LSAT Reading Comprehension Practise Questions

TIME - 35 Minutes

25 Questions

These questions are from LSAT Prep Test 80. Enjoy!

The LSAT Reading Comprehension section is one of the most challenging parts of the exam. It requires test-takers to read lengthy passages and answer questions based on their comprehension of the material. As with any standardized test, the more practice a student has, the more likely they are to do well on the exam. One excellent resource for LSAT Reading Comprehension practice is PrepTest 80, and here are some benefits of using it. First, PrepTest 80 is a real LSAT exam that was administered in 2016. As such, it contains up-to-date content and reflects the current format and difficulty of the exam. Working through this test will give test-takers an accurate representation of the types of questions they can expect to see on the actual LSAT.

Second, PrepTest 80 offers a wide variety of passages and questions, including topics on science, humanities, and social science. This variety allows test-takers to get a broad range of practice in different types of reading comprehension material. The test also contains multiple-choice questions and comparative passages, which challenge students to analyze and compare different viewpoints.

Third, using PrepTest 80 for LSAT Reading Comprehension practice can help students improve their timing and pacing. The LSAT is a timed exam, and test-takers need to manage their time effectively to complete each section. By practicing with PrepTest 80, students can develop strategies for reading and answering questions more efficiently and accurately.

Fourth, working through LSAT Reading Comprehension questions from PrepTest 80 can help students identify their strengths and weaknesses in this section. For example, they may find that they struggle with science passages but excel in humanities passages. By recognizing these patterns, students can tailor their practice to focus on their weaker areas and improve their overall performance on the exam. In conclusion, solving LSAT Reading Comprehension practice questions from PrepTest 80 offers numerous benefits for students preparing for the LSAT exam. It provides up-to-date content and a variety of passages, helps improve timing and pacing, and allows students to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Incorporating this resource into LSAT preparation can lead to improved scores and increased confidence on test day.

Directions: Each set of questions in this section is based on a single passage or a pair of passages. The questions are to be answered on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage or pair of passages. For some of the questions, more than one of the choices could conceivably answer the question. However, you are to choose the best answer; that is, the response that most accurately and completely answers the question, and blacken the corresponding space on your answer sheet.

QUESTIONS

The following passage is adapted from a journal article.

To understand John Rawls's theory of justice,
one first needs to grasp what he was reacting against.
The dominant approach in pre-Rawls political
philosophy was utilitarianism, which emphasized
(5) maximizing the fulfillment of people's preferences.
At first sight, utilitarianism seems plausible-what else
should we do but try to achieve the most satisfaction
possible for the greatest number of people?-but the
theory has some odd consequences. Suppose executing
(10) an innocent person will appease a mob, and that doing
so will therefore increase total satisfaction. Incredibly,
a utilitarian would have to endorse the execution.
Rawls accordingly complains that, in the utilitarian
view, there is no reason "why the violation of the
(15) liberty of a few might not be made right by the greater
good shared by many."
If we reject utilitarianism and its view about the
aim of the good life, how can we know what justice
requires? Rawls offers an ingenious answer. He asserts
(20) that even if people do not agree on the aim of the good
life, they can accept a fair procedure for settling what
the principles of justice should be. This is key to
Rawls's theory: Whatever arises from a fair procedure
is just.
(25) But what is a fair procedure? Rawls again has a
clever approach, beginning with his famous veil of
ignorance. Suppose five children have to divide a cake
among themselves. One child cuts the cake but does
not know who will get which shares. The child is
(30) likely to divide the cake into equal shares to avoid the
possibility of receiving the smallest share, an
arrangement that the others will also admit to be fair.
By denying the child information that would bias the
result, a fair outcome can be achieved.
(35) Rawls generalizes the point of this example of the
veil of ignorance. His thought experiment features a
situation, which he calls the original position, in which
people are self-interested but do not know their own
station in life, abilities, tastes, or even gender. Under
(40) the limits of this ignorance, individuals motivated by
self-interest endeavor to arrive at a solution in which
they will not lose, because nobody loses. The result
will be a just arrangement.
Rawls thinks that people, regardless of their plan
(45) of life, want certain "primary goods." These include
rights and liberties, powers and opportunities, and
income and wealth. Without these primary goods,
people cannot accomplish their goals, whatever they
may be. Hence, any individual in the original position

(50) will agree that everyone should get at least a minimum
amount of these primary goods. Unfortunately, this is
an inherently redistributionist idea, since the primary
goods are not natural properties of human beings. If
someone lacks a primary good, it must be provided,
(55) at the expense of others if necessary.

