-2 - The structure of much of the passage is laid out
Lines 2-8 - The principles are described
Lines 12-20 - The principles are applied to a fully just world
Lines 28-33 - A new principles is added to address when the world isn't fully just

Passage B:
Lines 36-39 - A law is described
Lines 41-44 - The purpose of the law is presented
Lines 56-60 - A solution to a problem is noted, even if compromises must be reached

Meta-Structure - Relationship Between Passages:
Problem/Solution - While we didn't rely on this when working through the passages, they're arguably about legal solutions to certain problems—the transfer of property, and the taking of Native lands. Passage A presents principles (solutions) to guide transfers of property, and Passage B presents a law and how a given situation might be fixed.

If we take a step back and relate the passages, Passage B is a specific situation to which the principles in Passage A can be applied. Specifically, Passage B talks about land that was improperly taken from Native Americans, and thus the second and principles—the principles of transfer and rectification—would apply. Passage B makes room for compromise, considering the feasibility of such transfers. In speaking in principles, Passage A doesn't leave room for compromise.

Last Thoughts:
Passage A has an interesting and somewhat common structure—it presents an argument in one world ("if the world were wholly just..."), and then also covers the bases for another world ("However, not all . . . "). Thinking about the interplay between these two paragraphs is key to understanding the scope of this passage, and the role of each paragraph within it.

Question prompt

Based on what can 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

Answer choices

  1. A
    "Card Counting for Everyone: Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. The second title here casts a negative judgment on the topic from the first, which doesn't match the alignment we saw in the provided passages.
  2. B
    "Mayor McConnell Is Unfit Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. Similar to (A), these titles reflect two passages that largely disagree, whereas the provided ones largely agree.
  3. C
    "Pruning Fruit Trees: A Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. These two titles don't reflect titles on the same general topic, while the provided passages both addressed justice in property transfers.
  4. D
    "Notable Failures of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. Yet another answer where the titles reflect a disagreement between the passages! The provided ones were aligned, so this answer is wrong.
  5. E
    "Fundamentals of Building Construction Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Main Point/Parallel Reasoning

    Strategy Overview:
    Reiterate the main points of both passages, and then abstract them and their relationship to come up with something that can be used to analyze the answers

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    This question splits the difference between a Main Point question and a Parallel Reasoning question. We'll need to understand the main points of the passages and how they relate, and then we'll need to use that to anticipate the general ideas behind them so we can find an answer that mirrors those main points.

    So what were the main points? We said:

    Passage A - Certain principles guide property justice in a just world, and another can be used to address any situations where that ideal is violated.

    Passage B - The Indian Nonintercourse Act provides a legal way of addressing land stolen from Native peoples, and Native claims to land would be most easily and naturally addressed by returning the land to them, though compromises may need to be made.

    And what about the relationship? They largely agreed, with Passage A outlining principles that were largely applied to a specific situation in Passage B.

    So let's find a similar set of answers, where the title for Passage A reflects the establishing of a framework or set of principles that can be applied, and that of Passage B reflects the exploration of a specific situation where those principles could be applied.

    Answer Explanation:
    These two passages deal with the same general topic—buildings. The first title here reflects a more general analysis of building construction and repair, much as the first passage had general principles of justice in property. And the second title reflects the application of some of those principles to a specific building, much as Passage B applied at least the third principle to the specific case of land illicitly taken from Native Americans. These two titles reflect the same relationship between them as the passages in the stimulus, so this is the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    Knowing some general relationships between passages in Comparative RC can be helpful in many questions, including ones of this type. They're not always as straightforward as agree/disagree—as we saw here, they can have more specific relationships, such as "agree, with one passage applying what the other said to a specific case."

What this tests

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