LSAT PrepTest 44 Section 1 Question 27 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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Here's a Reading Comprehensoin question from the October 2004 LSAT.

Let's recall the paragraph summaries we wrote down when we first tackled this passage. They should help us get an idea of the author's overall attitude toward modernists, which is the subject of this question.

Paragraph 1 = Modernism didn't fit building methods

P. 2 = Modernism dominated architecture

P. 3 = Modernism too demanding, lost popularity

Considering these summaries, let's find a pre-phrase. It seems the author is most concerned with "telling how the modernist movement gained popularity and then lost it through impracticality." Paragraph 2 narrates the rise and 3 narrates the fall, roughly. We see right away that this pre-phrase fits choice A very well, since both emphasize the passage's focus on modernism's demise. Let's go through the other choices quickly:

A) Correct.

B) The opposite of what we want. The author talks all about modernism's past and why it lost popularity. The passage doesn't look to its future.

C) Out of scope. The passage never mentions a misunderstanding of modernism. It presents its own view of the movement but never contrats that with some misconception of the movement.

D) Out of scope again. The passage criticizes modernism itself but doesn't anticipate or even mention other criticisms of modernism.

E) Out of scope once again, for a similar reason as C and D. C, D, and E all seem to be alluding to some (nonexistent) opposing view of modernism in the passage when, in reality, the author just presents the tenets of modernism and his own view of the movement and doesn't address opposing ones. So, no "incompatible" views of the movement are covered.

Remember:

1) Use paragraph summaries to get a sense of the author's attitude and pre-phrase an answer to select an answer choice more quickly and accurately.

2) Watch out for choices that are the opposite of what we want (in this case, the author's attitude toward modernism) or are out of scope (in this case, have nothing to do with the author's attitude toward modernism).