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Question Types
The table on the next page summarizes the nine main Reading Comp question
types, arranged in the two categories we’ve discussed, Big Picture and Content.
We’ll cover each question type in the order in which they appear. Take a few minutes
to familiarize yourself with them now.
| Category/Question Type | Your Task | Percentage of Section |
| Big Picture | ||
| 1. Main Point | Recognize the overriding idea of the passage. | 15% |
| 2. Primary Purpose | Recognize the reason why the author wrote the passage. | 8% |
| 3. Paragraph Purpose | Understand the function of a paragraph in the context of the passage as a whole. | 5% |
| 4. Attitude | Recognize the author’s tone or belief regarding a person, thing, or issue. | 8% |
| 5. Organization | Recognize how the passage is constructed. | 6% |
| Content | ||
| 6. Fact | Understand what the author says about a specific detail in the passage. | 20% |
| 7. Inference | Recognize statements suggested by the information provided in the passage. | 14% |
| 8. Author Agreement | Recognize a statement consistent with the author’s belief about a specific issue. | 12% |
| 9. Detail Purpose | Understand the reason why the author cites a specific example. | 12% |
Note: Percentages are accurate at the time of
publication and may vary slightly from test to test.
In the “Real Deal” section to come, we’ll work through all the steps of the
Essential Strategy in the context of two real LSAT passages, but first you’ll learn
to apply Step 3, Divide and Conquer, to each of the nine question types listed
above. As a prelude to that discussion, let’s take a quick look at common wrong
answer types, since eliminating those will play a large part in your success.
Common Traps for All Question Types
There are six main types of wrong choices you’ll encounter in Reading
Comprehension, and the good news is that you’ve already studied four of them in
Logical Reasoning.
- Irrelevant: These answer choices focus on outside issues not mentioned anywhere in the passage.
- Twister: A twister distorts some fact or issue discussed in the passage.
- Overreach: These wrong answer choices blow a passage issue out of proportion, often employing extreme language characterized by such words as only, all, always, never, and the like.
- Opposite: These answer choices present the reverse of what the passage states or implies.
In addition, there are two more wrong answer types specific to Reading
Comp:
- Mish-Mash: These inappropriately combine passage elements in a way not intended or suggested by the author. Mish-mash choices are tempting because the things they mention “are in there somewhere.” However, that’s not good enough. Because Reading Comp passages are so chockablock with details, the test makers have plenty of fodder to work with to combine passage elements in answer choices in ways that sound appealing. Many of the resulting conglomerations, however, don’t correspond to what the author actually says or implies.
- Retrieval Error: These choices focus on something from the wrong part of the passage; for example, the wrong paragraph, person, group, event, or time period. A brilliant LSAT instructor from Manhattan dubbed this kind of wrong choice “Retrieval Error.” That’s what happens when you venture into a place in search of one thing, only to come out with something else. Picture a burglar entering a bank and coming out with a lit stick of dynamite instead of the bag of gold. Or a fireman bursting out of a burning house with the crib instead of the baby. They’ve retrieved the wrong thing. In the same vein, if you venture into the passage in search of a right answer and instead come out with an irrelevancy from the wrong part of the passage, you’ve fallen victim to a Retrieval Error of your own.
You’ll see examples of these common traps as we explore each question
type. We’ll work through each type in the context of the passage we analyzed
earlier, so refamiliarize yourself with that now and then proceed to our
discussion of the first Big Picture question type, Main Point.
| Common to most interpretations of the role of art is the | |
| notion that art correlates directly with the environmental | |
| characteristics of its period of origin. If we understand | |
| Line | technology not only as a practical set of techniques and machines |
| (5) | but also as an evolving dominant ideology of the modern age, it |
| follows that we should witness an infiltration of technology into | |
| art not just in terms of the tools and processes at artists’ | |
| disposal but also in terms of technology’s influence on art’s | |
| place within society. The latter supposition has been explored by | |
| (10) | American writer and critic Lewis Mumford during various stages of |
| his prolific career. | |
| Mumford posited an integrative role of medieval art | |
| corresponding to the unity of life characteristic of this | |
| pre-technological period. Medieval citizens, he argued, did not | |
| (15) | attend the theater, concert hall, and museum as activities unto |
| themselves as we do but rather witnessed a fusion of music, | |
| painting, sculpture, architecture, and drama in unified religious | |
| ceremonies that incorporated people into the shared social and | |
| spiritual life of the community. Integral to this phenomenon was | |
| (20) | the non-repeatability of the experience—live musicians, specially |
| commissioned scores, unique paintings and sculptures, and | |
| inimitable speakers filling incomparable cathedrals with | |
| exhortation and prayer. Everything in the artist’s repertoire was | |
| brought to bear to ensure maximum receptivity to the political, | |
| (25) | social, and religious teachings at the heart of this medieval |
| spectacle. | |
| Mumford further speculated that the mass production of text | |
| and images from the sixteenth century forward ultimately | |
| disrupted the unity exemplified by the medieval experience, and | |
| (30) | with it the role of art as a testament to and reinforcement of |
| that unity. He believed that modern communication technologies | |
| encourage the fragmentation of time, the dissociation of event | |
| and space, and the degradation of the symbolic environment via an | |
| endless repetition of cultural elements. The result is the | |
| (35) | oft-commented-upon “alienating” experience of modern life. |
| A new aesthetic orientation emerged to express this new | |
| reality. Art turned inward to focus on man’s struggle against a | |
| bureaucratized, impersonal, technological civilization. Mumford | |
| readily admits that the dissociation of the artist from communal | |
| (40) | obligations greatly expanded the realm of artistic possibilities; |
| freed from its integrative purpose, art was set loose to traverse | |
| previously inappropriate realms of psychology and individualism | |
| in startling new ways. However, the magnificent innovation born | |
| of this freedom has been somewhat hindered by art’s | |
| (45) | apprenticeship to the dominant force of the technological milieu: |
| the market. Out of necessity, money has replaced muse as | |
| motivation for many artists, resulting in the art world of today: | |
| a collection of “industries,” each concerned with nothing loftier | |
| than its own perpetuation. Mumford testified admirably to a unity | |
| (50) | of art greater than the sum of its parts. Despite modern art’s |
| potential, it is reasonable to infer the converse: that the | |
| individual arts of our technological landscape are diminished in | |
| isolation. |
1. Main Point (Big Picture)
Most passages contain some form of Main Point question, which tests
whether you have extracted from the passage the most essential idea the author
is trying to get across. It usually shows up toward the beginning of the
question set, but if you’ve done your work with the Essential Elements, the Main
Point question is a good candidate to start with no matter where in the question
set it appears.
