LSAT Reading Comp Passages, Categorized

Last week, I published a list containing the topic of every LSAT Reading Comprehension Passage. You may have noticed that some topics appeared multiple times.

There are 4 Reading Comp passages per section. Each section contains one passage from each of the following categories: Natural Science, Social Science, Humanities, and Law.

Many prep companies group the 4 RC passages per section into those categories and stop there.

This week, I've gone a step further and done a more comprehensive categorization of many Reading Comprehension passages that have appeared on the LSAT.

Familiarity and comfort with these topics and/or passage styles is a good idea, as LSAC is likely to repeat them at some point in the future.

Some categories are broader than others, and some passages easily fall within more than one category. In these cases, I picked the category that seemed most useful.

The categories, in a loosely logical order, are:

Computers, Internet, Copyright Law
Judge, Jury, Lawyer, Courts
Law and Literature, Critical Legal Studies
Legal and Political Theory / Systems
Slavery and Civil Rights
Psychology
Economics
American Colonies
Immigrants
Women Doing Impressive Things Throughout History
Women's Education
Medieval Times
Native American Land
Other Native American Passages
Authors Mixing Literary Genres
Latin American Lit vs. Spanish Lit
Objectivism / Subjectivism
Environmentalism
Radiation
Thurgood Marshall's Legal Strategies
Bruno Bettelheim and Fairy Tales
Parallel Computing
Animals and Bacteria
Art
Graduate-Level Education
Music
Author/Poet/Artist and Interpretations of Work
Miscellaneous (I have not placed these in any category)

What are you supposed to do with this? Well, if there's a topic that scares you (objectivism/subjectivism, for example), try to get through as many of those passages as possible, just in case you see it on Test Day.

You can also see the following passages arranged by PrepTest (and get copies of them).

The number appearing before each passage's topic tells which passage it is out of the 4 in that PrepTest.


Reading Comprehension Passages, Categorized:

Computers, Internet, Copyright Law
PrepTest 25 - June 1998
1. Email privacy and the law

PrepTest 36 - December 2001
1. Do computer conferences function as communities?

PrepTest 39 - December 2002
4. Canadian copyright law and digitalization

PrepTest 41 - October 2003
1. Course packs and copyright law

PrepTest 42 - December 2003
3. Market system and technological developments

PrepTest 51 - December 2006
4. Computer legal reasoning systems

"PrepTest 51.5" - June 2007 - Free Online (PDF)
3. The Web, links, copyright law, and intellectual property

PrepTest 54 - June 2008
1. Internet - sovereignty and regulation

PrepTest 58 - September 2009
3. Tangible-object theory of copyright


Judge, Jury, Lawyer, Courts
PrepTest 1 - June 1991
3. Criminal procedure - adversarial vs. inquisitorial systems

PrepTest 13 - December 1994
4. Jury inferential errors

PrepTest 24 - December 1997
3. Social science tools to analyze court opinions

PrepTest 27 - December 1998
1. Jury impartiality, judges, media coverage, voir dire

PrepTest 32 - October 2000
1. Defense lawyers and innocence/guilt of clients, obligations

PrepTest 33 - December 2000
4. Jeremy Bentham and evidence reform - nonexclusion principle

PrepTest 37 - June 2002
1. Jury trials, unanimity requirement

PrepTest 40 - June 2003
4. Leading questions and memories

PrepTest 49 - June 2006
1. Computer-generated courtroom displays


Law and Literature, Critical Legal Studies
PrepTest 18 - December 1992
1. Law and literature movement, Richard Posner

PrepTest 21 - December 1996
2. What is "law"? Law and Economics, Critical Legal Studies, Law and Lit

PrepTest 30 - December 1999
3. Denise Meyerson vs. Critical Legal Studies


Legal and Political Theory / Systems
PrepTest B - February 1999
2. Rationales for punishing criminals, social-benefit vs. retributivist

PrepTest 4 - February 1992
1. Territorial waters, regulation of international waters

