LSAT PrepTest 20 Section 2 Question 5 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.

Let's look back at that part of the passage, since this resembles an evidence question and it's always good to use the passage on those. Line 38-41 address this directly, saying that Davis had people improvise based on a script in the studio. Then, the passage says, he'd make a recording out of parts of that improvisation by editing it. So, we can pre-phrase, in a sense. A task resembling this one will involve allowing improvisation and then editing the product into a final work. Let's look through the answer choices for something like that.

A) Too narrow in scope to resemble what Davis did. This has the element of improvisation but none of the editing.

B) Wrong for the exact same reason as A.

C) Wrong for the same reason as A and B, except this time the choice focuses only on editing to the exclusion of improvisation. Those two elements were the salient features of Davis' work, and to resemble that work closely, the choice should have both features.

D) Correct. They improvise based on something assigned to them (a subject to photograph) and then their work is edited and compiled into a collage, just as Davis had the musicians improvise on written music and then edited and compiled their work into recordings.

E) Wrong for the exact same reason as C. Improvisation, but no compilation/editing.

Remember:

1) Be sure to look back at the passage on evidence questions.

2) Pre-phrase (just in your head, don't write it down) to increase speed and accuracy.

3) Ditch answer choices that are too narrow in scope when you're finding a choice that is an analogy to something else, it has to be fully analogous.