LR Drill Set 12, Question 8
Practice is an effective way of learning skills(52 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- ASkills are learned(15 more words not shown)
- BPractice is an(13 more words not shown)
- CIt is not(13 more words not shown)
- DThe most effective(17 more words not shown)
- EInteractive educational software,(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Practice is easier to learn from when you can see what went wrong. Think about working an LSAT question and getting feedback while your reasoning is still fresh. That's different from discovering days later that you made a mistake and trying to remember what you were thinking.
The passage calls feedback close in space and time “contiguous.” We don't need to get stuck on that word: the author means feedback closely connected to the learner's attempt. The author uses its effectiveness to support a comparison between teaching methods.
What we’re looking for
What is that comparison? Interactive educational software is usually better than lectures and other conventional instruction for helping people learn a skill. That's the claim the explanation about practice and feedback is supposed to support. For the conclusion question, I'd look for that advantage. The reasons lead from what makes practice useful to which method the author thinks teaches a skill better.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This restates the central comparison: interactive software helps people learn skills more easily than conventional methods do. The passage expresses the advantage as being “usually superior” for learning a skill. A captures the author's point; the comments about practice and prompt feedback explain why the author believes it.
- B
“Only if” makes feedback a requirement for effective practice. The passage says practice is effective when learners receive feedback, which doesn't rule out all learning without it. B both changes that relationship and leaves out the conclusion's comparison between software and conventional methods.
- C
The passage argues that software is more effective. It doesn't argue that this result is unsurprising. C wraps the relevant comparison inside a different main claim about how we should react to it. An author can explain why something works better without making a claim about whether anyone should be surprised.
- D
This is a reason for the conclusion. The author does say feedback works best when it is close in space and time to the learner's attempt. But why bring that up? To support the claim that interactive software usually teaches skills better. D gives us the supporting point and stops before the conclusion it supports.
- E
This sounds like a possible connection between the feedback discussion and the software comparison. But it isn't the conclusion about which method helps people learn better. It also says conventional methods don't provide contiguous feedback, which the passage doesn't expressly establish. A lecturer might respond immediately to a student's attempt; that possibility is compatible with software usually being superior overall.
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