Q1

[griswald]

Why not (B)? (B) is supported by line 5-6?

[maryadkins]

The problem with (B) is that the conventional themes and language have more to do with the "subject matter specific to the Border region" (line 9), which is referring to a region half in Mexico and half in the US (lines 1-3) than to 18th Century Spain even though it originated there. The rest of the passage that follows line 9 elaborates on how it is unique to the border region and all of the reasons why (line 20, all of paragraph 2, particularly line 35—KANSAS cattle drives).

As for the others:

(A) focuses too narrowly on imagery. That's only one piece of the passage.

(C) is too extreme — "ideal" isn't supported and the passage is about more than just that one corrido.

(D) is like (A).

(E) is correct (line 20 especially supports this).

[jon.sesso]

I actually answered this question correctly, though it fueled my rage towards LSAT makers nonetheless. Narrowed it to E and B. I picked E because I felt that it captured more of the main point. Had to take a step back and look at the passage from a 360 degree view. What's the gist? Spanish, history stuff, Corridos (I kept picturing Doritos in my mind, interestingly), community, gatherings, songs, something called a despedida (last paragraph big ticket item).

The picture in my mind as I read through the article was a bunch of Spanish cowboys wearing sombreros while singing and dancing around a campfire in the desert. Oddly enough, they had teepee's. Social gatherings? Community = important. That's all pretty much in the first paragraph, which talks about the history (which is exactly what B says, and it absolutely is the main point of the first paragraph - backed up by several parts, particularly the last sentence).

So first paragraph mostly about history, roots, tradition type stuff. B and E definitely suffice here. B takes the cake though.

Second paragraph tries to make an excuse for corrido writers' lack of creativity (metaphors = embellishment). So corridos are simple and swift. Author further embellishes the rarity of metaphors by talking about storms in two corridos. Both are about thunderstorms. Concludes with imagery and community stuff. Is this paragraph root-worthy? Yes, in an LSAT kind of way. But the main point of the paragraph is to further make the imagery/community stuff (cowboys wearing sombreros, Mexicans w/ guitars and lots of 'em). E takes the cake.

Last paragraph. In a word? Despedida. Still has root-worthy language, but again what's the main point? This paragraph alone eliminates answer choice A. Cohesiveness, continuity, Border, you name it. E takes the cake and eats it.

So which answer is it? They're both correct! E is more correct than B though. However, you'll be happy to know that if the LSAT geniuses (who spend a lot of their free time on Wikipedia) decided to make B the correct answer, we'd all be talking ourselves into how B is the correct answer




Side note: I am convinced that socializing with an LSAT writer would most definitely not be my cup of tea. An assumption sufficient for this argument, if valid, is that people who write LSAT questions for a living would be extremely easy and yet annoying to refute in any dialogue, since they take every premise as true and every argument as refutable. And it is a premise of this conclusion that the relationship LSAT writers have towards conclusions is hypocritical based on their conclusion that all premises cannot be flawed UNLESS otherwise classified as non factual.

Who can find the flaw in my argument? I don't have time but kudos to anyone who crushes it.

[tommywallach]

Ha! Great post.