Reading Comprehension · Law
PrepTest 114 · Section 3 · Passage 2
Questions 9–14
Before you start
Open PrepTest 114, Section 3 in your official copy from LSAC and read the passage for Questions 9–14, using the structure guide below. The passage is not reprinted here.
Structure guide
- P1: defines two contrasting concepts, notes one institution that hopes to rely on only the first, and gives an extreme view from one side
- P2: presents critics' opposite view and a stronger version of it, then the author's counterargument from a long view
- P3: gives the critics' likely reply, illustrated with an example from a different field
- P4: applies the comparison to the main institution, points out what the critics overlook, and concludes with a middle position
Step 2 · The kid passage
Brain Power vs. Badge Power
Ms. Rivera's class keeps a Fact Board of posted answers. An answer can have two kinds of power. Brain power: it wins because its reasons are good, with no bossing or habit behind it. Badge power: a group makes everyone accept it, good reasons or not. The board is a group yet wants to run on brain power only. Priya, the keeper, even says the board has no power of its own.
Marcus says the board runs only on badge power. Worse, brain power is not real; it is badge power in disguise. Lulu answers that this falls apart over a whole year. Some posted answers get pulled down, and some good answers never get the board's gold star. Nadia's correct bat answer was ignored for months because it went against the board. So brain power and the group's agreement differ.
Marcus replies: we only recognize brain power because the group agrees. The cooking club says a recipe nobody liked after three bake sales is probably not great. Why three? Nothing makes three a good reason, except that the club's habit has worked before.
The board has its own habit: the Same-as-Last-Time rule, which answers similar questions the way it answered before. That is pure badge power. But Marcus misses something. When an old answer proves badly reasoned or out of date, the keepers revisit it, fix it, or take it down. That clash shows the board has real brain power, even if most of its pull is badge power.
Step 4 · The courtroom tale
The Pie Rulebook Hearing
Judge Okafor heard a fight over the county fair's Pie Rulebook. The baker's lawyer said, "Your Honor, that rulebook has no real reasoning in it. The fair board just enforces whatever it wrote before." Mr. Whitfield stood up. "Partly true. The board does copy its old rulings, and that's habit, not reasons. But last year the board found an old rule that made no sense, banning lattice crusts for 'looking messy.' It looked again, admitted the reasoning was bad, and threw the rule out." He tugged his suspenders. "A group that only had muscle would never bother. The board mostly runs on its badge, sure. But it fixes bad rules when the reasons fail, so real reasoning lives in there too."