PrepTest 10 - February 1994
3. Legal realists and vagueness in law

PrepTest 11 - June 1994
2. Robert Dahl, democracy, and polyarchy

PrepTest 12 - October 1994
3. Legal systems in US vs. England - substantive vs. formal reasons

PrepTest 16 - September 1995
2. Native Americans and Supreme Court decisions

PrepTest 17 - December 1995
2. "Hard" legal cases, H.L.A. Hart vs. Ronald Dworkin

PrepTest 25 - June 1998
3. Native American intertribalism, Pan-Indian view

PrepTest 26 - September 1998
4. English marriage contracts and women's property rights, Susan Staves

PrepTest 34 - June 2001
1. Authoritarian rulers and democratic reforms/change
4. Women refugees and definitions according to the United Nations

PrepTest 35 - October 2001
4. Ronald Dworkin, legal positivism, and natural law

PrepTest 36 - December 2001
4. South Africa's legal system and change

PrepTest 38 - October 2002
2. Intellectual authority vs. institutional authority. Legal systems.

PrepTest 40 - June 2003
1. Multipolar vs. bipolar international political systems

PrepTest 44 - October 2004
1. Canadian Auto Workers' Legal Services Plan

PrepTest 45 - December 2004
4. Aboriginal rights in Canada

PrepTest 46 - June 2005
4. Prevention of harm - legal/moral theory

PrepTest 47 - October 2005
3. Family dispute resolution. Mediation programs vs. court adjudication.

PrepTest 48 - December 2005
3. Native Canadians vs. Canadian courts on property rights

PrepTest 53 - December 2007
2. British common law, Peter Goodrich

PrepTest 55 - October 2008
1. Trade secrets and court injunctions

PrepTest 56 - December 2008
3. The Roma and definition of national minority, Capotorti *


Slavery and Civil Rights
PrepTest C - February 2000
3. African American communism in Alabama, Robin Kelley's Hammer and Hoe

PrepTest 10 - February 1994
4. Civil rights movement social theories

PrepTest 11 - June 1994
1. Martin Luther King, Thoreau, and transcendentalism

PrepTest 14 - February 1995
4. Russian serfdom vs. U.S. slavery, Peter Kolchin

PrepTest 15 - June 1995
4. Black economic progress - hypotheses

PrepTest 19 - June 1996
4. Britain's abolition of the slave trade, Eric Williams

PrepTest 30 - December 1999
4. Vernon and African American rice cultivation

PrepTest 33 - December 2000
2. Harriet Jacobs' autobiographical narrative, slave women, domestic novel

PrepTest 47 - October 2005
1. Downstate campaign, Congress of Racial Equality

PrepTest 54 - June 2008
3. Cakewalk, Aida Overton Walker, African American performer

PrepTest 57 - June 2009
1. FCC vs. United Church of Christ, broadcasting license


Psychology
PrepTest 24 - December 1997
1. Risk communication

PrepTest 37 - June 2002
4. Psychology of decision making, and risk-taking

PrepTest 54 - June 2008
4. Groupthink and group cohesiveness


Economics
PrepTest 3 - December 1991
3. Abuse of monopoly power

PrepTest 8 - June 1993
2. Gray marketing

PrepTest 22 - June 1997
3. CEOs' economic vs. moral responsibility

PrepTest 28 - June 1999
3. Steady-state economics vs. neoclassical economics

PrepTest 33 - December 2000
1. Per capita GNP vs. human indicators, measuring a nation's economic health

PrepTest 50 - September 2006
2. Modern bankruptcy laws

PrepTest 55 - October 2008
4. Dutch tulip market, speculative bubble, Charles Mackay, Peter Garber

PrepTest 59 - December 2009
4. Ultimatum Game. Economics, emotion, and evolution


American Colonies
PrepTest 9 - October 1993
4. Political attitudes / institutions in England vs. American colonies

PrepTest 13 - December 1994
2. Freed African Americans in colonial Virginia, Myne Owne Ground

PrepTest 16 - September 1995
4. Women in colonial America vs. England


Immigrants
PrepTest 12 - October 1994
2. Socioeconomic achievements on Chinese and Japanese immigrants

PrepTest 21 - December 1996
4. Southeast Asian immigrants and James Tollefson's Alien Winds

PrepTest 23 - October 1997
4. Fugita and O'Brien's Japanese American Ethnicity

PrepTest 24 - December 1997
2. Korean Americans, cultural identity, Pico Korea Union

PrepTest 43 - June 2004
2. Code-switching among Puerto Rican Americans

PrepTest 44 - October 2004
2. Historiography and Asian settlers of the Pacific Coast

PrepTest 50 - September 2006
1. Mexican-American literature vs. Mexican literature


Women Doing Impressive Things Throughout History
Official LSAT PrepTest - February 1997
3. 19th-century British feminists and legal/labor historians

PrepTest 4 - February 1992
3. Women's participation in French Revolution

PrepTest 6 - October 1992
2. Women physicians in China

PrepTest 11 - June 1994
4. Women medical practitioners in Europe during Middle Ages

PrepTest 15 - June 1995
2. Women folklorists

PrepTest 35 - October 2001
1. Women's memoirs of the French Revolution, Denis Bertholet's study

PrepTest 49 - June 2006
3. Women doctors in ancient Greece and Rome


Women's Education
PrepTest B - February 1999
4. Privileged Renaissance women's education

PrepTest 56 - December 2008
4. French women and egalitarian educational reform


Medieval Times
PrepTest A - February 1996
1. Medieval marriage practices, Alexandrine doctrine

Official LSAT PrepTest - February 1997
1. Childhood in medieval Europe, Philippe Aries vs. Shulamath Shahar

PrepTest 11 - June 1994
4. Women medical practitioners in Europe during Middle Ages

PrepTest 20 - October 1996 - Free Online (PDF)
2. Medieval canon lawyers and lack of disciplinary proceedings

PrepTest 23 - October 1997
2. Medieval women's legal / financial rights

PrepTest 29 - October 1999
4. Medieval law and women, lack of knowledge


Native American Land
PrepTest 7 - February 1993
4. Native American land and the Dawes Act

PrepTest 9 - October 1993
2. Native Americans, land, readjustment, Bureau of Indian Affairs

PrepTest 19 - June 1996
2. Native American graves, individual vs. communal property law

PrepTest 28 - June 1999
1. Native American land claims, Mashpee, legal discourse


Other Native American Passages
PrepTest 3 - December 1991
4. Navajo weaving, Amsden

PrepTest 27 - December 1998
2. Personal names in Hopi culture

PrepTest 29 - October 1999
2. Tribal communities in North America, and teaching traditional languages

PrepTest 32 - October 2000
3. Native American autobiographies

PrepTest 38 - October 2002
1. Native Americans and controlled burning of forests


Authors Mixing Literary Genres
PrepTest 51 - December 2006
1. Ezekiel Mphahlele, South African writer, mix autobiography/fiction

"PrepTest 51.5" - June 2007 - Free Online (PDF)
1. Rita Dove, African American writer, gap between poetry and fiction

PrepTest 52 - September 2007
1. Ousmane Sembene, Senegalese filmmaker, oral tradition, sociopolitical

PrepTest 55 - October 2008
3. Chinese talk-story, Maxine Hong Kingston

PrepTest 56 - December 2008
1. Amos Tutuola, Nigerian writer, folktales, traditional lore

PrepTest 57 - June 2009
3. Willa Cather, novel vs. narrative *


Latin American Lit vs. Spanish Lit
PrepTest B - February 1999
3. Hispanic American writers and Spain, cosmopolitanism vs. nativism

PrepTest 40 - June 2003
2. Latin American poetry vs. Spanish poetry


Objectivism / Subjectivism
PrepTest 18 - December 1992
2. Science - objective vs. ideological bias (subjective), new historians

PrepTest 22 - June 1997
2. Objectivism vs. alternative legal narratives

PrepTest 31 - June 2000
3. Donna Haraway's Primate Visions
4. Objectivism vs. subjectivism when studying the mind

