This is an explanation for passage 3 of LSAT preptest 36, the December 2001 LSAT. This passage is about hormones and how they affects our behavior.
This section has paragraph summaries and an analysis of the passage, links to the explanations for the questions are below.
Paragraph Summaries
- Part 1 of Paragraph 1: Hormones can affect behavior, not just biological functions.
- Part 2 of Paragraph 1: Description of how hormones balance salt and water in the body.
- Part 1 of Paragraph 2: Salt and water levels can change within certain limits.
- Part 2 of Paragraph 2: Past those limits, biological and behavioral changes occur.
Analysis
This is a dense, scientific passage. But the underlying ideas aren’t very hard. The LSAT is counting on you to panic and think you’ll never understand the science. You shouldn’t let it trick you into not even trying.
There’s no sense answering the questions on this type of passage if you don’t understand what you’ve read. So before moving on, read the parts you didn’t understand again, until you do understand. Go line by line, figure out what it is saying, and gradually understand the whole thing.
This may seem slow. But that’s the point of studying. The more you work at understanding scientific language, the easier it will get. You need to train that skill now, so that on test day you’ll do better on a science passage if you do get a hard one.
Science majors can ignore everything I wrote above. You may have been wondering why these questions are easy. That’s because science passages are usually the easiest passages, once you understand what they’re saying.
Now, for an actual analysis, in plain English. It seems hormones can control stuff within our bodies and change our behavior. You may have heard that testosterone makes you more aggressive (which is changed behavior). It’s the same principle.
Salt concentration is the example in the passage. Homeostasis means keeping things the same. In this context, it means salt concentration is the same inside and outside of cells. If there’s too much salt, we try to get rid of salt, and drink water. If there isn’t enough salt, we suddenly have to go to the restroom to get rid of excess water.
Osmolality means how much salt is in the water in our bodies. Osmoregulation is how the body makes sure the salt balance is right. Solutes means salt in our body fluids, more or less. Plasma means blood. So plasma osmolality means how much salt is in our blood.
So if you eat a lot of salt, you’ll get thirsty, and the body will try to conserve water. Thirst only comes as a last resort (lines 55-58). If you drink a lot of water or don’t eat salt, you won’t be thirsty, and you’ll have to pee.
Since the hormones cause you to be thirsty/not thirsty or use the bathroom, they influence behavior. That’s all the passage is saying.
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