Leading Questions

Answer choices

1. A

   Wrong Emphasis3% picked this

   The unreliability of memories about incidental aspects of observed events makes eyewitness testimony especially questionable in cases in which the

   This gets too narrowly attuned to one subsidiary point. The central topic of this passage is "leading questions", and this answer doesn't even mention leading questions.

   3%
2. B

   Correct82% picked this

   Because of the nature of human memory storage and retrieval, the courtroom testimony of eyewitnesses may contain crucial inaccuracies due to leading questions

   Why this is right

   The main clause of this answer is calling out the Problem: leading questions that happen farther upstream than the trial itself. It's saying "courtroom testimony may contain crucial inaccuracies due to leading questions asked prior to the trial". The introductory clause is prefaced by a Causal Connector ("Because"). We need to vet the accuracy of this causal connection being claimed. Did the passage say that the nature of human memory storage and retrieval is why we're vulnerable to leading questions? Sure, the bulk of the 2nd paragraph was talking about memory storage and retrieval. And the first sentence of the 2nd paragraph is framing this discussion as "a better understanding of how this process [of leading questions altering our memories] occurs".

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

   82%
3. C

   Out of Scope2% picked this

   Researchers are surprised to find that courtroom testimony is often dependent on suggestion to fill gaps left by insufficient attention to detail at the

   Out of Scope: researchers' surprise Out of Scope: insufficient attention to detail We should probably be suspicious of this answer immediately because it lacks the central topic of the passage: leading questions. It is using the term "suggestion", which could be a proxy for leading questions, but you normally don't see a correct main point answer talk its way around using the actual main noun of the passage. Nothing in the passage matches well with the claim that researchers were surprised. This passage seems to take place in a time where we already understand the potential human vulnerability to leading questions (because they are already barred from courtrooms). The passage isn't breaking news that "courtroom testimony is often [affected] by the suggestion inherent in leading questions". It's simply updating the story by saying, "we're starting to learn even more about how this whole thing works". Finally, the final paragraph is not saying that witnesses are paying "insufficient attention to detail", which sounds somewhat accusatory. It's saying that eyewitnesses often paid little attention to certain details that understandably wouldn't have been important to a person in the moment of witnessing a crime, but become important details in the context of a trial.

   2%
4. D

   Too Strong: virtually impossible Too Narrow11% picked this

   Although judges can disallow leading questions from the courtroom, it is virtually impossible to prevent them from being used elsewhere, to

   This is appealing, since it centers itself on the Problem, but it also very strongly worded in saying "it is virtually impossible to prevent them from being used elsewhere". And the passage is highlighting the fact that leading questions may be used during questioning that precedes a trial (outside of the courtroom). But this answer choice really only addresses the content of the 1st paragraph. The author doesn't spend the whole passage discussing possible prevention methods and then deeming the problem "virtually impossible" to solve. Instead, she spends the rest of the passage discussing nuances of our emerging understanding of how leading questions work. In fact, she might be thinking, "Now that we're better able to understand where/when/how leading questions can affect us, we'll be better able to prevent them!" Once we get down to (B) vs. (D), if we asked ourselves, "Which answer choice wraps its arms around more of the passage?", we would score more paragraphs touched on by (B) than by (D).

   11%
5. E

   Out of Scope: stricter regulation1% picked this

   Stricter regulation should be placed on lawyers whose leading questions can corrupt witnesses’ testimony by introducing inaccurate data prior to the

   This passage never discussed stricter regulations being placed on lawyers, so it can't be our main point. This answer is doing something similar to how some trap answers on Main Conclusion work in LR: based on everything the author said, What Else is she likely to say / think? But we're supposed to be sticking to what she did say.

   1%