Tackling Main Point Questions
Use the Essential Elements.
A key component of Essential Elements is keeping track of the Main
Point of each paragraph, culminating in a solid understanding of the
passage’s overall main idea by the time you reach the end. If you’ve done
this work effectively, the Main Point question should pose no special
problem, since you’ve basically contemplated this issue well in advance of
tackling the question itself.
Think Globally.
Reading Comp Main Point questions are closely tied to Logical
Reasoning Main Point questions, so the strategies you learned to handle
those certainly come into play here. There we encouraged you to think
globally, which means to separate what the author is
ultimately getting at (the main point) from what she uses to get there
(evidence). In the Logical Reasoning Main Point discussion we said,
“Remember that anything that leads to a larger issue cannot be the
main point. The correct choice should have a
satisfying, ‘end of story’ feel to it; settle for nothing less.” This advice
applies equally well here.
Hear Ye, Hear Ye . . .
Just as in Logical Reasoning, the correct choice to a Main Point
question should sound like an appropriate headline if the passage were a
newspaper article; again, not as exciting or snappy, but true to the
passage’s essence.
Pay Your Respects.
Again harking back to Essential Elements, there are reasons we
differentiate players from extras, not the least of which is to chop choices
that ignore the former in favor of the latter. Don’t dis the players!
Eliminate any main point choices that omit the passage’s main character or
central subject.
Find the Middle Ground.
Some Main Point answer choices are too narrow, and some too broad,
to reflect the true gist of the passage. As in the story of Goldilocks, the
correct answer must be just right. Avoid overly narrow
choices that focus on minor issues and overly broad choices that expand the
scope of the passage beyond the author’s main concern.
Spot the Traps.
Overreach choices are common in Main Point questions, for the reason
alluded to above: Some choices try to blow up some minor character or idea
into Main Point material while ignoring the central players and features of
the passage. In some cases these represent Retrieval Errors as well, since
they retrieve a detail of the passage and attempt to masquerade it as the
overriding point. Keep your eye out for Twister choices that distort the
main point and Irrelevant choices that focus on issues that go beyond the
scope of the passage.
Practice: Main Point
Use the guidelines above to work through this typical Main Point
question.
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Remember, by the time you begin working on the questions, you’ve
already performed Steps 1 and 2 of our Essential Strategy—that is, you’ve
already Scouted the Territory and Mined the Essential Elements.
In the guided explanations in this section of the chapter, we pick up
with Step 3: Divide and Conquer. The “Divide” part of this step concerns
separating the Big Picture from the Content questions to tackle the
questions in the most effective order. The “Conquer” part, of course, is
about answering the questions correctly.
Step 3: Divide . . . Main Point is the biggest of the Big
Picture issues, and we tracked it throughout our attack on the passage, so
it makes sense to handle a question like this first no matter where in the
question set it appears. In accordance with our mission to extract Essential
Elements from this passage, we followed the main point of each paragraph and
then put it all together as the passage’s main idea at the conclusion of
paragraph 4. That puts us in a fine position to knock this one down.
. . . and Conquer. The passage begins with a question
about the relationship between technology and art and makes its way back to
that issue with a definitive conclusion on the matter in the final
paragraph. We also designated Lewis Mumford a major player who’s featured in
all four paragraphs. So any choice that omits either the tech/art issue or
Mumford can’t represent the main point here. C is the only
choice that contains all of the passage’s relevant elements, and it matches
the main idea we delineated in the end. The author concludes that technology
influences the nature of art by creating a different kind of society to
which art must adapt. She finds the quality “diminished.” Finally, she
relies upon Mumford’s investigations to develop her position, so the first
part of the choice is right on. C is correct.
Scour the passage for players. If some person or
group is important enough in the passage, the odds are very good that
the correct choice will mention that character.
A and D both play off small points in the
introduction to the passage’s topic in the first paragraph; that is, they’re
both too narrow to suffice as the main point of the passage.
A’s most obvious failing is that it ignores the major subject
of the passage, art. D does deal with both technology and art
but focuses on what the author mentions as a side issue. The author admits
that technology has given artists new tools but immediately goes on to
express interest in a different idea—“technology’s influence on art’s place
within society.” That’s what the remainder of the passage is about.
B is true—the passage does describe
Mumford’s theory on how medieval unity evolved into modern alienation. But
this exists to support a larger point about art and technology. Thinking
globally, we’d have to conclude that B contains supporting
material that would fail hands down as a headline for this passage.
A choice must be more than just true to be the
main point of the passage.
E is an Overreach choice that’s way too broad to
represent the main point here. It also ignores the main player and the main
subject, the relationship between technology and art.
Step 4: Mine the Experience. As always, strive to get as
much out of every question and passage you attempt. We won’t bother
repeating this step, but do remain aware of its significance. Use the list
of analysis questions provided earlier to review your performance and make
the most of your practice time.
2. Primary Purpose (Big Picture)
Primary Purpose questions ask for the main reason why the author wrote the
passage. Here are some things to keep in mind when tackling this question type.
Tackling Primary Purpose Questions
Use the Essential Elements.
If you properly extracted the purpose from each paragraph, as the
Essential Elements strategy encourages you to do, you should have little
problem coming up with the overriding purpose by the time you get to the end
of the passage. Moreover, your focus on the author’s behavior, combined with
your incessant search for the author’s overriding main point, will also help
you here since nothing that conflicts with the author’s behavior or main
point can be correct for a Primary Purpose question.