1. According to the passage, Rawls uses which one of the following devices to explain his theory?

(A) a thought experiment

(B) a process of elimination

(C) an empirical study of social institutions

(D) a deduction from a few basic principles

(E) a consideration of the meaning of words

2. The purpose of the question in lines 6-8 is to

(A) point out an implausible feature of utilitarianism

(B) characterize utilitarianism as internally contradictory

(C) establish that utilitarianism must be true

(D) suggest the intuitive appeal of utilitarianism

(E) inquire into ways of supplementing utilitarianism

3. The author's primary purpose in the passage is to

(A) show why a once-dominant theory was abandoned

(B) describe the novel way in which a theory addresses a problem

(C) sketch the historical development of a celebrated theory

(D) debate the pros and cons of a complex theory (E) argue for the truth of a controversial theory

4. With which one of the following statements would both Rawls and the author of the passage be most likely to agree?

(A) There are situations in which it is permissible to treat the fulfillment of one person's preferences as more important than the fulfillment of the majority's preferences.

(B) Unless individuals set aside their own self-interest, they cannot make fair judgments about the distribution of goods.

(C) Ifan individual lacks a good, society must sometimes provide that good, even if this means taking it from others.

(D) Most people agree about which of the primary goods is the most valuable.

(E) It is fair to sacrifice the individual's interests if doing so will maximize the satisfaction of the majority.

5. The author's stance toward Rawls's theory is most accurately described as one of

(A) scholarly neutrality with respect both to its objectives and its development

(B) disdain for its pretensions camouflaged by declarations of respect for its author

(C) sympathy with its recommendations tempered with skepticism about its cogency

(D) enthusiasm for its aims mingled with doubts about its practicality

(E) admiration for its ingenuity coupled with misgivings about some of its implications

6. Which one of the following would, if true, most call into question the claim in lines 49-51 of the passage?

(A) Most people value the fulfillment of their own preferences over the fulfillment of the preferences of strangers.

(B) It is impossible in practice for people to be ignorant of their stations in life, abilities, and tastes.

(C) Some people would be willing to risk a complete loss of one primary good for the chance of obtaining an enormous amount of another primary good.

(D) Few people believe that they would be satisfied with only a minimum amount of primary goods.

(E) People tend to overestimate the resources available for distribution and to underestimate their own needs.

NEXT PASSAGE:

Roughly 40 percent of the African American
population of the Southern United States left the South
between 1915 and 1960, primarily for the industrial
cities of the North. While there was some African

(5) American migration to the North during the nineteenth
century, most accounts point to 1915 as the start of
what historians call the Great Migration. There were at
least three catalysts of the Great Migration. First,
World War I increased labor demand in the industrial
(10) North. Second, the war in Europe cut off immigration,
which led many Northern employers to send labor
agents to recruit African American labor in the South.
Finally, a boll weevil infestation ruined cotton crops
and reduced labor demand in much of the South in
(15) the 191Os and 1920s.
In short, the Great Migration began in 1915
and not earlier, because it was only then that the
North-South income gap became large enough to start
such a large-scale migration. Less clear, however, is

(20) why migration continued, and even accelerated, in
subsequent decades, at the same time that North-South
income differences were narrowing.
We propose that once started, migration develops
momentum over time as current migration reduces the

(25) difficulty and cost of future migration. Economists
have typically assumed that people migrate if their
expected earnings in the destination exceed those of
the origin enough to outweigh the difficulties and
one-time costs of migration. Previous research
(30) suggests that the difficulties and costs arise from
several sources. First, the uncertainty that potential
migrants face concerning housing and labor-market
conditions in the destination presents a significant
hindrance. Second, there is the simple cost in terms of
(35) time and money of physically moving from the origin
to the destination. Third, new migrants must
familiarize themselves with local labor-and
housing-market institutions once they arrive; they
must find housing and work, and they must often
(40) adapt to a new culture or language.
Empirical studies show that during the Great
Migration, information was passed through letters that
were often read by dozens of people and through

conversation when migrants made trips back to their

(45) home communities. Thus early migrants provided
information about labor-and housing-market
conditions to friends and relatives who had not yet
made the trip. First-time African American migrants
often traveled with earlier migrants returning to the
(50) North after a visit to the South, which reduced
physical costs. Additionally, previous migrants
reduced new migrants' cost of adapting to a new locale
and culture by providing them with temporary
housing, food, and even credit. Previous migrants
(55) also provided a cultural cushion for later migrants,
so that they did not have to struggle as hard with their
new surroundings.

