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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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Humanities passage overview | Music (paired passages)
Watch a demonstration of how to use active reading strategies to approach two paired passages about a humanities topic on the LSAT.
Want to join the conversation?
- The video is in-depth analysing the two passages but in the exam, we will more than one reading comprehension. How much time should I spend annotating each passage?(5 votes)
- My personal recommendation is no more than 5 minutes.(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Instructor] Here's a pair of passages that are about the humanities. These passages are about the ways that people respond to music. As you read passages in
the LSAT, in general, it's worthwhile to try to
separate the primary claims the author of each passage makes from the evidence they use
to support those claims. I'm also gonna focus on
contrast words like but, and however, and yet, and
although, if I see them. I also look for connections that are tying paragraphs together
and help us better understand how the paragraphs relate to each other. I might underline or
circle phrases or words or use arrows to connect words or ideas. Different points of
view are also important, so the viewpoints of people
or groups are represented. I'll try to keep those clear in my head. I'll also use active reading strategies and annotation to help with that. Passage A. In music, a certain
complexity of sounds can be expected to have a positive
effect on the listener. The complexity of sounds and music leads to positive response on listener. A single pure tone is not
that interesting to explore; a measure of intricacy is required to excite human curiosity. A semicolon is a continuation of meaning. It basically indicates we're gonna say the same thing again,
or say something that's connected to this idea. It's not a contrast, it's a continuation. Complexity, intricacy, those both things are required to excite human curiosity. I'm curious. Go on. Sounds that are too complex
or disorganized, however, tend to be overwhelming. So too complex becomes overwhelming. We prefer some sort of
coherence, a principle that connects the various sounds
and makes them comprehensible. So coherence makes them comprehensible. In this respect, music
is like human language. So this paragraph is gonna
compare music to human language. Let's see. This is a claim. Let's support that claim. Single sounds are, in
most cases, not sufficient to convey meaning in speech,
whereas when put together in a sequence, they form words and sentences. Likewise, continuation of meaning, if the tones in music
are not perceived to be tied together sequentially
or rhythmically, for example, in what is
commonly called melody, listeners are less likely to feel any emotional connection or
to show appreciation. So we need things to be
tied together in sequence or by rhythm, and that leads us to feeling happy about the music we're listening to. Let's keep going. Certain music can also
have a relaxing effect. Topic sentence, let's pay
special attention to it. The fact that such music tends to be continuous and rhythmical ... Those are the backups to this idea that certain music has a relaxing effect. We have two characteristics
of that kind of music. Suggests a possible
explanation for this effect. In a natural environment,
danger tends to be accompanied by sudden, unexpected sounds. Danger is sudden and unexpected. Thus, therefore, continuation, thus, a background of constant noise suggests peaceful conditions. Discontinuous sounds
demand more attention. Even soft discontinuous sounds that we consciously realize do not signal danger can be disturbing. For example, the erratic
dripping of a leaky tap, which people find disturbing. A continuous sound,
particularly one that is judged to be safe ... So safety relaxes the brain. This whole paragraph
is about continuousness versus discontinuous-ness
and our responses to that. So let's just have a quick
review of passage one. This first passage is
about musical complexity and how the level of
complexity of a piece of music needs to be optimized in order
to maximize our connection. The second paragraph compares
music to human language. Both need to be connected in a sequence to create an emotional connection. It then goes on to suggest that continuous and rhythmic music is relaxing,
while unexpected noises and discontinuous sounds are disturbing. So it's about this relaxation
versus disturbance axis. Let's move on to the second passage. There are certain elements within music, such as a change of
melodic line or rhythm, that create expectations about the future development of the music. So we're focusing on expectations about future development. So it's a different idea about music and how we respond to music. The expectation the listener has about the further course of musical events is a key determinant for the experience of musical emotions. Music creates expectations,
there we are again, that, if not immediately
satisfied, create tension. Emotion is experienced in relation to the buildup and release of tension. The more elaborate the buildup of tension, the more intense the emotions
that will be experienced. When resolution occurs,
relaxation follows. So we lead resolution to the tension. That gets us to relaxation. So about expectations, tension, leading to relaxation when
the tension is released. The interruption of the
expected musical course, depending on one's personal involvement, causes the search for an explanation. What's up? This results from a mismatch between one's musical expectation and the
actual course of the music. We have musical expectation and the actual course are different, so then we have a mismatch that's gonna change how we respond. Negative emotions will be the result of an extreme mismatch between
expectations and experience. Positive emotions result
if the converse happens. So negative emotions are
from an extreme mismatch. We can connect those. Positive emotions are when
that's not an extreme mismatch. Moving on. When we listen to music,
we take into account factors such as the complexity
and novelty of the music. So we're paying attention to
those things while we listen. The degree to which the
music sounds familiar determines whether the
music is experienced as pleasurable or uncomfortable. Familiarity leads to
pleasure or discomfort. The pleasure experienced is minimal when the music is entirely new. So minimal when it's new. Increases with increasing familiarity, and decreases again when
the music is totally known. So when that's totally known, we also have minimal pleasure. That means if you get sick of listening to the same song on the radio again and again and
again, you might love it at first and say, "This is the best," and then everybody thinks it's the best. You hear it so many times, you just wanna change the channel next time you hear it, so your pleasure decreases as you become too familiar with it. That makes sense. Musical preference is
based on one's desire to maintain a constant level of
certain preferable emotions. So preference is about
maintaining preferable emotions. As such, a trained listener will have a greater preference for complex melodies than will a naive listener,
as the threshold for experiencing emotion is higher. So trained listeners
like complex melodies, and naive listeners who don't know so much don't like quite as complex melodies because they're confused by them and they're not familiar with them. But trained listeners are more familiar with more complex melodies. So that makes sense. I'm gonna recap the second passage. The second passage focuses on a listener's expectations, and the way that music can create tension by not
satisfying those expectations. Extreme mismatch was resulting
in negative feelings, and when our expectations
are met, we feel pretty good. We like it. The third paragraph of
the second passage is introducing this idea of both
complexity and familiarity, and as we come more familiar
with a piece of music, we like it more, and then if we come too familiar with it, we like it less. When we think about
both passages and try to keep them distinct in our heads because these two feel similar, it's important to note that none of these claims seem to be backed
up by a whole lot of data. They're also pretty short in
any other kind of evidence. This brings me to an important
point about the LSAT. You should try your best
not to spend any time figuring out if you agree or disagree with the claims that are being
made in the passages. Your task is to understand exactly what the authors are saying,
and not necessarily to pass any judgment or form
any opinion about them. The answers to the questions
they're about to answer will all be supported
by information that's actually in the passage. So in a way, any outside knowledge about the topics that are being discussed can actually be a burden. Try to approach each
passage as an open mind and a totally clean slate. With that in mind, let's
head to the questions.