Go with What You Know.
If the question set contains a Main Point question, and if you’ve
dispensed with that one handily, you can probably use that knowledge to help
you answer the Primary Purpose question since these two question types are
so closely related. In most cases, the primary purpose will be a general
restatement of the method used to arrive at the main point. In the simplest
scenario, the primary purpose is to establish the main
point. For example, if the main point of a passage is that Harriet
Tubman overcame numerous obstacles to help people escape slavery before the
Civil War, the primary purpose might be “to demonstrate the significant
achievements of a nineteenth-century American hero.” Even in more difficult
cases, the primary purpose cannot and will not run counter to any part of
the main idea.
Make the Match.
The choices in Primary Purpose questions are usually stated in
general terms, so you should go right ahead and use your Matching technique
from Logical Reasoning to match the generalities of the choices to the
specifics of the passage. As you may recall, this technique requires you to
demand a precise correspondence between the words of the choice you select
and the elements found in the passage. Nothing less will do. If any word or
phrase of an answer choice does not match what’s in the passage, that choice
must be wrong no matter how close the rest of it sounds.
Don’t hesitate to apply any technique you picked
up in Logical Reasoning here in Reading Comp; there are, after all, many
similarities between these sections. Conversely, there’s no reason why
your practice forming paragraph synopses by extracting Essential
Elements from each paragraph can’t help you better interpret Logical
Reasoning passages. As we’ve been stressing throughout, the LSAT is a
synergistic experience, with much overlap between
its various components. Those who recognize and utilize that unity do
better in the long run.
Know the Full Story.
Beware of choices that describe what the author does in only one
specific part of the passage. The correct choice must cover the author’s
complete intention.
Use Your Imagination.
If you’re unsure of a Primary Purpose answer choice, try envisioning
what the passage would have to look, feel, and sound like for that choice to
be correct. Then determine whether this imaginary passage matches the one on
the page. If it does, that choice is correct. If it doesn’t, that choice is
wrong. You’ll see an example of this strategy in the guided explanation that
follows the question below.
Scan the Verbs.
Immediately eliminate choices containing verbs that clash with the
author’s behavior or the overall tone of the passage. If, for example, the
author’s approach you identified during your consideration of the Essential
Elements is strictly expository and informative, then you should quickly
cross off choices containing words like argue, dispute, or
prove. In this way, you can narrow the choices down to
the few remaining verbs consistent with the author’s purpose in writing the
passage.
Spot the Traps.
Beware of Overreach choices that ascribe too much to what the author
is trying to accomplish in the passage. Twister choices that distort the
author’s intentions are also common to this question type. And, as indicated
above, watch out for choices that accurately describe what the author does
in one part of the passage but that don’t encompass the entire story. We can
think of these as Retrieval Errors, choices that attempt to encompass the
author’s overriding purpose but emerge from the passage with only part of
it.
Practice: Primary Purpose
Now try your hand at the following Primary Purpose question.
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Divide . . . Sometimes the Main Point question comes
first in a question set, while its partner in crime, the Primary Purpose
question, comes last. No matter—it makes sense to jump right to the Primary
Purpose question immediately after Main Point, no matter where in the
question set it appears. Think about it: You’ve just analyzed the passage,
focusing very closely on the author’s main ideas and purpose in writing.
Then you’ve picked up one point for those efforts—the Main Point question—so
why not bag another while you’re at it? Soon enough you’ll be mired in other
issues, including the specifics of the Content questions. But while you’re
in Big Picture mode, you may as well dispense of the Primary Purpose
question if one is included in the set.
Skipping around the Reading Comp question set may
seem alien to you, but it’s the best way to take control of the section.
Your only alternative is to run through the questions in the order in
which they’re presented, which is not arranged for your convenience. In
fact, how many things on the LSAT are structured for
your convenience? Here’s how many: zero. So why should you assume that
the best order to tackle Reading Comp questions (or Logic Games
questions, for that matter) is the order in which they appear? If you’re
having trouble with Reading Comp, a new approach may be just the thing
you need.
. . . and Conquer. The choices are stated in general
terms, as they often are in Primary Purpose questions, so let’s jump right
in and meticulously match the specifics of each to what we’ve picked up from
the passage.
A presents a perfect match. Technology is the feature of
modern society under consideration, and its influence on art, the main focus
of the passage, is the “effect” to which the choice refers. So A
is correct. As for the others:
B: The author laments what she perceives to be the
degradation of modern art, but she proposes no solutions to this or any
other cultural problem.
C: “Here’s what Mumford says, and here’s evidence to show
that he’s correct” would have to be the main thing we get in this passage
for C to be correct. “Here’s what Mumford says, and here’s
how it supports my take on art and technology” is more like it. This is an
example of how to use the “imagine a passage” strategy discussed earlier.
D fails on two main counts. First, while the author, via
Mumford, does outline a difference between the medieval and modern periods,
nothing suggests the difference she discusses is the major
difference between them. So this choice has a definite Twister element to
it. Second, even if we ignore this bait and switch, as we’ve come to call it
in Logical Reasoning, the difference cited is intended to support a larger
point about technology’s influence on art. The author did not write this
passage primarily to compare the medieval world to the
modern, despite the fact that that comparison does play a part in the
passage. So aside from the Twister element, this choice is also too narrow
to encompass the author’s full objective.
E is a classic Overreach. In following the author’s
behavior throughout the passage, we found that she spent most of her time
describing things and only in the end ventured the opinion that modern art
has suffered somewhat from changes in technology. Nowhere does she come
close to advocating anything, let alone a change in
communication techniques.
Remember to pay careful attention to the verbs
in Primary Purpose answer choices. “Advocate” is too strong to describe
the author’s behavior in this passage, but even “recommend” in choice
B and “bolster” in choice C exaggerate the
author’s intention.
3. Paragraph Purpose (Big Picture)
Paragraph Purpose questions ask just that—the purpose of a paragraph in
the context of the passage as a whole. These should be a welcome sight if you’ve
tracked this Essential Element carefully during your attack on the passage.
Nothing fancy here in the way of strategy, as you’ll mostly rely on the work
you’ve already done in Step 2 of the Essential Strategy.
Tackling Paragraph Purpose Questions
Use the Essential Elements.
You should get in the habit of noting the purpose of every paragraph
you read, but Scouting the Territory during Step 1 might alert you to be
especially vigilant when it comes to a specific paragraph singled out in a
question. The function of a particular paragraph may not become fully
evident until you’ve read the entire passage; remember, paragraphs don’t
exist in a vacuum but as components of the author’s overall purpose, which
may not be fully evident until the end.
Spot the Traps.
Don’t be surprised to come across some Retrieval Errors here—choices
that describe the function of some other paragraph in the
passage. Avoid Twister choices that distort the function of the paragraph in
question and Overreach choices that exaggerate what the paragraph was
written to accomplish. You may even encounter Opposite choices that totally
reverse the purpose of the paragraph in question. For example, if a
paragraph exists to refute an earlier assertion, an Opposite choice may
state that the paragraph serves to support or affirm previous claims. In the
same vein, eliminate choices that clash with the author’s overall tone and
opinion, since nothing that contradicts the author’s general purpose or
demeanor can suffice to describe her intentions in a single
paragraph.
Practice: Paragraph Purpose
Keeping our passage analysis in mind, try your hand at the following
Paragraph Purpose question.
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Divide . . . Paragraph Purpose questions follow nicely on
the heels of Main Point and Primary Purpose questions, since they require
the same kind of Big Picture thinking you’ve engaged in during your
paragraph analyses in Step 2 of the Essential Strategy. So try to tackle
this type early on if one appears in the question set, no matter where the
test makers choose to place it.
. . . and Conquer. We discussed in our paragraph 2
synopsis how the seeming detour into the pre-technological world must serve
some purpose, and that that purpose is to provide a contrast to the
alienating influence of technology on the modern world. In the remainder of
the passage, the author contrasts art’s role in an integrative medieval
community with art’s role in our alienating, modern technological
civilization to advance her argument regarding the influence of technology
on art. The description in paragraph 2 of medieval society and art thus
serves as the basis of this contrast which does, as E puts it,
underlie the author’s argument concerning modern art.
In Step 1 of the Essential Strategy, you would
notice that this question specifically deals with paragraph 2, so it
makes sense during Step 2 to put extra effort into the initial analysis
of that paragraph. Still, don’t hesitate to return to the passage to
quickly review what you learned and to make sure that you understand
this paragraph in the context of the entire passage.
A: If anything, the discussion in paragraph 2 builds on
the previous discussion, so there’s no alternative there.
B and C are Opposite choices. The
speculations and evidence concerning art in paragraph 2 don’t refute but
rather lay the foundation for what comes later.
Sometimes multiple choices are wrong for the same
basic reason. Here, B and C both view
paragraph 2 as some kind of counter to later passage information. The
paragraph does serve to illustrate a contrast, but one
that underlies, not opposes, the main idea. Understanding the relatively
even flow of the passage and the general lack of opposition to the
position under development makes it easier to eliminate such choices.
D suggests that paragraph 2 serves to illustrate the lack
of continuity in the thought of Lewis Mumford. But the author has no problem
with Mumford. Mumford made different judgments about different times, but so
what? Mumford’s theory of medieval times is certainly consistent with his
thoughts on modernity, and in any case the paragraph doesn’t exist to
highlight the coherence of Mumford’s analysis but rather to support the
point the author is trying to make about art. So this one most resembles a
Twister choice.
4. Attitude (Big Picture)
Attitude questions ask about what the author thinks about a specific
person, thing, issue, or situation described in the passage. They’re usually
fairly short, but that doesn’t always mean they’re easy. Here are some pointers
on how to go about them.
Tackling Attitude Questions
Use the Essential Elements.
Again, your focus on the author’s behavior while attacking each
paragraph of the passage will greatly come to your aid, since such a study
tells you much about the author’s overall attitude. Also, the giveaways you
extract play a large role here, since these are words or phrases that
specifically key you in to the author’s beliefs. Be on the lookout for words
or phrases that clash with the giveaways you discover during your attack on
the passage.
Get in the Ballpark.
There are three general ways an author may feel about something:
positively, negatively, or neutral. It helps to first slot the author’s
attitude into one of these three categories. This preliminary assessment
will often help you to eliminate at least one choice, maybe more.
Use Your Imagination.
Just as in Primary Purpose questions when you used your imagination
to conjure up a passage that might fit a particular choice to see if that
choice matched the passage, here you can imagine what the situation in
question would need to sound like for a choice under consideration to be
correct. For example, suppose a question asks for the author’s attitude on a
recommendation put forth in the passage, and you’re considering a choice
containing the phrase “unconcealed skepticism.” Ask yourself what
“unconcealed skepticism” would sound like in the context of this particular
recommendation, and then see whether that is in fact what you get in the
passage. Say the author indicates that the recommendation in question may
very well work but merely suggests that a better option may be available.
This attitude would not accord very well with the phrase “unconcealed
skepticism,” nor of course would any situation in which the author actually
champions the recommendation. However, language outwardly lambasting the
recommendation or those who made it would fit the bill. To test for
“unconcealed skepticism,” you would do well to imagine a passage in which
the author essentially says something along the line of “that recommendation
is the stupidest thing I ever heard.” If this imaginary passage matches the
one in front of you, then “unconcealed skepticism” would make for a fine
choice. If not, you’d need to cross it off and look elsewhere.
Spot the Traps.
Overreach choices in Attitude questions exaggerate the author’s
overall demeanor or feeling about a particular issue. For example, say that
an author argues that the revision of a medical theory in light of newly
discovered evidence will help to better predict the onset of childhood
diabetes. An Overreach choice might describe the author as downright hostile
toward the current theory, when in fact he merely argues that while mostly
valid and helpful, it can be made better. Even more blatant are Opposite
choices, which assign a tone to the author’s attitude or mode of
presentation that flat-out contradicts the tone of the passage.
