Reading Comprehension · Inference

PrepTest 130 · Section 2 · Question 13

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Inference

The one idea it tests

When the passage names the main difficulty of a method, that difficulty is a reason the method was not used earlier.

The basic logic

The question asks why a method waited so long. Look for a stated hurdle that the innovator had to solve. Since it was a real obstacle overcome only through a new idea, it is a supported reason. Choices that require outside facts fail the Lunchbox Rule.

Tiny words that decide it

“trouble”
“so that”
“before”

Playground logic

The kid passage says crowds of helpers crash into each other, and Nadia needed the ant trick to fix that. So that clash is one reason crowds were not used before her.

Step 2 · The kid passage

This question belongs to Passage 2 (Questions 8–13). Read its kid passage and structure guide first: Nadia and the Ant Trail Plan →

Step 3 · Try the model question

It can be inferred that one reason the library did not use many helpers before Nadia is that

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 130, Section 2, Question 13 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Open Question 13 in your official copy and answer it first.

Find the sentence that names the main difficulty with the newer method. Ask whether that difficulty would keep people from using the method earlier. Match it to a choice in different words. Apply the Lunchbox Rule to every other choice: if it needs a fact the passage never gives, it is out.