PrepTest 154

[lcid:3714] Prep Test 154 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

Passage

 Complex societies flourished on the central plateau of southern Africa from the ninth through sixteenth centuries. Their regional political centers, Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Social Science

Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Background, and competing theories, with the Author taking sides
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Time period - 9th-16th century
    • A lot of background on the central plateau of southern Africa/Great Zimbabwe (GZ)
    • Phenomenon - GZ took over the area and had a high quality of life
    • Scholars - GZ controlled gold mining and trade
    • Author - GZ agricultural system was the key element in their control
Paragraph 2.1 (Lines 20-31)
  • Paragraph note
    • Problems with traditional agriculture for GZ
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • GZ population was over 10k (extraordinary), and crop agriculture wouldn't be able to feed that many because of soil, distribution, and storage
Paragraph 2.2 (Lines 31-43)
  • Paragraph note
    • GZ's agricultural solution to feeding its people
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cattle - they grazed in different areas during the year to avoid disease
    • This required coordination, which required centralized control, which led to a ruling class
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • Implications of GZ's system for society and gold mining (Scholar theory)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Crucial in understanding two aspects of GZ
    • Cattle were given out as patronage and influenced all aspects of life
    • Cattle were the incentive that led people to take on the dangers of gold mining
Main Point:
While some scholars maintain that the regional power of Great Zimbabwe was due to their control of gold mining, their complex cattle agricultural system is the actual key to understanding that power.

Key Lines:
Lines 12-19 - Both sides of the debate are presented, with the Author presenting an alternative explanation to the opposing point's
Lines 31-34 - The specifics of the Author's explanation are given
Lines 48-50 - The Author highlights how her explanation also explains the alternative explanation

Meta-Structure:
Phenomenon/Explanation. Here, the Author starts with a lot of background that highlights the phenomenon of Great Zimbabwe control over a certain region over a period of time. She presents what scholars believe explains this power before stating that the true explanation lies elsewhere.

Last Thoughts:
First, note how we broke up Paragraph 2. It was super long, and it pivoted halfway through. Some of our instructors would even draw a line at that point to physically note the shift! Breaking up a paragraph and digesting it in two pieces will both make it easier to remember and make it easier to find material when working on questions.

Second, while we can't be sure until we've headed through the questions, it seems likely to be important that the Author circles back to the alternative explanation that she says isn't the true explanation at the end of Paragraph 3. Viewpoints are important on RC, and when an Author refers back to one, it's almost always going to be important to take note of it.

Question prompt

Which one of the 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

Social Science

Answer choices

  1. A
    condemnation of its role Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 41-43) This is a strongly negative answer (""condemnation""), and the Author didn't use any language suggesting this answer is correct. This is one of those answers where the LSAT is trying to play off of some people's inherent biases against a small group having powerful centralized control—the passage establishes that this existed in GZ, but it doesn't take a stance on it.
  2. B
    surprise at its lack Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. (Line 22) The closest the passage gets to surprise is the Author calling the population of GZ at its height ""extraordinary."" However, even if that indicates surprise (and something out of the ordinary would, in general, be surprising), the Author's surprise is about the population size, not the lack of diversification in the cattle-based agricultural system.
  3. C
    skepticism about its effectiveness Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 44-48) There's no indication that the Author believes the cattle economy was a threat to society's cohesion. If anything, the passage suggests that the cattle economy led to a royal class that reached deep into everyone's life, which could increase cohesion (even if at the expense of freedom).
  4. D
    respect for the intricacy Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 39-41) The closest the passage gets to criticizing the cattle economy is in stating that it required large-scale coordinated efforts, but there's no indication that this resulted in inefficiencies.
  5. E
    appreciation of its complexity Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Author's Attitude

    Strategy Overview:
    Review any notes we took on the Author's opinion when discussing the cattle economy

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    Essentially, the entire passage is about the cattle economy of GZ, so we should check for any authorial opinion statements throughout the passage (though we can skip over the background sections).

    The Author states that it is ""the most crucial element"" (Line 18) of understanding GZ's achievements It allowed for its ""extraordinary"" population (Line 22), and it served a ""crucial role"" (Line 48) in both the power the royal class had over others and in GZ's successful mining industry.

    So, overall, the Author doesn't really take a stance on whether it was a good or bad thing, but rather she argues that it was ""crucial"" in understanding the various aspects of GZ society and success.

    Answer Explanation:
    (Line 18; Lines 39-41; Lines 45-48) First, a note on the key word here. ""Appreciate"" doesn't have a positive connotation here—it's used to mean to fully understand something. And the Author does repeatedly call the cattle economy ""crucial"" to understanding GZ, while also reflecting on how it allowed the royal class to reach ""deep into everyone' lives."" This answer reflects the Author's view that the cattle economy was crucial to GZ, so it's the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    If you note nothing else while reading through a passage, note the places where the Author shows any type of attitude or belief. But, you know, also note other important features! (E.g., examples, causal relationships, comparisons)

What this tests

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