LSAT 159 | Section 2 | Reading Comprehension: Q20

RC Question 20 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: It can be inferred from the passage that the author would …

DISCUSSION: This passage largely isn’t about the author’s views, they merely walk us through two different theories. However, there are a few clues near the end: “Unfortunately…there is a large discrepancy” implies the author thinks the first theory has difficulties.

Then, in the final paragraph “This discrepancy is not an issue” implies the author is at least somewhat favorable to the second group. Near the end they say that the second theory has an advantage in that it can be tested, which is the correct answer to this question.

In theory there isn’t a way to predict the answer to a general author’s opinion question, however if you pay attention to where the author reveals their opinion you can make a much faster guess at what the questions might ask about.

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1. CORRECT. The last paragraph explicitly says the gravity theory can be tested. Since that theory challenges Einstein’s relativity, the observations can confirm or challenge Einstein’s predictions.
2. They believed the expansion was slowing, not that size was fixed.
3. Virtual particles existed in quantum theory long before dark energy was proposed.
4. The passage presents modified gravity as a hypothesis, not something supported by evidence.
5. Einstein used the constant to explain a static universe, not virtual particles.