Those who support the continued reading and performance of Shakespeare's plays maintain that in England appreciation ...

Mazen October 11 at 01:28AM

are you sure you selected the correct answer-choice?

The best/correct answer-choice is D, NOT B; with all due respect. The main point of the argument is not to provide the evidence which is "These books, with their fine paper and good bindings, must have been far beyond the reach of people of ordinary means." It is the conclusion that the skepticism--referring to skepticism over the claim that appreciation of Shakespeare's work extended beyond the educated elite--is borne out. B states the evidence. The evidence supports the conclusion, which is D. Again with all respect due. Please reach out to LSAC writers, because, not to be immodest, they must have provided the wrong letter. I would not reason backwards from their selected answer-choices. No one is infallible, not even LSAC writers. They are wrong on this one. All the best

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Nate-Stein October 13 at 09:12AM

@Mazen, thank you for your comment,

You are certainly right here, no one is infallible! The hardest LSAT questions, in my opinion, force you to notice mismatches in the strength/certainty, rather than the content. So, to do well on the LSAT, you have to read/understand the content with a keen eye, but to do really well on the LSAT, you have to read/understand the "force words" with a keen eye (note, too, the difference in strength between what is required to do WELL and REALLY WELL).

So, you have the content here -- there is some sort of disagreement with breadth of Shakespeare's audience/demographic. Good. What about the force words? We are told by our author that Shakespeare (who was writing in the 1500s or so) is claimed to have been "ALWAYS" appreciated by everyone, not just elites. Note the word ALWAYS, this is the key to being able to spot mistakes (even mistakes by the LSAC writers, as is your goal here!). However, our author then points out that a few centuries later, 18th CENTURY editions of his plays were too expensive for "people of ordinary means." So, what is our conclusion? That in the 500 or so years since Shakespeare, some people say he was ALWAYS popular with EVERYONE, while our author uses some weak evidence to say there was AT LEAST ONE POINT in time in which his plays were NOT ACCESSIBLE to people of ordinary means. It is not a great argument, but we have to focus on the force/certainty words to really get top scores.

Again, same focus, what do answer choices (B) and (D) say? Noting both the content and the certainty. Incorrect answer choice (D) says people who love Shakespeare have "ALL" been members of the elite. That is not right, that is too far. Remember, the difference between doing well on the LSAT and doing really well is to understand what the LSAT test writers are testing. They are testing your ability to notice how strong arguments are, and thus your ability to defeat your opponents' weak arguments in court. Correct answer choice (B) says that AT SOME POINT IN THE PAST (note that this level of certainty exactly matches our anticipation) only elites could read Shakespeare.

Hope that helps and happy studying,
Nate, LSATMax Instructor