PrepTest 150 - Section 4 - Passage 4 - Question 21

Hide analysis

Passage A.

Trial court judges oppose independent research · They say it distorts the adversarial system and that judges aren't that good at research

█████ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███

Author's criticism · The judges' concerns don't justify an absolute ban on independent research by judges

██████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ██████████ █████ █████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ██████████ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██████████ █████████████ █████████ ███ █████ ████████████ █████████ ████ ██████ ██████ █████████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████ ████████ █████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ███████

Support 1 · Adversarial system doesn't handle specialized knowledge (like science) well

Independence research for specialized knowledge can help.

Support 2 · Trial structure reduces possibility of reaching bad research results

Independent research only supplements the parties' evidence.

███████ █

██████████ ██ ████ █████ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███████████

Author's perspective · Appellate courts should not do independent research

Trial court judges can do whatever they want. But appellate courts shouldn't do research.

██ █ ███████ █████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ █ █████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████████████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ██████████████████████████ ███ █████ █████ ███ ████ ███████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ████████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██████

Support · Appellate courts don't have important tools for figuring out what's true

Live testimony from experts can help judges understand scientific stuff, and cross-examination of those experts can help discover what's true. Appellate judges don't get these things, since they happen only at the trial level.

Support · Trial courts determine the facts; appellate courts shouldn't intrude on this

Support · Appellate courts who do research risk reaching bad results; they also shouldn't read stuff that wasn't presented to the trial court

Passage Style

21.

Which one of the following ██████████ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ████ █████████

Question Type

Implied

Principle or generalization

Split Approach: After passage A, eliminate any principles that aren’t reflected in passage A. Then, after passage B, choose the remaining principle that’s reflected in passage B.

Sequential Approach: Author A argues that trial judges should sometimes be allowed to conduct independent research because (1) the two sides in a court case are biased, (2) admissibility decisions can skew the evidence that can be gotten from expert witnesses, and (3) independent research only supplements, rather than replaces, evidence presented by the opposing parties. Author B argues that appellate judges should never conduct independent research because it inserts new information that wasn’t presented by the opposing parties during a trial. So both authors seem to at least agree that how the opposing parties present evidence is important and shouldn’t be interfered with.

It is more ███████████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ████████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ██ ███

Author A has no opinion on how appropriate it is for appellate judges to conduct independent research. She only talks about trial judges.

16%

Judges should conduct ███████████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ████████

Author A only recommends allowing independent research as a supplement to the scientific evidence already presented by the opposing parties in a trial. She doesn’t discuss whether independent research should also be used to decide what evidence those parties are allowed to present in the first place.

Author B doesn’t believe appellate judges should conduct independent research at all.

Independent research by ██████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ █ ██████

This principle underlies part of author A’s argument. She says it’s okay for trial judges to conduct independent research in part because that research doesn’t replace (i.e., supersede) evidence presented by the opposing parties.

This principle also underlies author B’s argument. He says it’s not okay for appellate judges to conduct independent research because judges’ research would supersede evidence that should have been presented by the opposing parties.

67%

Judges' questioning of █████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████████

Author A only recommends allowing independent research as a supplement to the scientific evidence already presented in a trial. She doesn’t discuss whether judges should also use research when specifically questioning witnesses.

Author B doesn’t believe appellate judges should conduct independent research at all.

Both trial and █████████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ █████████ ████████ ████████

Author A has no opinion on how appellate judges should conduct independent research. She only talks about trial judges. She also doesn’t say what sources trial judges should rely on.

Author B doesn’t believe appellate judges should conduct independent research at all.

PrepTest 150 - Section 4 - Passage 4 - Question 21

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action