PrepTest 110

[lcid:3536] Prep Test 110 LSAT — Reading Comp — S1 Reading comp

Passage

Questions 1-6  .        Most authoritarian rulers who undertake  . democratic reforms do so not out of any intrinsic  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Sciences


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Author’s conclusion (Most authoritarians allow democratic reforms because social changes require such reforms)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author’s view: Most authoritarian regimes make democratic reforms because social changes make it impossible to hold on to absolute power, not because the rulers are committed to democracy (first sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “not out of any intrinsic commitment or conversion” (first sentence); “impossible” (first sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • First type of social change (Citizens’ shifting values/norms lead to rejection of authoritarian rule) and example (Latin American countries)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of major social changes that cause the rejection of authoritarianism, according to the author:
      • Item 1: Citizens’ changing values/norms lead to a lower tolerance of repression/absolute power and an increased willingness to mobilize and speak out, often starting with a rejection of human rights abuses (second and last sentences)
    • Example of changing values/norms, according to the author:
      • Latin American countries in the 1970s and 80s (third sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “can contribute” (first sentence); “came about partly” (third sentence); “frequently beginning” (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Second type of social change (privileged people realize that authoritarianism is bad for their economic interests) and example (Philippines)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of major social changes that cause the rejection of authoritarianism, according to the author:
      • Item 2: When privileged people who used to support the authoritarian rules (like landowners, industrialists, merchants, and bankers) determine that authoritarianism is adverse to their economic interests (second sentence)
    • Examples of changing economic interests, according to the author:
      • Philippines and other contemporary authoritarian nations (last sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “can shift” (first sentence); “an important turning point” (second sentence); “was crucial” (last sentence); “also begun occurring incrementally” (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Third type of social change (activists rise and develop organizations) and numerous examples (students, workers, lawyers, etc.)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • List of major social changes that cause the rejection of authoritarianism, according to the author:
      • Item 3: Various communities gain more resources, autonomy, and confidence, then organize, and then circumvent the authoritarian rule (first through last sentences)
    • Examples of community activism, according to the author:
      • Students marching, workers striking, lawyers refusing to cooperate with regime, alternative sources of info emerging, and networks circumventing state rule (second sentence)
    • Comparison between authoritarian regimes before and after this social change, according to the author:
      • Before, the regimes easily controlled their citizens; after, the regimes are on the defensive (last sentence)
    • Author’s attitude: “profound development” (last sentence); “radically alter” (last sentence)

Paragraph 5

  • Paragraph note
    • Author’s support (authoritarian rule leads to all three changes)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author’s view: Authoritarian regimes — especially those that create economic growth and social stability — tend to lead to all three changes, so regimes are forced to match the ensuing democratic social changes with democratic political changes (first through last sentences)
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author:
      • Authoritarian regimes that cause economic growth and social stability cause their citizens to reflect on their living conditions, which causes the emergence of social changes that lead to democratic reforms (second and last sentences)
    • Author’s attitude: “tends in the long run” (first sentence); “Ironically” (second sentence); “can be accelerated” (second sentence); “only hope of retaining some power” (last sentence)

Main Point: Most authoritarian rulers who undertake democratic reforms do so in response to changes in societal values, the shifting economic interests of previous regime supporters, and the formation of activist organizations, all of which tend to result from authoritarian regimes.

Key Lines?

Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 (P1, S1) - The author’s conclusion

P2, S2 - First type of social change

P3, S2 - Second type of social change

P4, S2 - Third type of social change

Meta Structure?

Phenomenon/Explanation: This passage best fits the Phenomenon/Explanation Meta-Structure. As is typical in this Meta-Structure, the author identifies a phenomenon (authoritarian leaders allowing democratic reform) and then explains this phenomenon. Here, the author leads with a clear central thesis — authoritarian rulers allow democratic reforms out of self-interest, not out of genuine belief in democratic ideals — in the first paragraph. The author uses the next three paragraphs to explain the three major changes that force authoritarian rulers to reform.

In a Phenomenon/Explanation passage, the main point is generally the author’s opinion of the explanation. In this passage, the author endorses the explanation that authoritarian regimes allow democratic reforms in response to major social changes. As you can see in the Main Point section, we included the author’s explanation and the three major social changes in our anticipated main point.

Last Thoughts?

This passage uses a straightforward structure that allows us to read predictively. In the first paragraph, the author makes a declarative statement about why authoritarian regimes allow democratic reforms. We can anticipate the author will examine, explain or defend this proposition throughout the passage. In the second paragraph, the author references “three major types of changes” (P2, S1) before elaborating on the first change. We can anticipate that the following two paragraphs will discuss the following two types of changes. Developing your ability to read predictively is one way to read these passages more efficiently and confidently.