PrepTest 32 - October 2000
2. Multicultural education and proposals for implementation


Environmentalism
Official LSAT PrepTest - February 1997
2. Greenhouse gases and impact

PrepTest 4 - February 1992
2. Biological diversity and human activity

PrepTest 11 - June 1994
3. Species diversity in Amazon River basin

PrepTest 17 - December 1995
3. Industrial carbon dioxide emissions, impose a tax

PrepTest 19 - June 1996
3. Species diversity hypotheses

PrepTest 23 - October 1997
3. Environmental crisis, George P. Marsh, Frederic Clements

PrepTest 26 - September 1998
3. Dolphin die-off, PCBs, brevetoxin, synthetic pollutants

PrepTest 31 - June 2000
1. Ideal industrial ecosystem and Earth's population increase

PrepTest 33 - December 2000l
3. Potential benefits of increased atmospheric CO2 levels / concentrations

PrepTest 41 - October 2003
3. Fossil fuels and renewable energy sources

PrepTest 43 - June 2004
1. Oil well drilling and contaminated groundwater


Radiation
PrepTest 37 - June 2002
2. Marie Curie, radiation/radioactivity

PrepTest 39 - December 2002
3. Max Planck, wave theory, and radiation


Thurgood Marshall's Legal Strategies
PrepTest 31 - June 2000
2. Thurgood Marshall's legal career and his strategies / approaches

PrepTest 42 - December 2003
1. Thurgood Marshall, NAACP, public interest law, tactics/strategies


Bruno Bettelheim and Fairy Tales
PrepTest 27 - December 1998
4. Fairy tales, Bruno Bettelheim, Freud, therapeutic

PrepTest 39 - December 2002
2. Interpreting fairy tales, parents vs. children, Bruno Bettelheim


Parallel Computing
PrepTest 58 - September 2009
2. Parallel computing. Philip Emeagwali, Nigerian-born computer scientist

PrepTest 59 - December 2009
1. Parallel computing and increased computing capabilities *


Animals and Bacteria
PrepTest B - February 1999
1. Invertebrate schooling behavior and benefits

PrepTest C - February 2000
1. Kinglets' survival in cold winters

PrepTest 2 - October 1991
3. Water-bug adaptive responses, micropterous, macropterous

PrepTest 5 - June 1992
3. Bacteria and chemical attractants, concentration gradient

PrepTest 7 - February 1993
3. Phytopathogens, pseudomonas fluorescens / syringae

PrepTest 13 - December 1994
1. Neurogenesis and canaries

PrepTest 15 - June 1995
1. Dinosaur extinction, volcanic-eruption theory vs. impact theory

PrepTest 27 - December 1998
3. Homing pigeons - hypotheses re: how they "home"

PrepTest 29 - October 1999
3. Platypus uses bill to locate prey

PrepTest 30 - December 1999
1. The okapis' relatives, size and location of population, eating behavior

PrepTest 34 - June 2001
3. Lamarck and the inheritance of acquired characteristics - new examples

PrepTest 36 - December 2001
3. Hormones, behavior, and osmolality

PrepTest 46 - June 2005
3. Pronghorn relict behavior, adaptation, fastest land animal

PrepTest 47 - October 2005
4. Pathogen/parasite vs. host

PrepTest 48 - December 2005
4. Embryo polarity, fruit fly, nematode

PrepTest 52 - September 2007
3. Evolutionary game theory, Susan Reichert

PrepTest 53 - December 2007
4. Cyclamen mites and Typhlodromus mites

PrepTest 56 - December 2008
2. Inclusive fitness theory, kin recognition


Art
PrepTest 5 - June 1992
2. Nico Frijdas "law of apparent reality" and emotional responses to art

PrepTest 9 - October 1993
1. Technology and art, video, photography

PrepTest 14 - February 1995
3. Stolen art, legislation, and purchasers

PrepTest 29 - October 1999
1. Are pre-World War I painters prophetic?

