LSAT Comparative Reading Analysis 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Comparative Reading, the 'relationship between the passages' question type most directly asks you to:
- Identify every factual claim made in both passages
- Characterize how the two passages intellectually engage with each other (Correct answer)
- Determine which passage was written first
- Count the number of agreements versus disagreements
Correct answer: Characterize how the two passages intellectually engage with each other
Relationship questions require you to characterize the intellectual dynamic between the passages—such as rebuttal, extension, illustration, or contrast—not simply catalog their content.
Question 2: Passage A argues that social media platforms should be regulated as public utilities. Passage B argues they should be treated as private publishers. Which approach best prepares you to answer questions about both passages?
- Memorize key vocabulary from each passage independently
- Map the central claim, evidence, and tone of each passage, then compare them (Correct answer)
- Read only the first and last paragraph of each passage
- Assume Passage B is a direct response written after Passage A
Correct answer: Map the central claim, evidence, and tone of each passage, then compare them
Effective comparative reading requires building a structural understanding of each passage—claim, evidence, tone—before analyzing their relationship.
Question 3: Passage A focuses on the economic benefits of free trade. Passage B focuses on the distributional harms caused by free trade. A student who concludes that the passages are 'about different things' is making which error?
- Correctly identifying that the passages address separate topics
- Failing to recognize that both passages analyze the same policy from different evaluative angles (Correct answer)
- Appropriately distinguishing macro-level from micro-level analysis
- Correctly noting that the passages use different evidence
Correct answer: Failing to recognize that both passages analyze the same policy from different evaluative angles
Both passages address free trade policy; the student errs by treating different angles of analysis as different topics, missing the shared subject and the passages' comparative relationship.
Question 4: When a comparative reading question asks which statement 'the authors of both passages would agree with,' you should look for a claim that:
- Represents the most controversial point in either passage
- Is explicitly stated word-for-word in both passages
- Both authors are committed to based on their respective arguments (Correct answer)
- Appears only in the final paragraph of each passage
Correct answer: Both authors are committed to based on their respective arguments
Agreement questions require inferring shared commitments from each author's argument, not hunting for identical wording—authors can agree implicitly through their shared premises.
Question 5: Passage A is written by a legal scholar and Passage B is written by an economist. Both discuss antitrust law. A question about the 'primary purpose' of each passage would most likely focus on:
- The professional credentials of each author
- Each author's disciplinary lens and the goal it produces in analyzing antitrust (Correct answer)
- The word count and structural length of each passage
- Whether each passage references the other
Correct answer: Each author's disciplinary lens and the goal it produces in analyzing antitrust
Primary purpose questions probe why an author wrote the passage, which is often shaped by disciplinary perspective and the analytical goal that follows from it.
Question 6: Passage A presents a historical narrative about civil rights legislation. Passage B presents a sociological analysis of the same period. A question asking about 'information in Passage B that is relevant to Passage A's argument' is testing your ability to:
- Summarize Passage B without referring to Passage A
- Identify details in Passage B that bear on the strength or scope of Passage A's claims (Correct answer)
- Confirm that both passages cover the same historical events
- Determine which passage was peer-reviewed
Correct answer: Identify details in Passage B that bear on the strength or scope of Passage A's claims
Cross-passage relevance questions require you to evaluate Passage B's content through the lens of Passage A's argument—determining what in B supports, challenges, or qualifies A.
Question 7: Both passages discuss mandatory minimum sentencing, but Passage A cites recidivism data while Passage B cites racial disparity data. What does this difference in evidence most likely reflect?
- That one passage is more recent than the other
- That the authors are analyzing different crimes
- That each author prioritizes a different criterion for evaluating the policy (Correct answer)
- That the passages are unrelated except by topic
Correct answer: That each author prioritizes a different criterion for evaluating the policy
The choice of evidence reveals each author's evaluative criterion: Passage A cares about deterrence/rehabilitation effectiveness while Passage B cares about equity—a key comparative insight.
LSAT Comparative Reading Analysis 3
In Comparative Reading, the 'relationship between the passages' question type most directly asks you to: