PrepTest 144, Section 1, Question 9
The following passage was adapted from a law(455 more words not shown)
According to the passage, why(15 more words not shown)
- AResearchers' prospects for(13 more words not shown)
- BResearchers' funding is(10 more words not shown)
- CResearchers see no(11 more words not shown)
- DResearchers increasingly believe(14 more words not shown)
- EMost researchers prefer(10 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The first paragraph gives a specific reason: academic researchers rely on funding that is partly conditional on patentable results. That is more precise than simply saying they like money or want rewards for discoveries.
What we’re looking for
This question asks why their support for patents is increasing. We should use the stated funding connection, rather than supply a plausible motive of our own.
Working the answers
- A
Academic advancement might depend on research output, but that is not the explanation given here. The text connects support for patents to research funding, not promotions or the quantity of publications.
- BCorrect
The researchers increasingly share the industry's view because they need financial support that partly depends on whether their results can be patented (paragraph 1). B restates that relationship: producing a patentable result can matter to obtaining the money needed for research.
- C
The author later argues that patents need not impede basic research. We are not told that these university researchers' increasing support results from their own belief that the two are entirely compatible. Their stated reason is funding.
- D
There is no claim that they feel universities are unfairly exploiting their work. That would be a different motive.
- E
A shift toward a market model does not establish that most researchers prefer competition to communal sharing. It also does not replace the explicit reason given for this group's support.
More Detail questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Detail questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.