PrepTest 150, Section 4, Question 27
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)
The stances of the authors(21 more words not shown)
- Aresigned acceptance and(2 more words not shown)
- Bcautious ambivalence and(2 more words not shown)
- Creasoned skepticism and(2 more words not shown)
- Dqualified approval and(2 more words not shown)
- Eforceful advocacy and(2 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The question is specifically about trial judges. A acknowledges the objections, rejects an absolute prohibition, and allows research that supplements the parties' evidence within the trial's structure. That is approval with limits.
What we’re looking for
B sets aside the question of trial-court conduct and then addresses appellate courts (Passage B, paragraph 1). Its criticism of appellate research should not be transferred to trial judges. B deliberately leaves the trial-court question open, so our prediction is qualified approval followed by noncommitment.
Working the answers
- A
A does not merely give in reluctantly; it provides affirmative reasons to allow research. B does not implicitly disapprove of trial judges' research. Its stated opposition concerns appellate courts.
- B
A considers concerns but reaches a position in favor of allowing the practice under constraints. That is not ambivalence. Acknowledging reasons on both sides does not prevent an author from making a decision.
- C
A is not skeptical of the practice overall, and B expresses no veiled hostility to research by trial judges. Both descriptions give the wrong attitudes.
- DCorrect
A's approval is qualified by the acknowledged risks and by research's supplemental role. B explicitly declines to take a position on what trial courts may do. Those are precisely the favorable-but-limited and uncommitted stances we predicted.
- E
Even if A's affirmative argument makes advocacy seem tempting, B offers no tentative opposition to trial research. The negative position is directed at appeals. Getting the court level right decides the second half of this answer.
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