LSAT PrepTest 20 Section 2 Question 6 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 Comprehension question from the October 1996 LSAT.

Since this is the first question we're doing from this passage, let's make some brief paragraph summaries to guide us on all the questions (these can be just a word or two scrawled next to each paragraph...it doesn't take long, believe me, and can be quite helpful, but trying to memorize them and not writing them down will take away the benefits):

Paragraph 1 = Davis under-recognized because he changed styles

P. 2 = Davis went from bebop to jazz

P. 3 = He did less restrictive jazz

P. 4 = Modifications to jazz playing caused anger

P. 5 = Davis opened up new possibilities

Okay, given that, we know that the author's explanation for why critics don't like Davis is because he changed things too quickly and expanded jazz too much, more or less. We can't pre-phrase here, so let's get right into the choices:

A) Outside of the scope of the passage. Davis, the 4th paragraph says, weakened improvisation by editing the tapes of musicians. Critics admiring jazz players who improv would be admiring people who do the opposite of Davis, which would not undermine the author's view. This choice doesn't really tell us anything about whether the author's view is right or not.

B) Correct. The critics would be admiring people who did the same main thing the author says hurt Davis with the critics (making big style changes). If it didn't hurt these musicians, why would it hurt Davis? The author's explanation is undermined.

C) Outside the scope of the passage. The author talked about using electronic instruments as only one thing that bothered critics. Also, even if critics liked a few musicians who did that, maybe they disliked most of them because they played on electronic instruments. That prejudice against them might still exist, which would bolster the author's contention.

D) The opposite of what we want. Davis had a long career. If critics liked musicians who had short ones, maybe they disliked Davis because he had such a long one. The author's contention is strengthened.

E) Out of scope since the passage doesn't make clear if Davis had one, the other, or both. So, we can't discern critics' view of him from this and evaluate the author's contention.

Remember:

1) Use summaries and don't worry about making a pre-phrase if there's no definite answer.

2) Eliminate choices that are the opposite of what we need or are out of scope.