Reading Comprehension · Humanities
PrepTest 122 · Section 3 · Passage 2
Questions 7–13
Before you start
Open PrepTest 122, Section 3 in your official copy from LSAC and read the passage for Questions 7–13, using the structure guide below. The passage is not reprinted here.
Structure guide
- P1: introduces an expert group's refined method and a critic's sharp objection to its basic assumption
- P2: explains a general practice that undercuts the method's assumption and causes the experts' confusion
- P3: gives a detailed example of that practice in action
- P4: concludes with the author's suggestions that the experts change course, and restates why the method fails
Step 2 · The kid passage
Who Frosted This Cupcake?
For years, the parent judges at the Maple Street bake sale have gotten better and better at guessing which classroom made each cupcake, just from its frosting. But Grandpa says the idea that each frosting look belongs to one classroom only is "a big fat mix-up."
A frosting look is not owned by one room. Instead, there are busy baking hubs that send treats all over the school. One kitchen might bake for several rooms. That makes many cupcakes look alike, but each batch still has to carry a bit of the ordering room's own look. No wonder the judges get muddled.
Take Aunt Rosa's kitchen on Elm Street. She bakes for five classrooms, and lately for the teachers' lounge too. She can name what each room wants: Room 4 needs rainbow sprinkles in a ring, and Room 7 needs a tiny star on top. Leave those out and the class sends the box back. Still, all her cupcakes share the same size, the same swirl, the same colors and the same baking method. Rosa can tell a Room 4 cupcake from a Room 7 cupcake, but almost nobody else can.
Maybe the judges should ask whether look-alike cupcakes came from one busy kitchen that bakes for everyone nearby. Maybe they should even stop slicing the school's big look into tinier and tinier room looks. As Aunt Rosa shows, you cannot tell who made a cupcake from tiny frosting details.
Step 4 · The courtroom tale
The Case of the Honey Labels
An expert witness swore he could tell which farm made any jar of honey just by its label. "Farm Six always uses a curly border," he said. Mr. Whitfield tugged his suspenders. "Your Honor, one print shop downtown prints labels for six farms. Each farm gets its own tiny logo, but the layout, the paper and the colors are the same." He called the printer. "Sure," she said. "I add a bee for one farm and a flower for another. They have to be there or the farmer complains. But nobody outside the shop can really tell them apart." The judge turned to the expert. "It seems the label shows where it was printed, not which farm filled the jar." The expert quietly sat down.