Reading Comprehension · Meaning in Context

PrepTest 109 · Section 2 · Question 2

Phase 1 (your first ~400 questions): read the guidance, then answer. No clock.

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Meaning in Context

The one idea it tests

A word means what the passage uses it to mean, not its everyday dictionary sense.

The basic logic

Reread the sentence with the word and the sentences around it. Notice what the author later lists as part of that idea. The answer is usually the broad sense the whole passage cares about, not a narrow slice of it.

Tiny words that decide it

“refers to”
“specifically”

Playground logic

When the coaches call their number a measure of 'happiness,' Lulu's list of checkups shows what that word covers: how good the whole season is for every kid, not just scoring.

Step 2 · The kid passage

This question belongs to Passage 1 (Questions 1–7). Read its kid passage and structure guide first: Lulu's Report: How Should We Rank Soccer Teams? →

Step 3 · Try the model question

As Lulu uses it in her first paragraph, 'happiness' most nearly means

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 109, Section 2, Question 2 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Open Question 2 in your official copy and answer it first.

Go back to the sentence that holds the word and read a little before and after it. Ask what idea the author is pointing at, and check the later paragraphs for what the author counts as part of it. Predict a plain paraphrase, then pick the choice that fits that full sense. Reject choices that shrink the idea to one narrow piece.