Practice: Attitude
See how you make out on this typical Attitude question.
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Divide . . . The author’s attitude is closely tied to her
main point and primary purpose, so there’s every reason to believe that the
thinking we’ve been doing along these lines will help us through any
Attitude questions the set contains too. Moreover, Attitude questions are
typically short, and the more quick points we get under our belt up front,
the better we feel about ourselves, and the more time it leaves for the
tough stuff. So when divvying up your tasks, it pays to turn your attention
to Attitude questions, if any, after bagging any Main Point, Primary
Purpose, and Paragraph Purpose questions in the set.
. . . and Conquer. You’ll recall that no authorial
attitude really emerged in this passage until the fourth paragraph, where
the excellent giveaways “hindered” and “diminished in isolation” were our
first hints as to the author’s feelings about modern art. These giveaways
rule out “totally positive” as the author’s attitude, which kills
D, and they show that she’s more than “neutral,” too, which
allows us to toss B as well. Having discarded these choices
quickly for failing to even get in the ballpark, we can now turn our
attention to the negatively tinged choices.
E fails on account of “puzzlement.” Is the author really
puzzled? It doesn’t seem so, considering that she’s just spent an entire
passage explaining to us the mechanism that has led to modern art’s
diminishment. If we use the “imagination” technique described above, we’d
try to envision what an author puzzled about the quality of modern art might
sound like. Whatever that might be, it isn’t what we get here, so we can
dispose of E. The author’s stance on this is simply too assured
to qualify as “puzzled.”
One way to get through the Reading Comp section
on time is to make as many “quick kills” as possible. In Primary Purpose
questions you can scan for and quickly chop choices containing
inappropriate verbs. In Attitude questions, you can use the “Ballpark”
technique to do the same.
That leaves A and C, which differ mainly in
the author’s degree of negativity. Using your imagination again, you might
ask yourself: What does “unqualified derision” sound like? Well, kind of
like this: “THIS SUCKS! IT REALLY, REALLY, SUCKS!! No two ways about
it . . . IT SUCKS!!” In fact, our mild-mannered author (you know we tracked
her behavior throughout for a reason, and she always seemed pretty
matter-of-fact in her presentation) actually has some
positive things to say about the change that has taken
place, despite its overall negative impact: It “greatly expanded the realm
of artistic possibilities”; “art was set loose” to cover new ground in
“startling new ways”; and even the thing that has been “somewhat hindered”
(notice the qualifier “somewhat,” which by itself works against
A’s “unqualified derision”) is referred to as a “magnificent
innovation.” So, putting it all together, she thinks modern art is worse
off, despite great promise. “Reserved disappointment” best matches this
attitude toward modern art, so C is the answer we
seek.
5. Organization (Big Picture)
Organization questions ask how the passage is put together, which means
that they’re not much different from Logical Reasoning Method questions. So
naturally you’ll want to take advantage of the skills you developed in that
section to help you with these. The mechanics of these aren’t particularly
tricky, but the wording of the choices, often lengthy, can pose some problems.
Here are a few strategies to keep in mind.
Tackling Organization Questions
Use the Essential Elements.
Your careful work on the paragraph-by-paragraph synopses should help
you to get a grip on the passage’s overall structure, especially if you gave
adequate consideration to how the paragraphs relate to one another. The
purposes of the paragraphs, taken together, form a roadmap of how the
passage is constructed, so again the Essential Elements you identify up
front play a major role in helping you to answer the last of our Big Picture
questions.
Make the Match.
The same skills that you use to match choices in Logical Reasoning
Method questions to the passage can be used here to find the choice that
perfectly accords with the passage’s organization. Don’t be intimidated by
the general wording of the choices. Match the elements of each choice
meticulously to your conception of the passage’s structure developed during
your passage analysis. Carefully test out each element of the choices until
the one capturing the proper organization emerges.
Spot the Traps.
Irrelevant choices contain things that simply aren’t in the passage,
things that come out of left field. For example, the test makers may throw
the word prediction into a choice when no prediction
appears in the passage. Since passages are organized to achieve the author’s
purpose, you may come across Opposite choices that suggest some purpose of
the author that runs counter to what the passage is organized to accomplish,
or Twister choices that distort the passage structure in some way. By and
large, though, wrong choices in Organization questions usually reference
things that just aren’t there, so if you rely on your Matching skills, you
should be able to eliminate wrong choices with confidence.
Practice: Organization
Take a shot at the following Organization question, and then, as
always, thoroughly review the guided explanation.
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Divide . . . If you’ve succeeded in extracting the
Essential Elements during your passage analysis, the passage’s structure
should be fairly clear in your mind. You can tackle the Organization
question (if one appears) anytime after Main Point and Primary Purpose, but
in any case you should do it before the Content questions that take you out
of Big Picture mode and plunge you into the specifics of the passage. Again,
it’s best to handle the Big Picture questions first while those issues are
foremost in your mind and save the more detail-oriented stuff for later.
. . . and Conquer. We’ve carefully tracked the purpose of
each paragraph, so now let’s reap the reward.
A: Is a theory put forward? Sure—the author’s notion that
“we should witness an infiltration of technology into art” in numerous ways.
But the author never veers off into any kind of discussion of how to test
the theory or, even further afield, obstacles to such a test. The testing
and obstacles stuff is simply Irrelevant to this passage—not there.
B: Is a particular definition presented? Yes. The author
defines technology as both a practical set of techniques and an evolving
dominant ideology. Is a consequence of accepting this definition proposed?
Yes again. The author says that if we view technology in this particular
light, something should follow—namely, a particular relationship between
technology and art. Is that proposed consequence affirmed? Yup. The next few
paragraphs describe, with Mumford’s help, this very issue of technology’s
influence over art. We’ve come this far—it would be a damn shame for it to
fall to pieces now, and it doesn’t. A judgment (art has been diminished
through this process) is rendered in the end.
