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LSAT PrepTest 84 Unlocked: Exclusive Data + Analysis + Explanations (2019)

LSAT PrepTest 84 Unlocked: Exclusive Data + Analysis + Explanations (2019) breaks down difficult exam topics into easily digestible questions and answers.

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    LSAT ® PrepTest 84 Unlocked LSAT PrepTest 80 Unlocked DECONSTRUCTING THE JUNE 2018 LSAT LSAT ® is a registered trademark of the Law School Admissions Council, Inc., which neither sponsors nor endorses this product.

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    LSAT® is a registered mark of the Law School Admission Council, Inc., which neither sponsors nor endorses this product. This publication is designed to provide accurate information in regard to the subject matter covered as of its publication date, with the understanding that knowledge and best practice constantly evolve. The publisher is not engaged in rendering medical, legal, accounting, or other professional service. If medical or legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. This publication is not intended for use in clinical practice or the delivery of medical care. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the Editors assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising out of or related to any use of the material contained in this book. © 2019 by Kaplan, Inc. Published by Kaplan Publishing, a division of Kaplan, Inc. 750 Third Avenue New York, NY 10017 ISBN: 978-1-5062-4713-7 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved. The text of this publication, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher. ISBN: 978-1-5062-4714-4 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non- transferable right to access and read the text of this eBook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

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    PrepTest 84: The Inside Story PrepTest 84 was administered in June 2018. It challenged 22,489 test takers. What made this test so hard? Here’s a breakdown of what Kaplan students who were surveyed after taking the official exam considered PrepTest 84’s most difficult section. Hardest PrepTest 84 Section as Reported by Test Takers Based on these results, you might think that studying Logic Games is the key to LSAT success. Well, Logic Games is important, but test takers’ perceptions don’t tell the whole story. For that, you need to consider students’ actual performance. The following chart shows the average number of students to miss each question in each of PrepTest 84’s different sections. Percentage Incorrect by PrepTest 84 Section Type

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    Actual student performance tells quite a different story. On average, students were actually more likely to miss questions in Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension than they were in Logic Games. Maybe students overestimate the difficulty of the Logic Games section because it’s so unusual, or maybe it’s because a really hard Logic Game is so easy to remember after the test (for instance, this test’s final game was very challenging). However, the truth is that the testmaker places hard questions throughout the test. Here were the locations of the 10 hardest (most missed) questions in the exam. Location of the 10 Most Difficult Questions in PrepTest 84

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    The takeaway from this data is that, to maximize your potential on the LSAT, you need to take a comprehensive approach. Test yourself rigorously, and review your performance on every section of the test. Kaplan’s LSAT explanations provide the expertise and insight you need to fully understand your results. The explanations are written and edited by a team of LSAT experts, who have helped thousands of students improve their scores. Kaplan always provides data-driven analysis of the test, ranking the difficulty of every question based on actual student performance. The 10 hardest questions on every test are highlighted with a 4-star difficulty rating, the highest we give. The analysis breaks down the remaining questions into 1-, 2-, and 3-star ratings so that you can compare your performance to thousands of other test takers on all LSAC material. Don’t settle for wondering whether a question was really as hard as it seemed to you. Analyze the test with real data, and learn the secrets and strategies that help top scorers master the LSAT. 7 CAN’T-MISS FEATURES OF PREPTEST 84 • 101 questions per test is the standard. However, PrepTest 84 had only 100 questions—the first test to do so since June 2015 (PT 75). • This was the second PrepTest since June 2007 with no Method of Argument questions. The other test was June 2014 (PT 72). • The first Logical Reasoning section of PT 84 had two questions about dinosaurs— #13 and #23. Test takers might have recalled those two questions on the Friday night after the test when they were watching the premier of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom . • It's not that uncommon to see Strict Sequencing, Matching, Loose Sequencing, or a Hybrid game on a test. But PT 84 was the first test to feature all four since June 2004 (PT 43). Not only did the test feature all those game types, but the Hybrid game was a combination of Distribution and Selection. That means all the common game actions were present on this test. • Distribution/Selection games are rare—there have only been eight total ever. Prior to PT 84 the most recent ones were in December 2014 (PT 74) (when there were two) and October 2011 (PT 64). • This was not the test to guess (D) in Logic Games. That answer was only correct twice (tied for the fewest ever)—and both times it was right was on a 1-Star Acceptability question. • There were only two Detail Questions in the Reading Comp section. There have only been that few three times ever—the two other times were in October 2010 (PT 61) and October 2000 (PT 32).

