LSAT PrepTest 44 Section 1 Question 2 Explanation | Reading Comprehension

I didn't write the following blog post. It was already on the blog when I took over the URL. The following blog post may contain mistakes. -Steve

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This Reading Comprehension question is from the October 2004 LSAT.

First, let's recall the paragraph summaries we wrote for this passage when we did Question 18:

Paragraph 1 = CAW pays for legal services

Paragraph 2 = Lawyers concerned

Paragraph 3 = Plan hurts legal services

Considering these very useful summaries, let's pre-phrase an idea of what the "main purpose" of this passage is. It seems it's something like "to show how the CAW legal plan may lower the quality of legal services." The description of the plan (paragraph 1) and the presentation of opposing views about it (paragraph 2) ultimately leads to the author's negative view of it (paragraph 3), which seems to be the point of the passage.

Scanning the answer choices, we see that D fits our pre-phrase quite well, since it touches on the author's concern that the legal plan will lower the quality of legal services. Let's quickly look through the other answer choices to see why they're wrong:

A) Too narrow in scope. The author does mention how plans like the CAW plan differ from how people normally buy legal services, but he also spends 2 out of 3 paragraphs summarizing arguments for an against the plan and making his own argument. A statement of the "main purpose" can't just leave this out.

B) Again, too narrow in scope, for the same reason as A. It totally misses the author's opinion, which is the real main purpose...this passage isn't just narrative, it's persuasive.

C) Too narrow in scope, once again. The author does a lot more than look at the effects of the plan on prices...he places a great deal of emphasis on quality. In fact, his main argument is that the plans will lower the quality of legal services.

D) Correct.

E) Beyond the scope of the passage. The author just critiques the CAW-style plans. He offers no new plan of his own. So, this can't be the "main purpose."

Remember:

1) Use paragraph summaries, usually just a couple of words written alongside each paragraph. They can help a lot in seeing the main point of the passage and how its argument progresses.

2) Pre-phrase an answer so that you can find the right answer more quickly without slowly slogging through the wrong ones and wasting time. Pre-phrasing works on questions like this with a definite answer (there's only one "main purpose" of the passage).

2) Look out for answer choices that are too narrow or broad in scope. Keeping an eye on the passage's scope (what it does talk about and what it doesn't talk about) can help to eliminate a ton of answer choices, as we've seen again and again on this blog. Here, for example, the "main purpose" can't be too narrow in scope (not capturing the most important parts of the passage) or too broad in scope (talking about things the passage never even addresses).