PrepTest 148

[lcid:3689] Prep Test 148 LSAT — Reading Comp — S2 Reading comp

Passage

This passage was adapted from an article written by three economists.  .       Roughly 40 percent of the African American  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • A phenomenon is introduced and 3 causes are listed
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Phenomenon - Great Migration - 40% of African American population South for North (1915-1960)
    • 3 causes (all related to labor) - WWI, decrease in immigration, boll weevils in South

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • 3 causes/phenomenon summed up, and a question is posed
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Summary - North-South income gap so big it kicked off migration
    • Question - Why did it continue/accelerate as income gap narrowed?

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Authors’s view presented, and some background research
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Authors (Explanation/Answer) - Momentum develops as migrants make it easier for others to migrate
    • Economist (assumption) - Additional earnings exceed migration costs → People migrate
    • List of migration costs (uncertainty of housing/job; moving costs; familiarization of new location)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Authors show how these costs are lowered as migration continues
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Empirical studies - Letters provided potential migrants info
    • New migrants traveled with old (lower moving costs)
    • New migrants stayed with old (easier to adapt to new area)

Main Point: By helping with moving costs and familiarization with a new location and its job and housing markets, previous migrants lowered the cost of migration for future migrants, explaining the continued and accelerating migration of African Americans even after the North-South income gap narrowed.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-4 - A phenomenon is noted

Lines 7-8 - A list is introduced (causes of phenomenon)

Lines 19-22 - A question about the phenomenon is introduced

Lines 23-25 - The Authors’s answer/explanation is previewed

Lines 25-29 - An assumption of relevant experts is noted

Lines 29-31 - Another list is introduced (factors in migration cost)

Paragraph 4 - The assumptions are addressed to support the explanation

Meta-Structure?

Question/Answer and Phenomenon/Explanation - The passage is meant to answer a question about an unexpected aspect of a phenomenon. While the “topic” of the passage is itself a phenomenon - the Great Migration - the Authors raise a question about it in Paragraph 2 that the passage is designed to answer/explain: Why did the migration continue/accelerate even when the driving force behind it lessened? (Lines 19-22). The rest of the passage is designed to answer that question and explain the phenomenon - momentum, as earlier migrants lowered the costs associated with future migration (Lines 23-25). And since the Author’s answer to a question or explanation for a phenomenon is usually the main point of the passage, we should check to see if it serves that purpose here. Since the rest of the passage is meant to highlight support for that answer, we can conclude that it is the main point.

Last Thoughts?

The Authors raise the assumptions of Economists here. Normally, when an assumption is pointed out, it’s to highlight a weakness in an argument, and that assumption is attacked or undermined. Here, however, the Authors use the implications of the assumption to build their argument. In this case, the assumption operates more as a generally accepted theory that the Authors apply.

Also, the Authors speak in the first-person (“We propose”; Line 23). When that happens, it’s important to note as it tells us that the Authors are taking a proactive role in the passage, and there’s a good chance that a question will reflect on that.

Question prompt

The primary purpose of 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

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review the role of Paragraph 2, then define the sentence in question’s role within its immediate context, the role of the paragraph, and the passage as a whole

Answer Anticipation

Our note for Paragraph 2 says that it’s meant to sum up the 3 causes of the base phenomenon, but then pose a question. The last sentence is that question.Looking at the sentence, we can see that it brings up something that’s “[l]ess clear” (Line 19) so it’s treating what showed up before as relatively clear, and this next point as puzzling. What it says is less clear is why the migration continued and accelerated even when the causes that led to the Great Migration starting to lessen.The passage then goes on to present the Authors’s answer/explanation to this puzzling phenomenon. So the purpose of this sentence is to pose a question that the rest of the passage answers. (And this question is very much parallel to Question #9.)

Answer choices

  1. A
    indicate why previous research Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 14-19) The Authors just got done summing up their view on the causes of the initiation of the Great Migration. It’s not an opposing point that they’re pivoting away from because it’s misguided - it’s an explanation that they feel is settled before they pivot to a puzzling aspect of that phenomenon.

  2. B
    extend the authors' explanation Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 19-20; Lines 23-25) The Author’s pivot away from the earlier explanation (“Less clear, however”) before posing an alternative explanation (momentum/earlier migrants lowering the costs for later migrants). Additionally, the last sentence of Paragraph 2 notes that the initial causes of the Great Migration (or, at least, one of them) started to disappear (“income differences were narrowing”). So they’re not extending the earlier explanations to the later phenomenon - they argue that the later phenomenon had distinct causes.

  3. C
    challenge the traditional view Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 16-19) The Authors attribute the Great Migration kicking off due to a large enough North-South wage gap in 1915. This suggests that the wage gap was smaller prior to 1915, which might mean they were the same or wages were even higher in the South. However, there’s no “traditional view” presented that Northern wages were higher prior to this time period, so this answer is out of scope in presenting a view that doesn’t exist in the passage.

  4. D
    present a fact about Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) (Lines 23-25) We noted that this passage split the difference between a Phenomenon/Explanation and Question/Answer passage, with the end of Paragraph 2 bringing up a new phenomenon/question that the Authors then go on to explain/answer. This answer reflects that. The fact that is presented is that migration continued and accelerated after the North-South income gap narrowed. The passage then goes on to explain why that occurred. This answer is therefore correct.

  5. E
    suggest that the Great Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 16-19; Lines 23-25) The Authors start Paragraph 2 by summing up why they believe the Great Migration started, and they go on to present their explanation for why the Great Migration continued after relevant factors changed. As such, they believe that it can be explained.

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