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    PREPTEST 84 IN CONTEXT As much fun as it is to find out what makes a PrepTest unique or noteworthy, it’s even more important to know just how representative it is of other LSAT administrations (and, thus, how likely it is to be representative of the exam you will face on Test Day). The following charts compare the numbers of each kind of question and game on PrepTest 84 to the average numbers seen on all officially released LSATs administered over the past five years (from 2013 through 2017). Number of LR Questions by Type: PrepTest 84 vs. 2013–2017 Average Number of LG Games by Type: PrepTest 84 vs. 2013–2017 Average

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    Number of RC Questions by Type: PrepTest 84 vs. 2013–2017 Average There isn’t usually a huge difference in the distribution of questions from LSAT to LSAT, but if this test seems harder (or easier) to you than another you’ve taken, compare the number of questions of the types on which you, personally, are strongest and weakest. Then, explore within each section to see if your best or worst question types came earlier or later.

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    Students in Kaplan’s comprehensive LSAT courses have access to every released LSAT and to a library of thousands of officially released questions arranged by question, game, and passage type. If you are studying on your own, you have to do a bit more work to identify your strengths and your areas of opportunity. Quantitative analysis (like that in the charts shown here) is an important tool for understanding how the test is constructed, and how you are performing on it.

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    Section I: Reading Comprehension PASSAGE 1: ATMOSPHERIC WARMING AND THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT Q# Question Type Correct Difficulty 1 Global D ★★ 2 Logic Reasoning (Method of Argument) C ★★ 3 Detail A ★ 4 Inference E ★★★ 5 Logic Function D ★ PASSAGE 2: TECHNIQUES FOR POLICE INTERVIEWERS Q# Question Type Correct Difficulty 6 Global E ★★ 7 Detail (EXCEPT) D ★ 8 Logic Function C ★★★★ 9 Inference A ★★ 10 Inference D ★★★ 11 Logic Reasoning (Parallel Reasoning) B ★★ 12 Inference B ★

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    PASSAGE 3: THE ROLE OF READERS IN CLASSIFYING GENRES Q# Question Type Correct Difficulty 13 Global C ★ 14 Inference E ★★ 15 Inference A ★★ 16 Logic Reasoning (Method of Argument) A ★★ 17 Inference A ★★★ 18 Inference B ★★★★ 19 Logic Reasoning (Principle) C ★★ PASSAGE 4: BIOLOGICAL EFFECT OF COOKING FOOD Q# Question Type Correct Difficulty 20 Global B ★★ 21 Inference A ★★ 22 Logic Function B ★ 23 Inference E ★★★ 24 Global E ★★★ 25 Logic Reasoning (Strengthen) B ★★★★ 26 Inference D ★★★

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    Q# Question Type Correct Difficulty 27 Global D ★★★★ PASSAGE 1: ATMOSPHERIC WARMING AND THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT Step 1: Read the Passage Strategically Sample Roadmap line # Keyword/phrase ¶ Margin notes 2 quite compelling 3 reinforced recently Definitely warming 10 unprecedented 11 other recent 12 strengthened; controversial 13 Proponents "Proponents: cause is "greenhouse effect" 14 claim 17 Early 18 inconsistent Early models inconsistent 22 led opponents; question the validity 23 But new

