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 Administrator
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#32680
Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=13362)

The correct answer choice is (D)

This question asks for the relationship that is most closely analogous to the relationship between Passage A and Passage B. In the passages presented, the first author discusses the discovery of a new form of currency trading, while the second explores its tax ramifications.

Answer choice (A): These two titles seem related to one another, but their relationship is not analogous to that of Passage A and Passage B, so this choice should be ruled out of contention.

Answer choice (B): This incorrect answer might have been appealing, since, like the passages presented, the first title deals with the internet and the second title deals with taxation, but that is where the analogy ends. A good year for internet retailers has no discovery like that presented in passage A, and Internet commerce is very different from assets acquired in virtual gaming worlds. Since the relationship between these two titles is not comparable to the relationship between the passages presented, this cannot be the correct answer to this Parallel Reasoning question.

Answer choice (C): Many test-takers were drawn to this incorrect answer choice, because it does reference a discovery like the one discussed in passage A. With this answer choice, however, the second title appears to present a debate over the nature of the discovery mentioned in the first title. This is very different from the second passage, which does not question the existence of virtual world currency trading. Since the two titles presented here do not have a relationship that is analogous to that between passage A and passage B, this clever wrong answer choice should be ruled out of contention.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Like the first title, which deals with a new species created, passage A deals with the emergence of a new form of currency trading. And, like the second title, which deals with how patent law applies to the situation referenced in the first title, passage B deals with how the tax laws apply to the phenomenon discussed in Passage A.

Answer choice (E): This incorrect answer choice was appealing for many test takers, because the first title deals with an economist and the second deals with the subject of taxes. This choice does not, however, reference a discovery or its legal ramifications, so this answer does not parallel the relationship between the two passages presented.
 jrafert
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  • Joined: Mar 23, 2017
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#59878
Greetings,

I would love some input on a particular issue:

I like many chose C. I am starting to understand why it is wrong (there is no "debate" in passage B), but I'm a little confused still.

I wasn't phased by the word "debate" when I chose answer C because to me, the author of passage B is arguing one side of a debate, IE he or she is arguing about the wisdom and intricacies of applying tax policy that has heretofore only applied to "real" money exchanges to virtual exchange and wealth acquisition. He or she openly states that an argument is being made ("this article will argue..."), implying the subject is up for debate.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is, for the word "debate" to be accurate, would the passage have to include two different points of view? Maybe I'm just interpreting things way too broadly.
 Robert Carroll
PowerScore Staff
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#61556
jrafert,

I think the Administrator's explanation is spot-on in this case. You have to consider how everything in answer choice (C) hangs together. If the first article discusses a discovery, the second article definitely does not debate whether something was discovered - it recounts a debate as to how that discovery should be treated. In answer choice (C), the "planet" discovered is something like the virtual currency in passage A. Passage B doesn't doubt that virtual wealth exists - it instead debates how the tax law should treat that wealth. So the second half of answer choice (C) is applying to debate to the wrong level. The planet is a planet, no debate - and answer choice (C) is wrong when it acts like there could be a debate.

Robert Carroll

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