Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Hard

PT1 S1 P2 Q16 Explanation

Scientific Disciplines

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsOrganizationScience

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Passage

One scientific discipline, during its early stages of development, is often related to another as an antithesis to its thesis. The thesis discipline tends to concern itself with discovery and classification of phenomena, to offer holistic explanations emphasizing pattern and form, and to use existing theory to explain the widest possible range the discipline can be reformulated in terms of the issues and explanations of the antidiscipline.

The relationship of cytology (cell biology) to biochemistry in the late nineteenth century, when both disciplines were growing at a rapid pace, exemplifies such a pattern. Researchers in cell biology found mounting evidence of an intricate cell architecture. They also deduced the mysterious choreography of the chromosomes during cell division. Many biochemists, “fundamental” issues of the chemical nature of protoplasm, especially the newly formulated enzyme theory of life.

In general, biochemists judged cytologists to be too ignorant of chemistry to grasp the basic processes, whereas cytologists considered the methods of biochemists inadequate to characterize the structures of the living cell. The renewal of Mendelian genetics little at first to effect a synthesis.

Both sides were essentially correct. Biochemistry has more than justified its extravagant early claims by explaining so much of the cellular machinery. But in achieving this feat (mostly since 1950) it has been partially transformed into the new discipline of molecular biology—biochemistry that deals with spatial arrangements and movements of large molecules. a discipline and its antidiscipline has moved both sciences toward a synthesis, namely molecular genetics.

This interaction between paired disciplines can have important results. In the case of late nineteenth-century cell research, progress was fueled by competition among the various attitudes and issues derived from cell biology and biochemistry. Joseph Fruton, a biochemist, has suggested that such competition and the resulting tensions among researchers are a principal exciting novelties in the future, as they have in the past.”

What this question is testing

Organization

Anticipate

For Organization questions, ignore content and look at the shape. P1 makes a general claim about how scientific disciplines pair with antidisciplines. P2 onward shows that pattern playing out in one historical case. So the structure is: state a generalization, then illustrate it with one example.

Goal

Looking for an answer that says, in some form, "general proposition, then example." Be wary of:

Answers that reverse the order (examples first, then a conclusion)

Answers that frame the passage as a problem-and-solution

Answers that frame it as a debate over principles

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
16.

Which one of the following best describes the organization of the material presented

Answer choices

  1. Wrong View5% picked this

    An account of a process is given, and then the reason for its

    The passage isn't describing a process and then explaining why it happens. P1 is a general claim, and the passage's "why" — competition fuels progress — is the point being illustrated, not a separate explanation of a process.

  2. Wrong View18% picked this

    A set of examples is provided, and then a conclusion is

    This reverses the actual structure. The passage starts with the conclusion-like generalization and then gives one example — not multiple examples leading to a conclusion. There's really only one extended example (cytology/biochemistry) in the passage.

  3. Correct65% picked this

    A general proposition is stated, and then an example

    Why this is right

    P1 states the general proposition — that an emerging discipline tends to be paired with an antidiscipline of a particular kind. The rest of the passage (P2 onward) gives one extended example: cytology and biochemistry. That is exactly "a general proposition stated, then an example given."

    Skill tested: Organization · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

  4. Wrong View7% picked this

    A statement of principles is made, and then a rationale for

    The passage isn't a debate. The author isn't weighing arguments for and against principles — they're asserting a pattern and illustrating it. There's no rationale being debated.

  5. Wrong View4% picked this

    A problem is analyzed, and then a possible solution

    This frames the passage as problem-and-solution. The author isn't presenting a problem and then a fix — they're describing a pattern of disciplinary interaction and giving an example of it. The "tension" between disciplines is part of the pattern, not a problem to be solved.

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free