7. What is the main point of the passage?

(A) Approximately 40 percent of the African American population left the Southern U.S. between 1915 and 1960-an event historians refer to as the Great Migration.

(B) The Great Migration was triggered by an increased labor demand in the North due to the onset of World War I and a reduced labor demand in the South due to a boll weevil infestation.

(C) Because earlier migrants helped defray the financial costs of migration for later migrants, African American migration to the North accelerated at a time when income differences were narrowing.

(D) In migration movements, earlier migrants reduce the physical costs of moving and provide a cultural and linguistic cushion for later migrants.

(E) Although the Great Migration was initially triggered by the income differential between the North and South, other factors must be cited in order to explain its duration over several decades.

8. According to the passage, the Great Migration did not start earlier than 1915 because

(A) the income gap between the North and South was not large enough to induce people to migrate

(B) the cost of living in the North was prohibitively high before World War I

(C) industrial jobs in the North required specialized training unavailable in the South

(D) previous migration had yet to develop sufficient momentum to induce further migration

(E) agricultural jobs in the South paid very well before the boll weevil infestation

9. The third and fourth paragraphs of the passage function primarily to

(A) cast doubt upon a historical explanation presented in the first paragraph

(B) survey the repercussions of a historical event described in the first two paragraphs

(C) derive a historical model from evidence presented in the first two paragraphs

(D) answer a question raised in the second paragraph about a historical event

(E) provide additional evidence for historical claims made in the first paragraph

10. The authors of the passage would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) Expected financial gains alone may not be a reliable indicator of the likelihood that an individual will migrate.

(B) A complete explanation of the Great Migration must begin with an account of what triggered nineteenth-century migrations to the North.

(C) The Great Migration is not parallel in its broadest patterns to most other known migration movements.

(D) Most large-scale migrations can be adequately explained in terms of the movement of people from lower-to higher-income regions. (E) Large-scale migrations generally did not occur until the early twentieth century, when significant interregional income differences arose as a result of rapid industrialization.

11. The primary purpose of the last sentence of the second paragraph is to

(A) indicate why previous research on the Great Migration has been misguided

(B) extend the authors' explanation of the causes of the Great Migration to include later events

(C) challenge the traditional view that Northern wages were higher than Southern wages prior to 1915

(D) present a fact about the Great Migration that the authors seek to explain

(E) suggest that the Great Migration cannot be explained

12. The passage provides the most support for which one of the following statements?

(A) The highest-paying agricultural jobs in the South prior to 1915 did not pay more than the lowest-paying manufacturing jobs in the North.

(B) The overall cost of migrating from the South to the North in the twentieth century was lower for the earliest migrants because there were more of the highest-paying jobs available for them to choose from.

(C) The North-South income gap increased around 1915 because of the increase in demand for labor in the North and the decrease in demand for labor in the South.

(D) The average wages in the South, though dramatically lower than the average wages in the North, held roughly steady for all workers during the 19 l Os and 1920s.

(E) Most migrants in the Great Migration made at least one trip back to the South to provide help and information to other people who were considering migrating as well.

13. Which one of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the authors' analysis of the Great Migration?

(A) The average amount of time it took new migrants to find employment in the North grew at a steady rate between 1915 and 1960.

(B) In general, communities of African Americans in the North consisted largely of individuals who shared a common geographic place of origin in the South.

(C) Housing prices in the North fluctuated between high and low extremes from 1915 to 1960, while housing prices in the South remained relatively constant.

(D) To maintain a steady rate of recruitment after World War I, Northern employers had to send more and more labor agents to recruit employees in the South.

(E) There was a large-scale reverse migration of African Americans back to Southern locations later in the twentieth century.

Passage B

One of the basic principles of the stock market
is transparency. In a transparent market, information
that influences trading decisions is available to all

(40) participants at the same time. Success in the market
can then be gained only by skill in analyzing the
information and making good investing decisions.
In a transparent stock market, everyone has the same
chance of making a good investment, and success is
(45) based on individual merit and skill.
In insider-trading situations, some people make
investment decisions based on information that other
people don't have. People who don't have access to
the inside information can't make similarly informed

(50) investment decisions. That unfairly compromises the
market: people with inside information can make
informed trade decisions far before everyone else,
making it difficult or impossible for other people to
earn money in the stock market.
(55) This, in tum, causes a loss of investor confidence
and could ultimately destroy the market. People invest
in the stock market because they believe they can
make money. The whole point of capital investments
is to make good investing decisions and make money

(60) over time. If investors believe they can't make money,
they won't invest. Undermining investor confidence
would thus deny companies access to the funds they
need to grow and be successful, and it could ultimately
lead to widespread financial repercussions.

