Reading Comprehension · Social Science
PrepTest 150 · Section 1 · Passage 2
Questions 6–12
Before you start
Open PrepTest 150, Section 1 in your official copy from LSAC and read the passage for Questions 6–12, using the structure guide below. The passage is not reprinted here.
Structure guide
- P1: states a practical goal and introduces one method for reaching it
- P2: describes the parts of that method and its accepted benefits, then raises its main practical drawback
- P3: presents an older, simpler alternative and lists its weaknesses
- P4: lays out what an ideal method would need, then argues that a single shared element meets those needs and matches the complex method's benefits without its costs
Step 2 · The kid passage
The Kickball Puzzle
When the Thunder Kicks step up to the plate, Coach Aunt Rosa wants every kicker to reach base as often as possible, so the team can score runs and maybe bring home a trophy. One way to squeeze out extra hits is the Super Kick Plan.
Built by two gym teachers, the plan mixes drills that sharpen kicking with team-spirit tricks like high fives. Most coaches agree it gets more kids on base without changing how often kids get tagged out. But the plan is complicated. Learning it takes weeks, and running it eats up practice time. So not every coach learns it, and even coaches who learn it often skip steps.
Another choice is Grandpa's lucky chant, which coaches used before the plan existed. The chant is simpler, but it does not raise the share of good kicks to bad ones, and sometimes lowers it. It can also cause a puffed-up effect: kickers feel extra sure about every kick, even bad ones. And some kids just do not respond to chants.
The perfect method would need no coach training, work for every kid, and bring more good kicks without more bad ones. Both the plan and the chant ask kickers to take one slow deep breath first. Tests show it helps in sun and rain. It beats the chant, and no kid is left out. Best of all, the breath alone helps about as much as the whole plan, with no extra outs, no training, and nothing complicated.
Step 4 · The courtroom tale
The Case of the Twelve-Step Fire Drill
The school board sued to keep its twelve-step fire drill. Mr. Whitfield stood for the parents. 'Your Honor, the drill works. Kids get out safely. But it takes a month to teach, and half the teachers skip steps.' The board's lawyer offered the old whistle method instead. Mr. Whitfield shook his head. 'Simpler, yes, but kids panic, and some cannot hear it.' Then he held up one card. 'Step four of the drill, and the whistle method too, says: walk to the nearest door. Tested alone, that single step clears the building just as fast as all twelve, with no training and no confusion.' The judge peered over her glasses. 'So one piece does the job of the whole package?' 'Exactly, Your Honor.'