Past LSAT Explained/PrepTest 01

Form 2LSS11 June 1991

This section has 28 questions.

The passage discusses poet Phillis Wheatley, who was brought to colonial New England as a slave in 1761 and overcame significant linguistic and cultural barriers to become a skilled English-language poet. Despite her African oral tradition background, Wheatley quickly mastered the English language and literary forms. Her experience symbolizes the intersection of oral and written traditions, yet her poetry ultimately adhered strictly to the conventions of 18th-century English neoclassicism. These conventions left little room for African influences, Black vernacular, or personal expression from her heritage. As a result, while Wheatley’s work is artistically accomplished within its chosen tradition, it did not contribute to the formation of a distinct African American literary voice. Nonetheless, she remains celebrated as the first Black American poet.

• Phillis Weatley
• African American literature
• English poetry
• Black English
• 1761
• neoclassical poetry
• oral tradition

This is a Main Idea and Global question.

(A) Incorrect. This is certainly feasible since Philis Wheatley employed few principles of African oral tradition in her work. However, this is not what the passage is trying to say.

(B) Incorrect. This choice fails to mention Wheatley's lack of contribution to the distinct African American literary language.

(C) Correct. Excellent. This choice expresses Wheatley's accomplishment and shortcoming.

(D) Incorrect. This is not the main idea and not true based on the passage. Line 54 states that her poetry contributed little. She may have started the Black American poetry but she did not play a role in the development of the distinct voice. For the most part, her poetry was overwhelmingly conventional.

(E) Incorrect. Her poetry did not contribute to preserving the principles of African oral tradition since her work reflected little of her experience and heritage.

When you are unsure of the passage's main idea, it may be helpful to answer other local questions first to gain a better understanding of the main point.

This is an analogy and Local question.

This question asks you to find a parallel situation. This question is not too difficult because it uses only one example- Italian immigrant in America, instead of using five different examples to confuse the testtakers and to make it hard to contrast among the choices. If you have a good grasp of Wheatley's approach that she conformed to the conventions without incorporating her nonconventional heritage and experiences.

(A) Incorrect. No translation of the African American traditions.

(B) Incorrect. She was strictly English.

(C) Incorrect. She contributed little as mentioned in Line 54.

(D) Incorrect. She did not do this. If this choice to become true, it should read, "defined artistic expression in terms of eighteenth-century American poetic conventions"

(E) Correct. Phillis Wheatley’s approach involved fully adopting the literary conventions of her new environment (18th-century English neoclassical poetry) without integrating elements from her African oral heritage. Similarly, a modern-day Italian immigrant who adopts the language and forms of modern American poetry—replacing Italian literary traditions rather than blending them with American ones—mirrors Wheatley’s replacement of her past with the new literary code. This aligns with Wheatley’s choice to adhere strictly to foreign conventions rather than merging her cultural heritage with the new context.

This is a very Local question.

To answer this question, look at Line 23 where it says "but also exerted demonstrable effects on the manner in which other Americans spoke English."

(A) Incorrect.

(B) Incorrect.

(C) Incorrect.

(D) Correct.

(E) Incorrect.

This is a Local question.

Some extra questions to Consider:

08.1 What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

Provide the context of Wheatley's accomplishment over the obstacles when she wrote her poetry

08.2 What is the purpose of the second paragraph?

Discuss the Opportunity for Wheatley to bridge the Oral(African) and Written(English) Literary Culture

08.3 What is the purpose of the third paragraph?

Explain that Wheatley's Poetry did take advantage of her African Experience but rather conformed to the English conventions

08.4 What is the purpose of the fourth paragraph?

Explain that Wheatley's poetry contributed little to African American literary language

08.5 Which of the following situation is the most analogous to the author mentioning Wheatley is "justly celebrated as the first Black American poet"(Line 59-60)?

Professor Michael praising Beowulf as the first epic poem written in England despite the fact that it was written in Anglo-Saxon and had little influence in the development of modern English.