PrepTest 39 - December 2002
1. Muralists - Mexican artists / painters

PrepTest 44 - October 2004
4. Modern Movement in architecture

PrepTest 47 - October 2005
2. Chinese Cultural Revolution, Scar Art movement, Revolutionary Realism

PrepTest 48 - December 2005
1. Aurignacian cave paintings / art

PrepTest 49 - June 2006
2. Determining tribal origins of African sculptures/art based on style


Graduate-Level Education
PrepTest 38 - October 2002
4. Medical school ethics training

PrepTest 52 - September 2007
2. Professional (historical/legal) writing and narrative *

PrepTest 59 - December 2009
2. Importance of teaching statutory law in law school


Music
PrepTest 6 - October 1992
. Early music movement

"PrepTest 51.5" - June 2007 - Free Online (PDF)
2. Music, language, and evolution *

PrepTest 58 - September 2009
4. Music, complexity of sounds, and emotions *


Author/Poet/Artist and Interpretations of Work
PrepTest A - February 1996
4. Jose Antonio Maravall's interpretation of Baroque culture

Official LSAT PrepTest - February 1997
4. Robert L. Jackson's Black Writers in Latin America

PrepTest 1 - June 1991
1. Phillis Wheatley, African American poet/poetry

PrepTest 2 - October 1991
1. Langston Hughes and folk poetry

PrepTest 4 - February 1992
4. French Impressionism, Robert L. Herbert

PrepTest 7 - February 1993
2. John Webster, Elizabethan playwright, and critics

PrepTest 10 - February 1994
2. Venetian religious narrative painting, Patricia Fortini Brown

PrepTest 12 - October 1994
1. Otto Wagner's Modern Architecture

PrepTest 13 - December 1994
3. French artist Watteau and admirers

PrepTest 15 - June 1995
3. J.G.A. Pocock and political discourse

PrepTest 16 - September 1995
1. Byron's poetry and personality

PrepTest 17 - December 1995
1. Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

PrepTest 18 - December 1992
3. Cherokee and Euro-American culture, William McLoughlin
4. Luminist paintings, Fitz Hugh Lane

PrepTest 19 - June 1996
1. P.D. James' crime novels

PrepTest 20 - October 1996 - Free Online (PDF)
1. Miles Davis and jazz innovation
4. Collapse of Classic Mayan civilization, John Lowe

PrepTest 21 - December 1996
1. London Pianoforte school and Nicholas Temperley's anthology

PrepTest 22 - June 1997
1. Frida Kahlo and Mexican nationalism

PrepTest 23 - October 1997
1. Dutch artist Rembrandt as entrepreneur, Svetlana Alpers

PrepTest 24 - December 1997
4. Mark Jones's Fake? The Art of Deception (fake art)

PrepTest 25 - June 1998
2. Homer's poetry - studying works vs. peripheral issues, Milman Parry

PrepTest 26 - September 1998
2. James Porter and African influence on African-American art

PrepTest 35 - October 2001
2. Romare Bearden, paintings, and the African-American experience

PrepTest 37 - June 2002
3. Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, critics

PrepTest 41 - October 2003
2. Countee Cullen - Harlem Renaissance poet, European-style verse

PrepTest 42 - December 2003
2. Roy Lichtenstein, fine art, pop art, comics

PrepTest 46 - June 2005
2. Joy Kogawa's Obasan and rite of passage to become a hero

PrepTest 48 - December 2005
2. Louise Gluck's poetry and gender issues

PrepTest 53 - December 2007
1. Wing Tek Lum's poetry

PrepTest 59 - December 2009
3. Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi


Miscellaneous (I have not placed these in any category)
PrepTest A - February 1996
2. Nontraditional black women filmmakers
3. Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift


PrepTest C - February 2000
2. Juvenile delinquency
4. Darwin's conception of early prehistoric humans, and taphonomy


PrepTest 1 - June 1991
2. Cell biology / cytology and biochemistry
4. Professions - defining the term


