Reading Comprehension · Science

PrepTest 135 · Section 3 · Passage 4

Questions 20–27

Before you start

Open PrepTest 135, Section 3 in your official copy from LSAC and read the passage for Questions 20–27, using the structure guide below. The passage is not reprinted here.

Structure guide

P1: presents a large-scale problem, explains why it is hard, rules out the quick fix, notes the usual belief, and introduces a study that tries a faster route
P2: describes the study's design (control groups and two treatment groups) and its first results
P3: describes a follow-up variation, its results, the researchers' explanation, their conclusion, and the course of action they now recommend

Step 2 · The kid passage

Rescuing the Old Game Rooms

Across town, twenty school rooms that ran video games nonstop for years are being turned back into free-play rooms. Bringing back a healthy mix of games will be hard, though. Kids from those rooms are out of practice at everything except screens. Worse, many rooms were stuffed with sugary snacks, and when such a room is left empty, King of the Hill (a pushy game) takes over and shoves quieter games out. The fastest fix is to swap in a whole new crowd of kids and clear out the snacks, but that cannot be done in twenty rooms at once. Most grown-ups think a room sorts itself out slowly. Ms. Rivera wondered if she could speed that up. She tidied one old game room and split it into twenty corners. Some corners kept their video games; some got nothing. The rest got a mix of board games and crafts, and some of those also got puzzles and a puppet stage. After three months, King of the Hill had vanished from the corners with the widest mix and had faded in the others. In the empty corners, King of the Hill ruled. Next, Ms. Rivera brought in helper kids from a room that had gone screen-free two years earlier. Corners with helpers did better than corners without, but not as well as that older room itself. Her explanation: old game rooms are full of pushy, rule-bending habits, and they lack fair-play captains, kids who stick by quiet players and shield them from those habits. So a rich mix of games depends on the right mix of people. Ms. Rivera now thinks rooms recover faster if helpers are sent in together with a wide mix of games.

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Overgrown Parking Lot

Judge Okafor peered over her glasses. "The city wants to tear up every old parking lot and pour fresh pavement. Counselor?" Mr. Whitfield stood. "Your Honor, there are four hundred lots. Repaving them all is impossible. The city says lots heal on their own, slowly. But our witness tried something faster." A witness explained: she split one lot into sections, left some alone, and filled others with food trucks and street musicians. Rowdy skateboard crowds vanished where the mix was widest. Then she added trained volunteers who protected the small vendors from troublemakers, and things improved even more. "So the plan," said Mr. Whitfield, "is to send volunteers together with a broad mix of vendors." The judge nodded. "Problem, test, plan. Very tidy."