08.6 Which one of the following most accurately characterizes the author's attitude toward Wheatley's contribution to the development of a distinctive American American literary language?

unfortunate that she made little contribution because of the limits of the eighteenth century English literary code

08.7 The passage as a whole can best be described as

Assessment of Wheatley's Accomplishment in the context of her time

08.8 By "reigning conventions"(Line 45) the author means

(A) The aesthetic princeiples of the African oral traditions

(B) Wheatley's African heritage

(C) The formal literary code of eighteenth century

(D) English spoken by the Black People to which Wheatley was familar

(E) African aesthetic canons

08.9 Which

The passage explains how emerging scientific disciplines often develop in opposition to one another, with one acting as the “thesis” and the other as an “antithesis.” The thesis discipline typically takes a broad, holistic view, while the antidiscipline focuses on fundamental components and aims to redefine the field through its own lens. This dynamic is illustrated by the historical relationship between cytology and biochemistry in the late 19th century. Cytologists emphasized cell structure and division, while biochemists focused on chemical processes and were skeptical of structural claims.

Each group criticized the other’s methods and understanding, but over time, their competition led to significant scientific progress. Cytology evolved into cellular biology, while biochemistry helped form molecular biology. These developments eventually converged into molecular genetics. The passage concludes by highlighting how such disciplinary tensions can drive innovation and lead to unexpected breakthroughs.

• cytology
• protoplasm
• enzyme
• electron microscopy
• molecular genetics
• molecular biology
• cellular biology
• Joseph Fruton

16.1 To introduce a general pattern which is exemplified by the relationship in life science

By citing the example that "In the case of late nineteenth century cell research, progress was fueled by competition among the avrious attitudes and issues" (Line 54-55), the author

Illustrates his idea that the interaction between the two disciplines can have important results

16.2 By quoting Joseph Fruton, the author

emphasizes that the importance of competition in making progress both in the past and the future

16.3 What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

Introduce a pattern seen in the early stage of development of a scientific discipline which is used in the next to describe the historical development of a new field

16.4 What is the purpose of the second paragraph?

16.5 What is the purpose of the third paragraph?

16.6 What is the purpose of the fourth paragraph?

The passage compares two modern criminal justice systems: the adversarial and the inquisitorial. The adversarial system evolved directly from the older practice of private vengeance, retaining features such as treating trials as contests between opposing parties, with limited pretrial investigation by the defendant and a neutral judge with no prior case knowledge. It emphasizes legal procedure and combat-like confrontation.

In contrast, the inquisitorial system is more distanced from the private vengeance model and considered historically more advanced. It emphasizes fact-finding over legal combat. Here, the prosecutor must investigate both for and against the defendant and share all evidence before trial. Judges play an active, directive role in the trial. Because of its thoroughness and fairness, the inquisitorial system is seen as more favorable to innocent defendants, while guilty individuals might prefer the adversarial system due to its focus on legal strategy over comprehensive truth-seeking.

• criminal procedure
• public prosecutor
• adversarial system
• inquisitorial system
• Pretrial investigation
• forensic
• legal anthropology
• discovery

21.1 What is the purpose of paragraph 1?

The passage argues against efforts to reduce medicine to a mere trade, emphasizing that medicine is a profession, not just a technical job. While a trade is associated with skills and habitual work, a profession involves a public declaration of devotion to a higher purpose. This distinction lies not just in specialized knowledge—as seen in learned professions like medicine, law, and theology—but in a moral commitment to serve a higher good.

The honor and respect society grants professionals are not what make them professionals; rather, these reflect their deeper commitment. True professionalism requires a public, ethical pledge to a demanding way of life—one that engages not just the practitioner’s skills, but also their character and moral values. In medicine, this means healing the sick out of a genuine dedication to health and human well-being, not merely as a job or for personal gain.

