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 ·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
23.
Which one of the following ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █ ██ ███████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███████ ███
Question Type
Meaning in context (of word, phrase, or idea)
Structure
This question is about how passage B relates to passage A, so we’ll need to read both passages before answering. When author A uses the phrase “lack the wherewithal,” she’s expressing the concern that judges aren’t able to to do proper research and could end up with inaccurate results. We’re looking for the answer choice that expresses a similar concern.
This is a reference to the knowledge of expert witnesses. We’re looking for a phrase that refers to judges and their inability to do proper research.
b
may even participate ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██
This phrase doesn’t express any concerns. It’s just an acknowledgement that trial judges sometimes question witnesses. We’re looking for a phrase that expresses the same concern raised by author A: that judges aren’t able to to do proper research and could end up with inaccurate results.
c
subject to live ███████ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██
This is a reference to how in trials, expert witnesses have the opportunity to comment on research findings. The author’s raising the concern that in appellate courts, that opportunity doesn’t exist. But we’re looking for a phrase that refers to judges (not expert witnesses) and raises a different concern (judges’ inability to do proper research).
When author A uses the phrase “lack the wherewithal,” she’s expressing the concern that judges aren’t able to to do proper research and could end up with inaccurate results. (D) expresses the same concern; the author is critical of the kinds of results judges will turn up in their own independent research.
This phrase just clarifies what kinds of resources appellate judges shouldn’t be allowed to make use of. It doesn’t offer any commentary on how skilled judges are at actually performing independent research. We’re looking for a phrase that raises the concern that judges aren’t able to to do proper research and could end up with inaccurate results.
Difficulty
78% of people who answer get this correct
This is a moderately difficult question.
It is significantly easier than other questions in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%141
150
75%159
Analysis
Meaning in context (of word, phrase, or idea)
Structure
Comparative
Law
Answer Popularity
PopularityAvg. score
a
13%
158
b
2%
154
c
2%
156
d
78%
163
e
5%
156
Question history
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