14. Both passages are primarily concerned with answering
which one of the following questions?

(A) How is insider trading defined?
(B) Should there be severer penalties for
insider trading?
(C) Why do investors engage in insider trading?
(D) Is insider trading harmful to the stock market?
(E) What is the best means of regulating
insider trading?

15. In their attitudes toward stock trades based on inside
information, the author of passage A and the author
of passage B, respectively, may be most accurately
described as

(A) positive and neutral
(B) positive and negative
(C) neutral and negative
(D) neutral and neutral
(E) negative and negative

16. The authors would be most likely to agree that

(A) insider trading tends to undennine investor
confidence in the stock market
(B) all information should be available to all market
participants at the same time
(C) it is appropriate for investors to seek to gain an
advantage by superior stock analysis
(D) insider nontrading should be regulated to the
same extent as insider trading
(E) insider trading is the best means for
disseminating information possessed

17. Which one of the following laws would conform most closely to the position articulated by the author of passage A but not that articulated by the author of passage B?

(A) a law that prohibits trading based on information that is not shared by everyone

(B) a law that permits trading based on information gained from analysis of a stock but prohibits trading based on information obtained from one's position within a company

(C) a law that prohibits trading that could reasonably be expected to undermine investors' confidence in the stock market

(D) a law that legalizes selling based on inside information that a stock's price ought to be dropping but prohibits buying based on inside information that it should be rising

(E) a law that legalizes trading based on inside information, as long as that information is not acquired by theft or other unlawful means

18. Passage A, unlike passage B, seeks to advance its argument by

(A) applying general principles to particular examples

(B) pointing out similarities between a controversial activity and uncontroversial ones

(C) describing the consequences that would result from allowing an activity

(D) showing how a specific activity relates to a larger context

(E) examining the motivations of an activity's participants

19. The passages' references to the analysis of information about stocks (lines 11-14, lines 40-42) are related in which one of the following ways?

(A) Passage A presents it as unnecessary, since all relevant information is already reflected in stock prices, whereas passage B presents it as necessary for making sound investment decisions.

(B) Passage A uses it as an example of an activity that compensates for the market's lack of transparency, whereas passage B uses it as an example of an activity whose viability is conditional upon the transparency of the market.

(C) Passage A presents it as an activity that gives some investors an unfair advantage over others, whereas passage B presents it as an activity that increases the transparency of the market.

(D) Passage A presents it as comparable to the acquisition of inside information, whereas passage B contrasts it with the acquisition of inside information. (E) Passage A treats it as an option available only to brokers and other stock-market professionals, whereas passage B treats it as an option available to ordinary investors as well.

Next Passage...

There are some basic conceptual problems hovering about the widespread use of brain scans as pictures of mental activity. As applied to medical diagnosis (for example, in diagnosing a brain tumor), (5) a brain scan is similar in principle to an X-ray: it is a way of seeing inside the body. Its value is straightforward and indubitable. However, the use of neuroimaging in psychology is a fundamentally different kind of enterprise. It is a research method the (10) validity of which depends on a premise: that the mind can be analyzed into separate and distinct modules, or components, and further that these modules are instantiated in localized brain regions. This premise is known as the modular theory of mind. (15) It may in fact be that neither mental activity, nor the physical processes that constitute it, are decomposable into independent modules. Psychologist William Uttal contends that rather than distinct entities, the various mental processes are likely to be (20) properties of a more general mental activity that is distributed throughout the brain. It cannot be said, for instance, that the amygdala is the seat of emotion and the prefrontal cortex is the seat of reason, as the popular press sometimes claims. For when I get angry, (25) I generally do so for a reason. To cleanly separate emotion from reason-giving makes a hash of human experience. But if this critique of the modular theory of mind is valid, how can one account for the fact that brain (30) scans do, in fact, reveal well-defined areas that "light up" in response to various cognitive tasks? In the case of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), what you are seeing when you look at a brain scan is actually the result of a subtraction. The fMRI is (35) usually interpreted as a map of the rate of oxygen use in different parts of the brain, which stands as a measure of metabolic activity. But what it actually depicts is the differential rate of oxygen use: one first takes a baseline measurement in the control condition, (40) then a second measurement while the subject is performing some cognitive task. The baseline measurement is then subtracted from the on-task measurement. The reasoning, seemingly plausible, is that whatever remains after the subtraction represents (45) the metabolic activity associated solely with the cognitive task in question. One immediately obvious (but usually unremarked) problem is that this method obscures the fact that the entire brain is active in both conditions. (50) A false impression of neat functional localization is given by differential brain scans that subtract out all the distributed brain functions. This subtractive method produces striking images of the brain at work. But isn't the modular theory of mind ultimately (55) attractive in part because it is illustrated so well by the products of the subtractive method?

