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Reading Comprehension · Meaning in Context

PrepTest 142 · Section 3 · Question 3

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 in quotation marks means what the nearby sentences make it mean, not its everyday meaning.
The basic logic
Reread the sentence with the quoted word and the sentences around it. Ask who or what is doing the action there. Replace the word with your guess and see if the sentence still works.
Tiny words that decide it
  • “refers to”
  • “in quotes”
  • “so, too”

Playground logic

"String wizards" are not real magicians. The sentence says they build great kites, so the nickname means kite builders.

Step 2 · The kid passage

This question belongs to Passage 1 (Questions 1–8). Read its kid passage and structure guide first: Why Don't Kites Get a Ribbon? →

Step 3 · Try the model question

In Priya's essay, the phrase "string wizards" refers to

Choices

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 142, Section 3, Question 3 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Open Question 3 in your official copy and answer it first.

Go back to the sentence with the quoted word. Read one sentence before and after. Ask what job the quoted word is doing: who is acting, and what are they making? Predict a plain substitute, then pick the choice that matches it. Ignore choices that use the word's dictionary sense.