PrepTest 142
[lcid:3666] Prep Test 142 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3
Reading comp
Passage
Questions 1-8 . Given the amount of time and effort that curators, . collectors, dealers, scholars, and critics spend
Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Humanities
Paragraph 1
Great perfumes should be considered works of art, as are great paintings/music/literature/etc . . . , even if some have been coopted by corporate profit-seeking.
Key Lines:
Line 7 - A question is introduced Lines 13-18 - Similarities between perfumes and oil paintings are discussed
Lines 29-33 - The comparison is continued
Lines 44-47 - The question is answered
Meta-Structure:
Question/Answer - The Author asks a question in Paragraph 1 that is then answered in Paragraph 4. While the answer to a question is generally the main point of the passage, here, it takes a secondary seat to the comparison between great perfume and great works of art in other media, and the argument that great perfume should be regarded as a work of art. That makes up the bulk of the passage and also serves as a necessary part of the question. Even the answer to the question reflects on this argument.
Comparisons - The passage reaches a comparative conclusion (great perfume should be treated similarly to great works of art in other media), and it does so by bringing up similarities between the compared elements. As such, we should expect questions on these points of comparison.
Last Thoughts:
This passage is interesting in that it presents a Question/Answer structure, but the argument is more about a point that goes into setting that question up. One key way we can tell that that's the case is the certainty between the two parts of the argument.
The Author, without a doubt, believes that great perfume should be considered great art, and studied as such. That's a very certain conclusion. However, in answering the question of why it isn't, she says only that "[p]erhaps" the reason is that perfume is manufactured by corporations looking to make money, and they're messing with the formulas. The uncertainty presented in that answer suggests that it's a secondary point.
Paragraph 1
- Paragraph note
- A question/conundrum is presented and explored
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- Art experts spend a lot of time on paintings/music/etc, but not on perfume - a mistake
- Similarity - They all stimulate senses
- Paragraph note
- Similarities between painting and perfume are discussed - focus on painting
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- Similarity - Painters and perfumers combine chemical compounds (for paint and perfume, respectively)
- Painting process is described in detail
- Paragraph note
- The similarity is continued - focus on perfume
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- Perfumers layer scents with different evaporation speeds to evoke images and memories
- Focus on perfumes
- Paragraph note
- A potential answer is presented
- Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
- Answer - Big companies have taken over perfumes and required cheap substitutes; can't split these from fine perfume
Great perfumes should be considered works of art, as are great paintings/music/literature/etc . . . , even if some have been coopted by corporate profit-seeking.
Key Lines:
Line 7 - A question is introduced Lines 13-18 - Similarities between perfumes and oil paintings are discussed
Lines 29-33 - The comparison is continued
Lines 44-47 - The question is answered
Meta-Structure:
Question/Answer - The Author asks a question in Paragraph 1 that is then answered in Paragraph 4. While the answer to a question is generally the main point of the passage, here, it takes a secondary seat to the comparison between great perfume and great works of art in other media, and the argument that great perfume should be regarded as a work of art. That makes up the bulk of the passage and also serves as a necessary part of the question. Even the answer to the question reflects on this argument.
Comparisons - The passage reaches a comparative conclusion (great perfume should be treated similarly to great works of art in other media), and it does so by bringing up similarities between the compared elements. As such, we should expect questions on these points of comparison.
Last Thoughts:
This passage is interesting in that it presents a Question/Answer structure, but the argument is more about a point that goes into setting that question up. One key way we can tell that that's the case is the certainty between the two parts of the argument.
The Author, without a doubt, believes that great perfume should be considered great art, and studied as such. That's a very certain conclusion. However, in answering the question of why it isn't, she says only that "[p]erhaps" the reason is that perfume is manufactured by corporations looking to make money, and they're messing with the formulas. The uncertainty presented in that answer suggests that it's a secondary point.
Question prompt
Which one of the
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
Humanities
Answer choices
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Aan art museum curator Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice A is not credited
Incorrect. This curator isn't altering any work of art, so she's not analogous to the bean counters who are. Thinking about what a curator does, we'd need someone who is selecting certain perfumes and leaving others out if we were to have an analogous person in the passage. -
Ba movie studio executive Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice B matches the stem
Correct. Question Type:
Parallel Reasoning
Strategy Overview:
Review the section in question and abstract away from it to create something we can use to analyze the answers
Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
First, let's head back to the passage and the line in question to figure out who these "cynical bean counters" are. There, we see that they're the individuals who are making the call to tamper with perfume formulas in order to get cheaper ingredients and make more money. The Author believes that this is potentially a reason why perfumes aren't regarded seriously by art experts, and so she thinks this is a bad thing.
So we're looking for an answer where people who are producing art in a commercial capacity are diluting the vision of the artist/creator in order to make more money.
Answer Explanation:
Here, the director is analogous to the perfumer, and the movie is analogous to the perfume. And since the executive here is forcing the director to change up their movie to save some money, that executive is analogous to the bean counters who force a change in perfume formula to save money. This answer is therefore correct.
Key Takeaway:
Note how we approached the answers here—we attempted to line up each element in the answer with an analogous element in the passage. When we couldn't, we could rule that answer out. -
Ca director of an Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice C is not credited
Incorrect. (Line 51) The director here isn't making art, so if this answer works, she'd have to be analogous to the bean counter. However, she's cutting the budget here, which there's no indication will affect the art—maybe she's cutting the budget for office supplies. And she's also not doing so to "increase profits" but rather to address declining revenues. This answer can therefore be eliminated. -
Da business executive who Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice D is not credited
Incorrect. The "bean counters" were altering art to make more money, not investing in art for tax benefits. -
Ean art school dean Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice E is not credited
Incorrect. The dean here is making decisions on money that will affect art projects, but she's cutting money in one piece to invest it in another, not to increase profits.
What this tests
Discussion
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Why not D? 1 reply
Started by iris.diaz823
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confused 1 reply
Started by Ceci