Just because the technique for dealing with
Organization questions is pretty straightforward doesn’t mean these
questions are cake. Often the very general wording of the choices
complicates things significantly. But if you hang in there, you’ll find
that all the elements of the correct choice do match
the structure of the passage and also that some of the wrong choices
will contain obvious mismatches, making them quick kills.
C: The words supposition and
speculation aren’t so egregious to raise red flags
right off the bat, as there certainly is a lot of supposing and speculating
going on in the beginning. We’ll even let “further speculations are
detailed” slide, since Mumford does offer speculations in bulk. But we can’t
be as forgiving of the phrase “counter the original
supposition,” since no big turnaround occurs. The original supposition that
technology should influence art in a particular way is affirmed, not
countered, which means that this one ventures into Opposite territory.
D falls for the same basic reason, as no opposition to an
interpretation appears in the passage. The closest we get to “expert
testimony” are Mumford’s theories, which serve to support the author’s
overall point.
E: It’s fair to deem the initial inquiry a “question,” as
the author basically sets up the question of whether technology’s
infiltration into art pans out as she supposes it should based on her
conception of technology. Moreover, evidence from both the medieval and
modern periods is provided in the course of the passage in
the hopes of investigating this issue. This one breaks down over the phrase
“deeming the question unanswerable.” The question is
answered (technology does indeed affect art), and a value judgment based on
this answer (art is diminished) is asserted.
That does it for the five Big Picture question types, so we turn out
attention now to the Content question types testing your understanding of
the passage’s details. It’s not that Content questions are necessarily more
difficult than Big Picture questions; indeed, some may be easier, depending
of course on your understanding of the passage. But as we’ve stressed
throughout, you can’t be tested on every detail in the passage, so it’s wise
to not waste much time fully understanding every single nuance—you can, and
should in many cases, look back at the passage to answer questions about
specific issues. But you’ll nearly always be asked the kinds of Big Picture
questions discussed earlier, which you can prepare for in your initial
read-through by tracking the Essential Elements in the manner described.
Having done so, and having knocked those off to the best of your ability,
you’ll be ready to dig deeper into the guts of the passage to deal with the
four question types in the Content category. Let’s begin with Fact
questions.
6. Fact (Content)
You’ve heard the expression “a fact’s a fact,” and that’s nowhere more
true than in LSAT Reading Comp. Facts are merely the things the author asserts,
and some questions test whether you understand them. Some call these “Detail”
questions or “Explicit Text” questions, but we’ll just stick to precisely what
they are: facts stated somewhere in the passage. Fact questions often contain
language such as “According to the passage . . .” or “The author
indicates . . .” Here are some tips on how to deal with Fact questions.
Tackling Fact Questions
Retrace Your Steps.
One of the things to do when Scouting the Territory during Step 1 is
to take note of passage details tested in specific questions. For example,
consider the question stem of the question you’ll try next:
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The author indicates that Mumford believed which one of the following regarding modern communication technologies? |
The question alerts you to pay a bit of extra attention to any
Mumford/modern technology text you happen upon in the passage. A notation
(such as an asterisk in the margins or underlining the relevant text) may
help you to relocate material associated with this issue in the event that
you need to reread this material in greater detail to help you select an
answer.
You may be wondering at this point when it’s
appropriate to look back at the passage to answer questions. Some
advocate going back to the passage to find, or at least verify, the
answer to every question in the set. However, we believe this is not
necessary if you’ve successfully extracted and thought through a
passage’s Essential Elements. Your focus on the author’s actions,
intentions, attitudes, and overriding points should allow you to bag at
least a few “quick kills” on Big Picture questions right out of the box,
without looking back. This is how you make up the time spent analyzing
the passage, and why we recommend attempting the Big Picture questions
first. Content questions, on the other hand, almost always require
passage checking, especially since we recommend that you don’t get too
bogged down in the passage details during your first read-through. You
may also find the confidence to answer some Content questions based
solely on your memory of the passage, and that’s okay too. But if you
have any doubt, go back to the relevant passage text to confirm your
selection.
Focus Your Efforts.
If you do go back to the passage, reread the text pertaining to the
fact in question, specifically in light of what the question asks you to
determine.
Notice again the benefit implied by this Divide
and Conquer approach that has you focus on Big Picture issues instead of
the intricacies of details. If you try to understand every detail during
your first read-through, you’re going to end up spending a lot of extra
time comprehending stuff that offers no reward in the end.
Remember, not every detail in the passage is tested in the
question set. And even for those that are, you’re better
off revisiting the relevant passage material with the definite knowledge
of what it is about that material the test makers want you to
understand.
Spot the Traps.
As we’re sure you know, facts are very malleable—just look at what
politicians and pundits do with them every day. Facts may be distorted or
exaggerated, which mean you should beware of Twister and Overreach choices.
Also don’t be surprised to come across Irrelevant choices that miss the
point entirely or Retrieval Error choices that deal with a passage detail
other than the one alluded to in the question.
Practice: Fact
Now try this Fact question on your own.
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Divide . . . “The author indicates” tells us we’re
dealing with a Fact question, so the answer is stated right in the passage
itself. Fact questions are good candidates to tackle after you’ve dispensed
of all the Big Picture questions. They’re generally the most straightforward
of the Content questions because they give you a definite starting point—the
detail being tested, sometimes even aided by a line reference telling you
where in the passage to find it. Some of the other Content questions aren’t
as forthcoming, so consider tackling the Fact questions immediately after
the Big Picture questions are out of the way.
. . . and Conquer. Mumford’s view on modern communication
technologies appears in paragraph 3.
Thinking through the Big Picture issues of
structure and organization, and using that knowledge to answer Big
Picture questions, will often help you to locate the information you
need to answer Content questions.
Now you have a choice: You can automatically return to that part of
the passage to quickly review it before attempting the question, or if
you’re confident that you remember something about Mumford’s view on this
matter, you can scan through the choices trying to eliminate a few that
sound off-base. Either way, it’s likely you’ll want to look back at the
detail at some point, if nothing else, to confirm your selection. The author
tells us that Mumford believed that modern communication technologies
fragment time, dissociate events and space, and degrade the symbolic
environment resulting in the alienating experience of modern life. A
captures this notion best.