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

Strategy Overview

Reiterate the main point as we summarized it after reading through the passage, then find the answer that best matches it

Answer Anticipation

As discussed in the Meta-Structure section above, this passage utilizes a Phenomenon/Explanation Meta-Structure. In such a Meta-Structure, the main point is generally the author’s opinion of the explanation. So, we anticipated that the main point is: “Most authoritarian rulers who undertake democratic reforms do so in response to changes in societal values, the shifting economic interests of previous regime supporters, and the formation of activist organizations, all of which tend to result from authoritarian regimes.”

Answer choices

  1. A
    Authoritarian rulers tend to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this include the same ideas as our anticipated main point?

    Not quite. This answer choice includes the idea of a nation’s power bases “slow[ing] economic growth,” which was not part of our anticipation. For that reason, we should at least table this answer choice and continue checking the remaining. In fact, experienced test-takers might recall that the author mentions that authoritarian regimes will typically institute democratic reforms when the regime produces economic growth (P5, S2) and would recognize that this answer choice contradicts the passage.

    However, if we read this answer choice too quickly, it would be easy to mistake it for our main point. (A) attempts to trick test takers by explicitly referencing language we would expect to find in the correct answer, like “authoritarian rulers,” “undertake democratic reforms,” “economic growth,” and “disrupt social order.” The remainder of this answer choice, however, misstates the passage in a few key ways.

    Besides the issue with slowing economic growth referenced above, (A) asserts that democratic reforms will be undertaken by authoritarian rulers “only after” it becomes clear that such changes are necessary. However, the author says their analysis applies to “most authoritarian rulers who undertake democratic reforms” (P1, S1). So, “only after” is too strong. The author never says that any particular condition must be present for democratic reforms to occur, so (A) cannot be supported by the passage's text.

  2. B
    Authoritarian regimes tend to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this include the same ideas as our anticipated main point?

    Nope. Experienced test-takers would recognize that the assertion that “[a]uthoritarian regimes ensure their own destruction” is far stronger than any statement in their anticipated main point. Such test-takers would table or eliminate (B). They would also recognize that (B) focuses on only one of the three major changes that can cause regime change — the wealthy turning on the regime, the subject of the third paragraph only — and would realize that (B) omits the other two major changes. This would provide further reason to eliminate (B).

    If we needed to check the passage to confirm that (B) is incorrect, we could see that the author never says that authoritarian regimes “ensure their own destruction.” In the first paragraph, the author says that this passage applies to “[m]ost authoritarian rulers who undertake democratic reforms” (P1, S1). In the final paragraph, the author says that “[a]uthoritarian rule tends in the long run to generate all three types of changes” (P5, S1). Both of these statements are less bold than the anticipated main point. Therefore, this passage doesn’t support the sweeping claim that (B) makes.

  3. C
    Authoritarian policies tend in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this include the same ideas as our anticipated main point?

    No. As with (B), (C) focus only on economics as a cause of change. By neglecting the other parts of our anticipation (changes in societal values and the formation of activist organizations) (C) is too narrow to serve as the passage's main point. Experienced test-takers would table or eliminate (C) for this reason.

  4. D
    Authoritarian principles tend in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this include the same ideas as our anticipated main point?

    Not quite. This answer choice says that economic and social stability is “impossible to maintain in the absence of democratic institutions.” That isn’t part of our anticipation, so we can table or eliminate this answer choice.

    If we had to check the passage to eliminate (D), we could find evidence that asserts a potentially false statement. In the last paragraph, the author writes that “authoritarian rule tends … to generate all three types of change” (P5, S1). If authoritarian regimes tend to lead to all types of change, such regimes may not always lead to these changes. In that case, some authoritarian regimes may be able to continue their reign (unfortunately). Thus, the passage doesn’t support (D)’s assertion that authoritarian rule is impossible to maintian.

  5. E
    Authoritarian rulers who institute Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) Does this include the same ideas as our anticipated main point?

    Yes! Although it does not specify the three types of changes (as our anticipated main point does), (E) summarizes our main point by referring to “various changes that eventually necessitate corresponding political changes.” So (E) effectively restates the author’s conclusion that authoritarian leaders reform in response to changes in society.

    Some test-takers shy away from (E) because it doesn’t specify the three types of changes or because it uses synonyms for terms in the passage, rather than using identical terms. (Notice how (A) uses several terms lifted straight from the passage to trick test-takers). This is a deliberate trap created by the test-makers to create confusion. If you didn’t like (E) for these reasons, it’s important to remember two things. First, the correct answers to Main Point questions can use more general terms than the author’s conclusion or our anticipation. Second, the correct answers to Main Point questions need to convey the same ideas as the author’s conclusion or our anticipation, but they don’t need to use the same words.

What this tests

Discussion

  • Why is E wrong? 1 reply

    Started by nivensdc

  • Choice E 1 reply

    Started by Meredith

  • Not B 1 reply

    Started by Ohemaa

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