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    line # Keyword/phrase ¶ Margin notes 24 more acurately 25 important 26 overlooked: New models better: include sulfates 34 consistent 36 Another question Alternate explanation: cause is solar variability 42 strong 44 But 45 cannot account 46 While 51 inevitably reverted Doesn't fully explain increase 52 But 53 surpasses 56 it seems reasonable to conclude Conclusion; greenhouse explanation more reasonable 59 best Discussion The passage opens with an italicized disclaimer: It was written in the mid-1990s. This author from the distant past starts off by citing compelling evidence that temperatures in Earth’s atmosphere have been rising—half a degree Celsius over the last 100 years. This temperature rise serves as the Topic of the passage. The author then introduces a controversial view that this temperature increase is caused by the “greenhouse effect,” which involves certain gases preventing heat

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    from leaving the atmosphere. This potential explanation for the rise in temperature serves as the Scope of the passage. In the second paragraph, the author suggests the greenhouse effect explanation was not initially convincing. Early models were not consistent with actual data. But , the author then mentions newer models that factor in sulfates, and those models allowed for greater accuracy and consistency. (Did you see all that science-y stuff about volcanoes and solar energy and glacial ice? Notice how utterly unimportant it is for understanding the author’s main point.) The third paragraph introduces another potential pitfall for the greenhouse effect theory. Other scientists argue that Earth’s temperatures are actually tied to solar energy variations, not greenhouse gases. According to the author, these scientists have managed to develop some pretty solid models. But , the author argues that their models don’t match up well with the recent increase, which exceeds even the most drastic fluctuations predicted by the solar energy models. The author keeps introducing potential objections to the greenhouse effect theory, only to reject those objections and return favor back to the greenhouse effect. Defending that theory serves as the Purpose of the passage. And the Main Idea is driven home in the very last sentence, when the author says what is “reasonable to conclude” in light of all the evidence: Temperatures have indeed risen, and greenhouse gases offer the best explanation for that. 1. (D) Global Step 2: Identify the Question Type The question asks for the “main point of the passage,” making this a Global question. Step 3: Research the Relevant Text As with any Global question, the entire text is relevant. There’s no need to go back into the passage. The main point was predicted when summarizing the big picture. Step 4: Make a Prediction The author’s main idea, as emphasized in the last line of the passage, is that temperatures have risen, and evidence points to the greenhouse effect theory as the best explanation for that occurrence. Step 5: Evaluate the Answer Choices (D) is correct, matching the idea that temperatures have risen, and that there’s ample evidence of the greenhouse effect being responsible.

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    (A) is a 180. The greenhouse effect theory is supported , not questioned, by the sulfate data. And the author rejects the idea that solar cycle data refutes the greenhouse effect theory. (B) is too narrow and a Distortion. This focuses too much on the sulfate data from the second paragraph. Furthermore, the author only talks about how temperatures have risen, not about whether they will continue to rise. (C) is too narrow. This only refers to the equilibrium temperature information from the third paragraph. Furthermore, although the author does state that the greenhouse effect theory models initially overestimated the temperature increase, new methods have yielded results that are consistent with the temperature increase. (E) is a Distortion. The author only shows support for the greenhouse effect theory at the end. There’s no indication that it needs to be combined with anything else, let alone the inadequate solar-fluctuation theory. 2. (C) Logic Reasoning (Method of Argument) Step 2: Identify the Question Type The question asks how the argumentation in the second paragraph relates to that in the third paragraph. Method of Argument questions in Logical Reasoning ask for exactly that: the author’s style of argumentation. So, this question will use the exact same skills one would use for such questions in Logical Reasoning, only on a larger scale (due to the size of the paragraphs in Reading Comprehension). Step 3: Research the Relevant Text The question is based on understanding how the author argues rather than what the author says. So, the margin notes should be sufficient for seeing the relationship. Step 4: Make a Prediction Both paragraphs are ultimately about the greenhouse effect theory. In the second paragraph, the author describes how early models weren’t so great, but newer models are much better. In the third paragraph, the author introduces a potential rival to the greenhouse effect theory, but rejects the rival and claims it’s more reasonable to accept the greenhouse effect theory. The correct answer will be consistent with this describe-and-then-defend approach. Step 5: Evaluate the Answer Choices (C) is correct. The theory discussed in the second paragraph is the greenhouse effect theory. And the author does accept that theory after weighing considerations (the solar-fluctuation theory) in the third paragraph. The word

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