• physician
• Medical ethics
• medical malpractice
• definition of "trade"
• definition of "profession"

Game 3

Game 4

• bacteria
• antibiotic
• sugar

IDENTIFY

This is a Discrepancy question.

READ

Sugar's medicinal use in treating inflection.

ANALYZE

Let's find a choice that links sugar with antibiotic property. Structure is THESIS + ANTITHESIS

CHOOSE

(A) Correct. Sugar basically dehydrates bacteria and bacteria need water.

(B) Incorrect. Just throwing some side facts to confuse you. Who cares if sugar is not available. We are concerned with sugar's property not its feasibility as a medical treatment

(C) Incorrect. This strongly weakens the passage. Sugar promotes bacterial growth! This does not explain the passage at all. This choice might have been correct if this choice was a Weaken question.

(D) Incorrect. This choice introduces some complex relationship into the passage. But remember the passage does not mention using the antibiotic and sugar together. Moreover, it does not say that the physicians used some food that contain sugar. This fact is certainly a concern if the antibiotic is used with the sugar treatment and requires more research. But this does not explain the phenomenon at all.

(E) Incorrect. The fact that sugar can be used as a crude antibiotic is mentioned in 2007 film Shooter. Supposedly this practice was common during the Napoleonic Wars. So what? It only shows the knowledge of sugar's medicinal effect is ancient. It does not explain why.

This was your first question of the section. Gain confidence and warm up your logic engine. Get ready for some serious logical reasoning.

• Color blindness
• sinusitis
• jaundice
• diabetic

IDENTIFY

This is a Parallel Reasoning question.

READ

Some color blindness discussion. This could well be a Flaw question because there is a flaw in the reason. This question can be tricky since the answer should contain the same logical error. By not phrasing this question as "which of the following the similar error in reasoning", the question does not give you a clue that there is an error.

ANALYZE

The flaw is that the red/green color blind people are not the only ones who cannot distinguish between green and brown. There may be some people who are not red/green color-blind and Gerald could be a member of that group. The logic does not preclude that loophole.

The structure of the argument is: Major Premise, Minor Premise, Conclusion

CHOOSE

(A) Incorrect. This is a sound logic. The structure is same- Major Premise, Minor Premise, Conclusion. This does not have the flaw discussed earlier.

(B) Correct. This choice commits the same kind of flaw. People with sinusitis may not be the only one who lose their sense of smell. Pretend that people who ace the LSAT lose the sense of smell but do not suffer from sinusitus. Mary may well be a member of this group. This is a common type of flaw tested in the LSAT over and over. If X→Y. Z→Y. So Z→X. (invalid)

(C) Incorrect. This is a good logic without the flaw. If X→ NOT Y.(Contrapositive: Y→NOT X) Z→Y. So Z→NOT X.

(D) Incorrect. If X→NOT Y. Z→X. So Z→NOT Y.

(E) Incorrect. This choice is a bit strange. This choice has a hidden assumption that there is some special diet consists of small amount of sugar. The conclusion that Freda is on a special diet is not a proper one- a better one would be "Freda cannot have a large amounts of sugar."

This question is difficult for Number 2 requiring a good knowledge of formal logic and contrapositive. Writing each choice into algebraic logic notation is helpful but not necessary.

• Alfred Wegener
• Continental drift
• postulate
• philosophy of science

IDENTIFY

This is a Conclusion question.

READ

This one is like a mini reading comprehension question.

ANALYZE

CHOOSE

(A) Incorrect.

(B) Incorrect.

(C) Incorrect.

(D) Incorrect.

(E) Correct.

• military deterrence

• management consultant

• morality
• advertising

From "Modern Soviet Criminal Procedure: A Critical Analysis" by Christopher Osakwe. Tulane Law Review, Volume 57, Number 3, February 1983. Copyright 1983 Tulane Law Review Association.

From "Professing Medically: The Place of Ethics in Defining Medicine" by Leon R. Kass. The Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 249, pages 1305-1310. Copyright 1983 by The American Medical Association.