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Session 3: Comparative Passages

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Theme: Comparative Passages

Comparative passages can be tricky, especially keeping it clear in your mind what was said in which passage. There are a couple of things to think about when practicing comparative passages:
This may sound silly and obvious, but… compare! Read passage A like a normal LSAT passage and use the tools we’ve discussed so far to analyze the passage. But when you get to passage B, immediately start looking for something to grab on to.
Consider the topic. Sometimes the test makers are nice enough to give us essentially the same topic. Other times, it can be a bit more difficult. Go to PT 61 and consider the first paragraphs from the two comparative passages.



Same topic– great! It’s about distinguishing between animal and human communication.
Once I get on the same page, the trick is to actively think about what is different in the way that things are expressed. I can infer from examples in passage A that animal communication is characterized as being rigid responses to stimuli, but nowhere in passage A does it talk about language being spontaneous and creative. I want to have an internal dialogue with myself that clearly notes that. This makes it easier to be 100% sure about what passage A says, and what passage B says, and conversely, what each doesn’t.
I essentially want to do this throughout the whole of passage B, while also thinking about analyzing passage B’s argument. It can be tricky to do both at the same time at first, but with more practice, you’ll get better at it. Furthermore, your ability to do so is what they are trying to test you on.
This is a similar skill-set to what we talked about last week, with actively comparing two things in order to get a better understanding of what each is, and to make inferences about what each isn’t. We can do something similar by comparing and contrasting the arguments in each passage.

Other times, however, the topics seem incredibly different! Go to PT 77. Read the first passage, and then only the first paragraph from passage




Um… ok. What is happening here? We’re given what seems to be two very different topics. Just reading the first sentence alone of passage B seems to be a big departure from the first passage. But we can still start making broad connections to try and get on the same page immediately, understanding that our connection will almost certainly grow stronger over time. So we can say something like: “well they both mention history, and so far, they also mention women.” That is something to hold on to! Our next consideration will help us clarify the rest.


Pay attention to the more abstract relationship between the two passages. Here are a couple of relationships that are the most common:
One passage is a meta discussion on a type of argument that is being made, and the other is a more straightforward argument. Our previous excerpts were both examples of this.


Passage B talks about the way that scientists distinguish animal communication from human communication. Later on, they actively argue against the way that those scientists do so, claiming that it is based on a logical fallacy. Passage A straightforwardly makes an argument that animal communication is distinct from human communication. By understanding this, we can predict how the author of passage B would react to the author of passage A! They will test you on your ability to make such predictions. Practice doing so!


Let’s go back to PT 77.

Passage A is having a meta discussion about how women’s history is studied: either through the lens of individual women or through the more abstract constructions of gender and how that shapes politics and culture. They say that while analyzing through the lens of gender has its benefits, maybe doing only that leaves behind what we gain from understanding particular lives of individual women. Passage B is straightforwardly analyzing history through the lens of gender. By recognizing this, we can now predict how the author of passage A will react to reading passage B. Again, this is what they are testing you on. There are at least two questions from this passage that address this issue.

Another relationship between passages is the discussion of a principle, and the application of that principle. Or the discussion of a principle, and where that principle fails to apply. Or the discussion of a principle, and a similar principle with a key distinction. There are many more, but try to think about how one passage relates to the other, and try to read passage B through the lens of passage A when possible.

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