PrepTest 156

[lcid:3720] Prep Test 156 LSAT — Reading Comp — S1 Reading comp

Passage

Passage A  What public interest is served by an earmarked tax for the arts? This is a most important question, Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic:
Social Science

Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Question, insufficient answer
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Question: Does taxpayer-funded for the arts serve a public interest?
    • Why most important — Only way to justify it
    • Insufficient answer: Lots of orgs, so diverse audiences (why not privately fund?)


Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's answer
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Answer - Left to private sector, art won't be equitably distributed
    • No money or regions without cultural offerings left behind


Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Why the arts are important
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Build social ties
    • Participating also leads to civic engagement (Examples - Voting/volunteering)


Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Requirement for taxpayer funding of arts
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Benefit: Incidental benefits (Example: Tourism)
    • Requirement: Direct benefit to public — More people enjoy better art


Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Why art funding doesn't meet requirement
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Better art isn't guaranteed
    • Can't guarantee more widespread enjoyment
    • Why? Selection committees pick subsidized art, so most people don't enjoy it


Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Comparison, thought experiment, conclusion
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison: National defense — Art different (can't buy own defense)
    • Thought experiment: Give people money to buy their own art (ridiculous)
    • Wrong for government to choose what people like, so not justified


Main Points:

Passage A: Public funding of the arts is justified because the private sector can't equitably distribute art, and engagement with art increases civic activities and social bonds.



Passage B: There can be no justification for the public funding of the arts because it's wrong for the government to decide what artistic experiences people should enjoy.



Key Lines (P(aragraph)X, S(entence)Y)

Passage A:

  • P1, S1 - Question
  • P1, S2 - Requirement for answer
  • P1, S3 - Insufficient answer
  • P2, S1 - Answer
  • P2, S2 - Reason
  • P3, S1 - Another reason


Passage B:

  • P1, S2 - Requirement
  • P2, S1 - Failure to meet requirement
  • P2, S4 - Reason for failure
  • P3, S6 - Another reason for failure
  • P3, S8 - Conclusion


Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?

Relationship — Opposing Viewpoints: While only Passage A explicitly asks a question, both passages provide an answer to it. Passage A's author argues that "public support of the arts is, in fact, eminently justifiable" (PA, P2, S1), while the author of Passage B comes to the opposite conclusion in stating that "there can be no justification for arts subsidies" (PB, P3, S8). Since they hold opposed opinions on the same topic — a topic that is central to each passage — we should view those opinions as the main points of each passage, as reflected above. (This is reinforced by the Question/Answer Meta-Structure analysis for Passage A, below.)



Question/Answer (Passage A): Passage A opens up with a question. This generally means that the author will provide an answer or a set of answers, and the preferred answer is the main point. Here, although the author raises an insufficient answer in P1, S3 ("not enough to claim"), the author does eventually answer that public subsidies for the arts are justified (P2, S1). After that, the author provides reasons for why that's the case. As such, the author's support for public arts subsidies is the main point, reflected in our summary above.



Examples (Both): Both passages bring up an example to prove a minor point. In Passage A, the author cites two examples of the types of civic activities that become more common for those engaged in the arts (PA, P3, S3). Passage B sees the author bringing up an example of an incidental benefit of support of the arts - tourism (Pb, P1, S1). Since these are limited and incidental to the main point, we should expect, at most, one question on each of them.



Comparison (Passage B): The author of Passage B compares national defense to culture at the beginning of Paragraph 3. This contrast is used to prove the main point — there are differences between the two that justify public spending on the former but not the latter. This comparison builds directly to the main point of the argument, so we should expect a question on it.



Last Thoughts?



Passage B starts with an interesting feature — a concession. Normally, we don't see authors lead with exceptions or concessions to their argument. However, this author concedes there is "admittedly" a benefit of public subsidies for the arts. And yet, the author's main point is that there is"no justification" for such subsidies. Since this is an odd way to start off a passage, there might be an Argument Structure question about it, so we should think about why he does it. Since it's a concession, it's likely to show that he has some respect and understanding for the opposing argument to strengthen the audience's willingness to listen to his argument against it. That's the general idea behind a concession, and it makes sense here.



Also, we know that the authors reach the opposite conclusion on the same central topic, so we should expect questions about the differences between the two passages!

Question prompt

It can be inferred 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

Answer choices

  1. A
    They promote important public Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    (PB, P1, S2) The main point of passage B is that public arts subsidies can't be justified because they don't have a direct public benefit. This answer more or less says the exact opposite, so we can eliminate it based on this big-picture consideration.
  2. B
    They are not as Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    (PA, Paragraph 2) Passage A was concerned about the equitable distribution of the arts, not passage B.
  3. C
    They are not justified Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    (PA, Paragraph 2) This is a more extreme version of (B), and it's wrong for the same reasons. Passage B argues that providing a direct benefit to the public is a requirement for these subsidies to be justified — not that they result in the equal distribution of the arts.
  4. D
    They condescend to people Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    Question Type:
    Must Be True

    Strategy Overview:
    Remind ourselves of the main point of passage B, then head to the answers, focusing on those that line up with the main point and then using our notes/the passage to find the correct answer

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    This question stem asks about the author of passage B's opinion of public arts subsidies. That is a central topic of passage B, so we can't reliably anticipate where the correct answer will be drawn in the passage.

    As such, we'll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point of that passage — that public subsidies for the arts aren't justifiable. From there, we can head to the answers, deferring on those that don't line up with the main point. For those that do, we'll use our notes and the passage to see if it's correct.

    Answer Choice Explanation:
    (PB, P3, S6-7) This answer suggests a negative opinion of such subsidies, aligning with the author's view that they're unjustified. Checking to see if the details are backed up, we can see that they are in Paragraph 3. There, the author states that "it is wrong" for the government to dictate what people should want. On the contrary, the author respects that people can decide what art they want on their own. As such, the author believes it is condescending to subsidize certain art and thus take that choice away from people by telling them what they should like. This answer is therefore correct.

    Key Takeaway:
    When you come across a word that's obviously key to an answer, it's important that you take some time to think about it. And if you get the question wrong, it's especially crucial to think about how you could have approached the language in a way that would have resulted in you getting it right.

    Here, the word "condescend" in the correct answer could easily throw someone off. It'd be helpful to think about what condescension means in this context so that you could see that the author's argument supports an answer that uses that word, even though the argument itself never used that specific word. If you had taken a second to think about what condescending means (thinking you know better than someone), that word grows directly from the author's argument in paragraph 3 of passage B.

  5. E
    They reduce the availability Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    (PB, P3, S1) This answer seems to be trying to bring in the author's comparison to public defense. However, the author never says that funding the arts reduces funds for the much more important public defense. Rather, the author argues that, unlike national defense, people can buy their own art.

What this tests

Discussion

  • Question # 11 1 reply

    Started by JosephRocco

View all discussions Start a discussion