Tough RC

[gmat740]

Please Save the file and ZOOM the passage to get a clear view. It is a bit lengthy.

Please provide the strategy to attack this question.

The Question is from LSAT Sets.

[madhur_ahuja]

Please Save the file and ZOOM the passage to get a clear view. It is a bit lengthy.

Please provide the strategy to attack this question

Yes, its a tough one IMO.

My answers are
15. E (From Line 34-36)
16. E (From line 28-30)
17. C (From last 3 lines)

[tohellandback]

E
E
B

a tough read but the questions are easy IMO.
15,16 straightforward.
for 17, the passage clearly states that subsequent judges are NOT bound by the earlier judges' perception. This gives them tremendous leeway in changing the rules. so it is likely IMO that they will state different rules that apply to the case

[bignasty666]

E C B?

[gmat740]

E
E
B

a tough read but the questions are easy IMO.
15,16 straightforward.
for 17, the passage clearly states that subsequent judges are NOT bound by the earlier judges' perception. This gives them tremendous leeway in changing the rules. so it is likely IMO that they will state different rules that apply to the case

CORRECT ANSWER

[lunarpower]

hmm.

this is a good passage, although the material isn't what you would normally see on a gmat passage. (i.e., it's about law, whereas gmat passages usually deal with things like business, social science, or physical science). what is the source? was this passage taken from an lsat prep book?

--

regardless of where this was taken from, it can still provide some valuable practice.

TAKING NOTES:

without going into everything we teach about RC in our 9-session classes, here are some of the basic things we teach about taking notes for LONG passages (like this one).

write a couple of sentences for the first paragraph, which probably contains a summation of the main idea - an "abstract".

* take MINIMAL notes for all body paragraphs.
it's ok if you write only a few words per paragraph. remember, the only reason you're really taking notes is to sum up the passage in general (since you definitely won't be able to take enough notes to answer detail questions correctly); keep this in mind.
if you're undecided about whether to write some particular fact down, then don't. it's probably a detail.

always FOCUS ON THE AUTHOR'S INTENT and PURPOSE.
whenever you write anything, be sure that it touches DIRECTLY on the following question: "what is the author trying to do? how is the author going about doing this?"
you should jettison any notes that don't directly address this question.

--

i'll show some sample notes for this passage below.

-- ron

[lunarpower]

oh yeah, and one more majorly important point to add to the above:

DON'T EVER COPY ANYTHING VERBATIM.
even if you think you understand the words perfectly, you should ALWAYS re-express concepts in your own words.

here are some sample notes for this passage.

OPENING PARAGRAPH
* Universal agreement: Legal rules aren't always definite.
CONTRAST IN VIEWS
- one side: legal scholars = MOSTLY clear meanings and unambiguous decisions
- other side: realists = EVERYTHING is ambiguous

PARAGRAPH 2
problem according to realists:
each case can be looked at from a whole lot of different angles.

PARAGRAPH 3
* judges have to go on what previous judges said
BUT
* different judges may see different things as essential
THEREFORE
* there is confusion as to what is binding and what isn't - judges may arrive at different conclusions from the same precedents

(NOTE: i would certainly abbreviate these things if i were to write them out by hand. but i don't want to include abbreviations here, because i don't want this post to be unintelligible.)

[lunarpower]

finally, note that two of the questions here are "according to the passage" questions. these are really not that bad, as long as you have an eye for detail.

if you see "according to the passage" or "the passage indicates", then YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THINGS THAT ARE DIRECTLY STATED IN THE TEXT OF THE PASSAGE.

notice that this is the case for both of the "according to the passage" questions given here.

...as opposed to "inference" / "suggestion" questions, on which you are looking to find things that are direct consequences of the statements in the passage.