PrepTest 145

[lcid:3676] Prep Test 145 LSAT — Reading Comp — S1 Reading comp

Passage

 . Passage A  .       During the 1990s, the study of history witnessed  . both a dramatic integration of the study Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Social Science

Passage A
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Two shifts in the study of history are described, and the implications of the second shift
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Shift 1 - Integration of study of women's history into mainstream
    • Shift 2 - Shift from subject of women to subject of gender
    • Gender involves societal systems, not individuals
    • Some historians - Shift 2 is a retreat from studying women per se
    • 3 forms of new work
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • The benefits of the shift are noted
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Studying "women" - too narrow, celebratory
    • Studying gender - explanatory power and analytic framework to analyze societal structures
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • The downsides of the shift
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • In first-person ("I")
    • Gender obscures - focus on structure misses individual stories
Passage B
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Roman history
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Augustus - Focused on traditional family-based morality
    • Relocating women in a domestic context (wives/mothers)
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • Outcome of this focus
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Rome prospered; Augustus tied it to family/women
    • Gender roles - More constrained, more visible, more political
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • Reflection in art
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Artists used house images to speak about Rome
Main Point:
Passage A - While a shift in focus from the study of women's history to gender has allowed for deeper understanding of societal structures, it has lost a focus on how individual women interacted with the world.

Passage B - Augustus's focus on family-based morality made gender (roles) more constrained, visible, and political, a trend reflected in political and artistic trends of the time.

Key Lines:

Passage A:
Lines 1-4 - Two shifts are noted
Lines 7-11 - How experts reacted to the second shift
Lines 24-26 - The benefits of the second shift are noted
Lines 30-32 - What was lost with the second shift is noted

Passage B:
Lines 36-40 - A historical shift is noted
Lines 48-50 - Trends during the time period are noted

Meta-Structure - Relationship Between Passages:
These passages are written in a different tone/voice and seem to deal with different topics, but there is common ground. In both passages, a shift in the way that women and gender are viewed is noted. In Passage A, a shifting focus from women to gender is said to have some benefits (analytic framework; analyze structures) and some costs (loss of focus on individual stories). In Passage B, a shift in gender roles (more constrained, more visible, more politicized) is reflected in other aspects of society (government; art).

The bigger relationship, though, is that Passage A talks about the study of history and how it changed during a period of time. Passage B is a study of history, and it largely reflects what Passage A says. In Passage A, the Author notes that the study of history has shifted from the study of women's history to the issue of gender (Lines 1-4). Passage B is a study of history that doesn't talk about individual women but rather focuses on gender roles and how they shaped a particular time period. That's an interesting relationship!

Last Thoughts:
Not much else to say—let's head to the questions!

Question prompt

According to passage A, 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

Social Science

Answer choices

  1. A
    investigating the social systems Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Must Be True

    Strategy Overview:
    Look back at the relevant section, then find an answer that matches the text

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    Passage A starts with a discussion of two shifts that happened during the Ô90s - first, the integration of a study of women's history, but then a transition from that subject to the issue of gender (Lines 1-5). So the correct answer should reflect this issue of gender.

    Is it defined more precisely in this paragraph? Yep - in Lines 7-9, the Author notes that this shift involved an exploration of the social system underlying the relationships of men and women.

    With that in mind, let's head to the answer choices.

    Answer Explanation:
    (Lines 7-9) This answer is paraphrased from the middle of Paragraph 1, where the shift in the Ô90s is discussed, so this is the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    Know when you're dealing with a question asking for something that's explicitly stated in the passage! Here, the question stem asks for something that's true "[a]ccording to Passage A," which is going to have a correct answer that restates or directly paraphrases from the language in the passage. This makes it a lot easier to pick an answer like (A) that does so. It also makes it a lot easier to eliminate answers that you think are somewhat related to the passage and might talk yourself into!
  2. B
    bringing attention to and Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 1-5; Lines 9-11; Lines 21-32) Passage A notes that the shift from a study of women's history seemed to be "a retreat from the effort to uncover the history of women," and it concludes by saying that this shift led us to overlook the stories individual women. This answer might reflect the initial shift to integrate the study of women's history into the mainstream, but this question asks about the shift away from that study to the issue of gender.
  3. C
    revealing the gender biases Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 12-17) Passage A doesn't discuss gender biases that shaped scholarship, but rather a shift of scholarship to a focus on gender and how it shaped culture and politics.
  4. D
    criticizing earlier generations of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 1-5) The passage notes that the integration of the study of women's history transitioned to a study of gender - not a criticism of earlier historians for not paying attention to women's history.
  5. E
    documenting shifts in the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 14-16) Passage A discusses articles that focus on an imagined domesticity, but there's no indication that the conception of it shifted over time.

What this tests

Discussion

  • A v.s E 2 replies

    Started by @MichaelaJ

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