The answers to some Fact questions are merely
paraphrases of the text.
B is an Opposite choice. Mumford thought that modern
communication technologies have diminished the kind of societal unity
exhibited in the Middle Ages.
C is an Overreach. While Mumford believes that these
technologies degrade the symbolic environment, nothing suggests that he
thinks they’re the only things to do so.
D reverses cause and effect, at least as far as the
author sees things. The author states that a new aesthetic orientation
emerged to express the new reality created by the disintegrating effects of
modern communication technologies. D gets it backward.
Moreover, this choice subtly shifts the focus to an assertion of the author,
as opposed to a belief of Mumford, which means a Retrieval Error is in play
as well.
We slated cause and effect as one of your Logical
Reasoning Essential Concepts, but it’s not limited to that section
alone. Take advantage of the synergistic nature of the test. If you have
a good grasp of cause and effect, and are hip to the ways in which the
test makers play around with it, you’re less likely to fall for a wrong
choice like this.
E: Just because Mumford believed that modern
communication technologies have this fragmentation effect doesn’t mean he
necessarily thinks this is the first time in history a
society has experienced this. Perhaps other things bring about the same
effect. This choice takes Mumford’s beliefs too far, which can only mean one
thing: Overreach.
7. Inference (Content)
Inference questions are similar to the Inference questions in Logical
Reasoning. They ask you to make reasonable deductions based on the passage
text—that is, to recognize things suggested by the text or that must be true yet
are not stated explicitly in the passage. Sometimes Inference questions require
you to combine statements to form valid inferences, but often they are simply
derived from closely paraphrasing the text and understanding the author’s or
other characters’ feelings about the issues discussed in the passage. They
almost never contain formal logic elements, so all in all they are not as strict
as Logical Reasoning Inference questions. Still, all your practice with those
should help you with these. Here are some guidelines to get you on your way.
Tackling Inference Questions
Locate the Topic.
Sometimes you’ll be asked to form an inference regarding a specific
topic mentioned in the question stem. In those cases, locate and carefully
reread passage material concerning that topic before testing the choices.
Let the Choices Be Your Guide.
When no specific reference is provided, use the choices to lead you
to the relevant issues and sections of the passage. Reread those sections,
and test the choices accordingly.
Use the Essential Elements.
While Essential Elements concerning Big Picture issues don’t come
into play directly here, the correct answer to an Inference question must
still closely accord with the tone of the passage and the general demeanor
and opinions of the author. If a choice sounds far afield from what you know
of the author and her overriding ideas, it’s likely that that choice is
wrong.
Stay in Line.
A good Reading Comp inference must satisfy the same general
conditions as a good Logical Reasoning inference: It must be strongly
supported by the facts, be in line with the overall tone of the passage, and
entail no unwarranted suppositions.
Negate and Destroy.
This is our trusty Logical Reasoning technique that’s used to
confirm or eliminate wrong answer choices. If negating the choice you
believe to be correct results in something that in some way contradicts the
facts of the passage, chances are that choice is correct. Conversely, if
nothing seriously goes awry when you negate a choice, then that choice
probably doesn’t contain the inference you seek.
Spot the Traps.
Much like the wrong choices in Logical Reasoning Inference
questions, the wrong choices in Reading Comp Inference questions are mostly
populated by Twisters, Opposites, and Overreaches. Also keep an eye out for
Mish-Mashes—choices that inappropriately relate two or more passage
elements—and Irrelevant choices that bring in issues from left field.
Mish-Mash choices can be tricky, because they’re
built from familiar-sounding passage material. Remember, just because
something in a choice is “in there”—that is, is recognizable from the
passage—doesn’t necessarily make it true. Similarly, just because two
elements of the passage appear together in a choice doesn’t mean that
those elements can be combined in any old way.
Practice: Inference
Use the tips above to work through the following Inference question.
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Divide . . . Generally worded Inference questions like
the one above simply ask “what can be inferred from the passage,” and thus
give no indication of where in the passage the right answer will be found.
These can cumbersome, since you’ll need to follow multiple trails to test
choices referring to issues scattered all over the passage. Even if the
question is not difficult, it may still entail a lot of work to find the
correct choice. Moreover, understanding facts is generally
less overwhelming than deducing from facts, which
strengthens the case for tackling Fact questions before Inference questions.
Overall then, it’s generally best to save these for near the end of the
question set.
. . . and Conquer. We have no clue as to where the answer
will be found, so we’ll simply have to attack the choices one by one.
A:
Modern religious ceremonies are Irrelevant—we’re told
nothing about those, so we can’t determine where the music for those
ceremonies comes from.
Take note of how the test makers form wrong
choices. Because special scores were commissioned for medieval religious
ceremonies, the test makers assume (rightly so, we’re sure) that at
least some people will jump to the conclusion that such scores aren’t
commissioned for modern ceremonies. But nothing supports this
contention.
B: Irrelevant again. We don’t know whether modern artists
are even aware of the paradigm shift that Mumford outlines, or if they are,
that they care.
C centers around the idea of necessity. While the passage
does suggest that inward-turning art is effective at expressing
dissatisfaction with one’s environment, nothing suggests that it is
necessary for this purpose—that is, that it’s the
only way to express this angst. This choice is
therefore too extreme to be inferred, which qualifies it as an Overreach.
D is inferable. The author contrasts the unity and
communal spirit of medieval life (both aided and expressed by the arts) with
the impersonal alienation of modern times. It is thus inferable that
medieval life was not generally alienating and impersonal, even if the
author never quite states that directly. Try negate and destroy: What if
medieval life was generally alienating and impersonal? The
contrast established between the Middle Ages and modernity would then fall
apart, seriously damaging the thrust of the author’s argument. This confirms
that choice D is strongly suggested in the passage.
