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Course: LSAT > Unit 1
Lesson 10: Reading Comprehension - Worked Examples- Law passage overview | Cosmic Justice (paired passages)
- Main point | Law passage | Cosmic Justice
- Recognition | Law passage | Cosmic Justice
- Inferences about views | Law passage | Cosmic Justice
- Inferences about info | Law passage | Cosmic Justice
- Principles | Law passage | Cosmic Justice
- Analogies | Law passage | Cosmic Justice
- Law passage overview | Copyright
- Main point | Law passage | Copyright
- Purpose of reference | Law passage | Copyright
- Applying to new contexts | Law passage | Copyright
- Humanities passage overview | Music (paired passages)
- Main point 1 | Humanities passage | Music
- Main point 2 | Humanities passage | Music
- Recognition | Humanities passage | Music
- Inferences about views | Humanities passage | Music
- Principles and analogies | Humanities passage | Music
- Additional evidence | Humanities passage | Music
- Primary purpose | Humanities passage | Music
- Science passage overview | The Sun
- Recognition 1 | Science passage | The Sun
- Recognition 2 | Science passage | The Sun
- Organizing info | Science passage | The Sun
- Inferences about views 1 | Science passage | The Sun
- Inferences about views 2 | Science passage | The Sun
- Inferences about views 3 | Science passage | The Sun
- Inferences about info | Science passage | The Sun
- Social science passage overview | Wool
- Main point | Social science passage | Wool
- Recognition 1 | Social science passage | Wool
- Recognition 2 | Social science passage | Wool
- Inferences about info | Social science passage | Wool
- Inferences about attitudes | Social science passage | Wool
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Inferences about views | Humanities passage | Music
Watch a demonstration of one way to approach a "inferences about views" question for a humanities passage in the reading comprehension section. Created by Dave Travis.
Want to join the conversation?
- is it standard practice to take the time to go back after you've made your choice to look for the proof that you're correct? or on test day, should you just pick it and move on?(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] It can be
inferred that both authors would be likely to agree with which one of the following statements? So this is an inference question so the answer is not going to
be sitting there explicitly in the passage waiting
for you to discover. The correct answer here is going to be one that both authors would agree with. Now the incorrect
choices may be statements that only one author would agree with or that neither of the
authors would agree with or that we really don't
have any information to know whether the authors
would agree with it. So let's see what we have here. A, the more complex a piece of music, the more it is likely to be
enjoyed by most listeners. So do both authors say
that the more complex, the more it will be
enjoyed by most listeners? No, passage two said that
there are a lot of listeners who don't like complex music. Listeners who have less
experience in musical appreciation may not prefer more complex music so A is not the answer. B, more knowledgeable
listeners tend to prefer music that is discontinuous and unpredictable. We hear that at the end of passage B but there's no mention of that
about knowledgeable versus unknowledgeable listeners in passage A so we don't really have any basis for making a judgment on that. I don't like B. C, the capacity of music to elicit strong emotional responses from listeners is the central determinant of its artistic value. Okay that's phrased in
a pretty extreme way. The central determinant
of its artistic value neither passage really
said anything about that. Passage A and passage B
steered clear of saying this is why music is valuable so I'm not sure we have any
basis for making a judgment on that one either. D, music that lacks a
predictable course is unlikely to cause a listener to feel relaxed so that's interesting. Music that lacks a predictable course so unpredictable music is
unlikely to cause a listener to feel relaxed. If it's unpredictable are
you going to feel relaxed? Do both passages say something about that? I think maybe they do. I'd be leaning towards D. You can go back and
confirm that in a minute. Let's see whether E has
anything better to offer. E, music that changes from soft to loud is perceived as disturbing and
unpleasant by most listeners. Okay the change from soft to loud, the question of volume is not
mentioned by either passage so that is not the answer. Again we have no basis for knowing what the authors would say
about a sudden change in volume. We've talked about discontinuity, we've talked about relaxing and rhythmic and harmonious music but so let's go back and
see if we can verify D. On test day you will probably
just choose D and move on but since we're here let's go ahead and prove this to ourselves. So unpredictable music is unlikely to make a listener to feel relaxed let's find the proof for that. Okay so we have a relaxing effect here. Relaxing music is
continuous and rhythmical so it's pretty safe to assume
that if it's discontinuous and arrhythmical or unpredictable
it would not be relaxing so that's a safe inference for us to make. Now if we move on to passage B let's find this predictability question and whether if it's
unpredictable is it not relaxing. And passage B focuses on expectations and the way those expectations
are either fulfilled or not and relaxation only happens
when we have resolution. If it's unpredictable
that creates buildup, well the buildup of tension and so that, let's see the
more elaborate the buildup of tension the more intense the
emotions will be experienced and that tension comes from you know, mismatched expectations which is one way of saying if you can't predict what
is going to happen next then your expectation of what's going to happen next was wrong. So I think we've come
up with enough evidence to support D that we can
choose it and finally move on.