PrepTest 150, Section 4, Question 25
Passage A Why do some trial court judges(458 more words not shown)
Passage A(204 more words not shown)
Passage B(262 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(28 more words not shown)
- Atemptation (first sentence(3 more words not shown)
- Bcredibility (fourth sentence(7 more words not shown)
- Cengine (fourth sentence(7 more words not shown)
- Dfunction (second sentence(7 more words not shown)
- Emedium (final sentence(3 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
What is happening in the “crucible of the adversarial system”? Scientific material is being put through a demanding test: experts explain it, and opposing parties question it. Think of an arena in which claims must survive challenges, rather than a quiet reading of an article.
What we’re looking for
Now find the other expression B uses for that testing process. We need the same reference in context, not two words that could be synonyms in an unrelated sentence.
Working the answers
- A
The temptation is the appellate court's urge to do independent research. It is not the process that tests evidence at trial.
- B
Credibility is something the parties test. It is a quality of the evidence or witness, rather than the mechanism used to challenge it.
- CCorrect
The “engine” is cross-examination, which B presents as a means of discovering truth. The “crucible” likewise refers to the adversarial testing that outside literature misses at the appellate level. Both images point to the process of putting evidence through challenges.
- D
The specified “function” is the trial court's fact-finding role. That tells us what job the court has, rather than naming the testing process described by the crucible image.
- E
The medium is how an outside text is presented or found, such as online or in print. It is not the setting in which experts' claims are challenged. The surrounding sentence, not the word by itself, supplies that meaning.
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