E: We know what Mumford did investigate;
as for what he didn’t, there’s no way to tell.
Unknowables, discussed at length in Logical
Reasoning, play a part in Reading Comp too.
8. Author Agreement (Content)
Author Agreement is a special form of Inference question. These questions
ask you to find the choice containing an idea to which the author would likely
subscribe, so there is an element of deduction at work here. They’re distinct
from Fact questions because they’re based on the author’s
implied beliefs that are not explicitly stated in the passage.
Sometimes, as in the practice question below, they ask you to deduce what the
author might believe regarding a new situation described in the question stem.
Here are some tips to keep in mind for this type.
Tackling Author Agreement Questions
Locate the Topic.
The same issue we discussed regarding Inference questions applies
here: A specific topic may be stated in the question stem, and it may not.
If it is, locate and reread the passage material concerning that topic
before testing the choices.
Let the Choices Be Your Guide.
In other cases, no specific topic is provided in the stem. Instead,
you’ll see some form of the open-ended question “With which one of the
following would the author be most likely to agree?” Again, you’d have no
choice but to follow the lead of the choices.
Use the Essential Elements.
Having studied the author’s behavior, opinions, and motivations in
depth, use that knowledge to infer her position on related matters. Just as
we saw with standard Inference questions, the correct answer to an Author
Agreement question must also closely conform to the demeanor and opinions of
the author. In fact, in some cases you may have such a good grasp of the
author’s beliefs that you may not need to return to the passage to test the
choices—the correct one may jump off the page at you.
Spot the Traps.
Be on the lookout for Overreach, Twister, and Opposite wrong choices
that exaggerate, distort, or even flat-out contradict the beliefs of the
author. Also beware of Retrieval Errors that attempt to attribute a belief
to the author that actually belongs to some other character in the passage
or that describes the author’s attitude toward some other
issue in the passage, not the one referenced in the stem.
Practice: Author Agreement
Now see what you can make of the following Author Agreement question.
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Divide . . . Other than handling these after the Big
Picture questions, there’s no one place in the pecking order that these
definitely belong. Some may be comfortable tackling these right after the
Big Picture questions, while the focus is still on the opinions and methods
of the author. Others may prefer getting the Fact questions under their belt
before trying this type. After getting some practice with all the types,
you’ll likely discover what works best for you.
. . . and Conquer. We’re offered a new scenario—outside
information, as it were—and asked what the author might think about it. Of
course, the trick is to build on what we already know about the author’s
beliefs. This author discusses the new modern aesthetic orientation that has
emerged to express the new reality of an alienating, mechanized,
technological civilization. The painting cited in the question stem
represents a good example of the inward-turning art the author describes, so
we can reasonably infer she would find this painting consistent with the
modern cultural disintegration outlined in paragraph 3. That’s what we get
in correct choice B. Let’s see what’s wrong with the others:
A: According to the author, modern art is a
reaction to, not a cause of, the
current state of affairs, so the author wouldn’t fault the painting for
bringing about anything.
We saw in choice D of the practice
Fact question how cause and effect, something we studied at length in
the Logical Reasoning chapter, pops up even here in Reading Comp. Be
sensitive to words or phrases such as “bringing about” that may suggest
cause and effect. Moreover, when cause and effect is in
play, check to see whether the causation flows in the right direction.
This choice pulls the old switcheroo, which places it firmly in the
Opposite camp.
C is a big-time Overreach. The author certainly considers
art of the type described in the question stem as one way people deal with
the realities of the modern world, but nothing suggests that she believes
this is the only viable reaction.
Extreme-sounding words like only, always,
never, and the like often signal classic Overreaches in
both Reading Comp and Logical Reasoning answer choices.
D: The first problem here is that this choice refers to
one of Mumford’s beliefs, while we’re seeking the author’s buy-in. While
technically qualifying as a Retrieval Error, it isn’t especially egregious
since the author’s beliefs are fairly well aligned with Mumford’s. So it’s
excusable if you missed the faulty attribution here. However, the Opposite
part of the story can’t be ignored: A painting depicting the isolation of a
mechanized world would be considered by both Mumford and the author as the
direct opposite of art expressing “the unity of life.”
E: On the contrary, the author seems to believe that the
new form of modern art accurately captures the psychological state of modern
alienation. She may not be particularly happy that art has come to this, but
she believes it does reflect the current reality. E is
therefore another Opposite choice containing a notion that we would
not expect the author to support.
9. Detail Purpose (Content)
This final kind of Content question asks for the purpose of some specific
detail in the passage; not what the detail says (which would
make it a Fact question), but why the author chose to include
it. But for the fact that this question type revolves around a specific detail
in the passage, we might actually consider it a Big Picture question because of
how much it concerns the author’s purpose. Similar to your Paragraph Purpose
approach, you’ll make use of the Essential Elements to get you in the right
frame of mind, only now you’ll focus on the purpose of a detail instead of the
entire paragraph. As usual, an understanding of the common traps associated with
this question type will come into play as well. Here are the strategies that
will win you the point.
Tackling Detail Purpose Questions
Locate the Topic.
You’ll always be given a specific issue to focus on, so the first
step is to find the relevant passage material. Your work during Step 1,
Scouting the Territory, already alerted you to the importance of the detail
in question, giving you the chance to highlight it in some way for later
reference. (We’ll talk more about specific Scouting the Territory strategies
in our analysis of the Real Deal passages later in the chapter.) Of course,
if you’re given a specific line reference for the detail in question, use
it.
Let Context Be Your Guide.
When you’ve located the detail in question, analyze it in terms of
its function. Any time you’re asked about the purpose of something in the
passage, be it a paragraph or a specific element, you must think in terms of
context—that is, how it relates to everything around
it. That means going beyond the simple question of what is
said, to the more complicated issue of why it’s said. Doing
that, once again, is helped by the work you’ve already performed.
Use the Essential Elements.
Your continual analysis of the author’s purpose and behavior in Step
2 of our Essential Strategy should help you get into the ballpark and
eliminate any choices that contradict the author’s overall i