20. Which one of the following most accurately states the main point of the passage?

(A) In spite of troubling conceptual problems surrounding brain scan technology, its use in psychological research on mental activity has grown rapidly.

(B) The use of brain scans to depict mental activity relies on both a questionable premise and a misleading methodological approach.

(C) Contrary to what is usually asserted in the popular press, reason and emotion are probably not located in the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, respectively.

(D) Although the fMRI is usually interpreted as a measure of metabolic activity in the brain, this interpretation is misguided and therefore leads to false results.

(E) The modular theory of mind has gained wide currency precisely because it is illustrated effectively by the images produced by the subtractive method.

21 . According to the modular theory of mind, as described in the passage, mental activity

(A) consists of distinct components in localized areas of the brain

(B) requires at least some metabolic activity in all parts of the brain

(C) involves physical processes over which people have only limited control

(D) is localized in the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex

(E) generally involves some sort of reason-giving

22. The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements regarding the subtractive method?

(A) Because the subtractive method masks distributed brain functions, empirical results derived using the method are invalid for medical applications.

(B) The subtractive method results in images that strongly support Uttal's view that mental processes are simply properties of a more general mental activity.

(C) Brain scans of individuals experiencing anger that were produced using the subtractive method show that emotions are not actually seated in the amygdala.

(D) The subtractive method seems to strongly support the modular theory of mind because it creates an illusion that brain functions are localized.

(E) The view that the subtractive method depicts differential rates of oxygen use in the brain is based on a fundamental misconception of the method.

23. A central function of the final paragraph of the passage is to

(A) criticize the research results described in the third paragraph on the grounds that they are incompatible with the basic premise described in the first paragraph

(B) suggest that the position articulated in the first paragraph needs to be modified to accommodate the results outlined in the third paragraph

(C) contend that the research method detailed in the third paragraph relies upon an outdated theoretical model described in the second paragraph

(D) argue that the empirical research outlined in the third paragraph points to the inadequacy of the competing views described in the first two paragraphs (E) show why the type of empirical evidence discussed in the third paragraph does not defeat the argument presented in the second paragraph

24. The author draws an analogy between brain scans and X-rays primarily in order to

(A) contrast a valid use of brain scans with one of more doubtful value

(B) suggest that new technology can influence the popularity of a scientific theory

(C) point to evidence that brain scans are less precise than other available technologies

(D) argue that X-ray images undermine a theory that brain scans are often used to support

(E) show how brain scan technology evolved from older technologies such as X-rays

25. According to the passage, psychologist William Uttal contends that the various mental processes are likely to be

(A) independent modules that are based in different areas of the brain

(B) essentially an amalgamation of emotion and reason

(C) generally uniform in their rates of oxygen use

(D) detectable using brain scans enhanced by means of the subtractive method

(E) features of a general mental activity that is spread throughout the brain

26. Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by the passage?

(A) Although there are important exceptions, most cognition does in fact depend on independent modules located in specific regions of the brain.

(B) The modular theory of mind holds that regions of the brain that are not engaged in a specific cognitive task have a rate of oxygen use that is close to zero.

(C) During the performance of certain cognitive tasks, the areas of the brain that are most metabolically active show a rate of oxygen use that is higher than that of the rest of the brain.

(D) The baseline measurements of oxygen use taken for use in the subtractive method show that some regions of the brain have high metabolic activity at all times. (E) When a brain scan subject experiences anger, the subtractive method shows several regions of the brain as "lit up" with metabolic activity.

27. Which one of the following is most analogous to the manner in which fMRI scans of brain activity are typically interpreted, as described in the last two paragraphs?

(A) One particular district in the city voted for the new mayor by an unusually large margin, so the mayor could not have won without that district.

(B) A store launched a yearlong advertising campaign and had an increase in shoppers only during the summer, so the advertisements affected only the summer shoppers.

(C) Much more of the water supply is used by agricultural customers than by residential customers, so it is the agricultural sector that is impacted most severely when droughts occur.

(D) Internet traffic is highest during the evening hours, so most Internet traffic during these peak hours originates in homes rather than in office buildings. (E) The cheetah is the world's fastest land animal only for short distances, so most cheetahs cannot outrun another land animal over long distances.