PrepTest 2 - October 1991
2. U.S. railroad, "romantic-era distrust" of it, John Stilgoe
4. War Powers Resolution


PrepTest 3 - December 1991
1. Asteroid satellites
2. English scientists not crediting technicians for their work


PrepTest 5 - June 1992
1. Administrative contracts and altering contracts unilaterally
4. Life-passage vs. life-history studies


PrepTest 6 - October 1992
1. Taft-Hartley Act, "right-to-work" legislation, Thomas M. Carroll
4. U.S. steel industry


PrepTest 7 - February 1993
1. Working mothers in the labor force


PrepTest 8 - June 1993
1. Recombinant DNA (rDNA)
3. African American autobiographical narratives
4. British wealth, Rubinstein's claim


PrepTest 9 - October 1993
3. Literacy in Ancient Greek society and the elite


PrepTest 10 - February 1994
1. Crude oil pumps and offshore processing platforms


PrepTest 12 - October 1994
4. Serotonin and carbohydrate craving


PrepTest 14 - February 1995
1. Earth's magnetic field - hypotheses
2. Deconstruction - term and meaning


PrepTest 16 - September 1995
3. Large interactive systems, catastrophe caused by minor events


PrepTest 17 - December 1995
4. Drought in sub-Saharan West Africa


PrepTest 21 - December 1996
3. Origin of oil - biogenic vs abiogenic theory


PrepTest 22 - June 1997
4. Language and math, essentialist vs. conventionalist views of language


PrepTest 25 - June 1998
4. Analytic method vs. organicism


PrepTest 26 - September 1998
1. Compulsory national service


PrepTest 28 - June 1999
2. Volcano-climate connection, Mass and Portman
4. Movie quality/promotion changes due to mass media


PrepTest 30 - December 1999
2. Greek tragic dramas, and free will vs. gods and fate


PrepTest 32 - October 2000
4. Why wine is healthy in moderation


PrepTest 34 - June 2001
2. The blues, African American folk tradition, and spirituals


PrepTest 35 - October 2001
3. Universal laws, determinism, and biology


PrepTest 36 - December 2001
2. Latin texts in Renaissance England


PrepTest 38 - October 2002
3. Philip Abrams, historical sociology, and structuring


PrepTest 40 - June 2003
3. Dark matter and neutrinos' mass


PrepTest 41 - October 2003
4. Victorian philanthropy and criticism of it


PrepTest 42 - December 2003
4. Neurotransmitters, synapses, and electrical impulses


PrepTest 43 - June 2004
3. Reader-response theory vs. formalism
4. Faculty inventions/discoveries and universities'/institutional policies


PrepTest 44 - October 2004
3. Nerve growth factor (NGF) and Rita Levi-Montalcini


PrepTest 45 - December 2004
1. Natural disaster relief proposals/approaches
2. Hippocratic Oath outdated?
3. Lichen-forming fungi DNA study


PrepTest 46 - June 2005
1. Definition of prosperity. Monetary vs. other considerations.


PrepTest 49 - June 2006
4. Maize / corn cultivation


PrepTest 50 - September 2006
3. Determining national / cultural identity
4. Riddled basins of attraction - John Sommerer and Edward Ott


PrepTest 51 - December 2006
2. Late heavy bombardment (LHB), craters on the moon
3. Impact of TV in developing nations, cultural imperialism


"PrepTest 51.5" - June 2007 - Free Online (PDF)
4. Irish landscape, history, and preserved pollen grains


PrepTest 52 - September 2007
4. Philosophical anarchism


PrepTest 53 - December 2007
3. University research findings as commodities *


PrepTest 54 - June 2008
2. Drilling muds *


PrepTest 55 - October 2008
2. Purple loosestrife *


PrepTest 57 - June 2009
2. Humanists vs. scientists, scientific humanism
4. Fractal geometry, self-similarity


PrepTest 58 - September 2009
1. Ancient textiles, analyzing archaeological remains and texts

* = comparative (dual) passages, started in June 2007.

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