Pre-Law Trivia

LR

100

Laird: Pure research provides us with new technologies that contribute to saving lives. Even more worthwhile than this, however, is its role in expanding our knowledge and providing new, unexplored ideas.

Kim: Your priorities are mistaken. Saving lives is what counts most of all. Without pure research, medicine would not be as advanced as it is.

Laird and Kim disagree on whether pure research

A. derives its significance in part from its providing new technologies

B. expands the boundaries of our knowledge of medicine

C. should have the saving of human lives as an important goal

D. has its most valuable achievements in medical applications

E. has any value apart from its role in providing new technologies to save lives

D. has its most valuable achievements in medical applications

200

During the construction of the Quebec Bridge in 1907, the bridge’s designer, Theodore Cooper, received word that the suspended span being built out from the bridge’s cantilever was deflecting downward by a fraction of an inch (2.54 centimeters). Before he could telegraph to freeze the project, the whole cantilever arm broke off and plunged, along with seven dozen workers, into the St. Lawrence River. It was the worst bridge construction disaster in history. As a direct result of the inquiry that followed, the engineering “rules of thumb” by which thousands of bridges had been built around the world went down with the Quebec Bridge. Twentieth-century bridge engineers would thereafter depend on far more rigorous applications of mathematical analysis.

Which one of the following statements can be properly inferred from the passage?

1. Bridges built before about 1907 were built without thorough mathematical analysis and, therefore, were unsafe for the public to use.
2. Cooper’s absence from the Quebec Bridge construction site resulted in the breaking off of the cantilever.
3. Nineteenth-century bridge engineers relied on their rules of thumb because analytical methods were inadequate to solve their design problems.
4. Only a more rigorous application of mathematical analysis to the design of the Quebec Bridge could have prevented its collapse.
5. Prior to 1907 the mathematical analysis incorporated in engineering rules of thumb was insufficient to completely assure the safety of bridges under construction.

E. Prior to 1907 the mathematical analysis incorporated in engineering rules of thumb was insufficient to completely assure the safety of bridges under construction.

300

Executive: We recently ran a set of advertisements in the print version of a travel magazine and on that magazine’s website. We were unable to get any direct information about consumer response to the print ads. However, we found that consumer response to the ads on the website was much more limited than is typical for website ads. We concluded that consumer response to the print ads was probably below par as well.

The executive’s reasoning does which one of the following?

1. bases a prediction of the intensity of a phenomenon on information about the intensity of that phenomenon’s cause
2. uses information about the typical frequency of events of a general kind to draw a conclusion about the probability of a particular event of that kind
3. infers a statistical generalization from claims about a large number of specific instances
4. uses a case in which direct evidence is available to draw a conclusion about an analogous case in which direct evidence is unavailable
5. bases a prediction about future events on facts about recent comparable events

D. uses a case in which direct evidence is available to draw a conclusion about an analogous case in which direct evidence is unavailable

400

The supernova event of 1987 is interesting in that there is still no evidence of the neutron star that current theory says should have remained after a supernova of that size. This is in spite of the fact that many of the most sensitive instruments ever developed have searched for the tell-tale pulse of radiation that neutron stars emit. Thus, current theory is wrong in claiming that supernovas of a certain size always produce neutron stars.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

1. Most supernova remnants that astronomers have detected have a neutron star nearby.
2. Sensitive astronomical instruments have detected neutron stars much farther away than the location of the 1987 supernova.
3. The supernova of 1987 was the first that scientists were able to observe in progress.
4. Several important features of the 1987 supernova are correctly predicted by the current theory.
5. Some neutron stars are known to have come into existence by a cause other than a supernova explosion.

B. Sensitive astronomical instruments have detected neutron stars much farther away than the location of the 1987 supernova.

On the Books

100

At what age can you legally drive commercially across state lines in the US?

A. 16

B. 18

C. 21

D. 25

C. 21

200

Which US Constitutional amendment describes when the presidential term officially ends?

A. 16th

B. 18th

C. 20th

D. 22nd

C. 20th

300

An early English law pre-cursor to the constitution, what year was the Magna Carta signed?

A. 1110

B. 1215

C. 1285

D. 1340

B. 1215

400

Legislation to safeguard personal data on the Internet might feel very 21st century, but the first data protection law appeared in 1973. Which Northern European country passed the Data Act? 

A. Norway

B. Sweden

C. Finland

D. Ireland

B. Sweden

Law Schools

100

Harvard has produced more supreme court justices than any other law school. How many supreme court justices have graduated from Harvard law?

A. 13

B. 18

C. 24

D. 31

E. 36

B. 18

200

According to the ABA, what percentage of 2023 law graduates are now in full-time jobs that use their law degree?

A. 68.8%

B. 77.0%

C.80.4%

D. 85.6%

E. 91.1%

D. 85.6%

300

Which one of the following is not a real abbreviation for an educational degree in the legal field?

A. SJD

B. JD

C. LLM

D. JLS

E. MLS

D. JLS

400

How many law schools are currently ABA accredited?

A. 182

B. 183

C. 189

D. 193

E. 196

E. 196

LR Strikes again

100

Political scientist: As a political system, democracy does not promote political freedom. There are historical examples of democracies that ultimately resulted in some of the most oppressive societies. Likewise, there have been enlightened despotisms and oligarchies that have provided a remarkable level of political freedom to their subjects.

The reasoning in the political scientist’s argument is flawed because it

1. confuses the conditions necessary for political freedom with the conditions sufficient to bring it about     
2. fails to consider that a substantial increase in the level of political freedom might cause a society to become more democratic
3. appeals to historical examples that are irrelevant to the causal claim being made
4. overlooks the possibility that democracy promotes political freedom without being necessary or sufficient by itself to produce it
5. bases its historical case on a personal point of view

D. overlooks the possibility that democracy promotes political freedom without being necessary or sufficient by itself to produce it

200

Several critics have claimed that any contemporary poet who writes formal poetry—poetry that is rhymed and metered—is performing a politically conservative act. This is plainly false. Consider Molly Peacock and Marilyn Hacker, two contemporary poets whose poetry is almost exclusively formal and yet who are themselves politically progressive feminists.

The conclusion drawn above follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

1. No one who is a feminist is also politically conservative.
2. No poet who writes unrhymed or unmetered poetry is politically conservative.
3. No one who is politically progressive is capable of performing a politically conservative act.
4. Anyone who sometimes writes poetry that is not politically conservative never writes poetry that is politically conservative.
5. The content of a poet’s work, not the work’s form, is the most decisive factor in determining what political consequences, if any, the work will have.

C. No one who is politically progressive is capable of performing a politically conservative act.

300

Journalist: To reconcile the need for profits sufficient to support new drug research with the moral imperative to provide medicines to those who most need them but cannot afford them, some pharmaceutical companies feel justified in selling a drug in rich nations at one price and in poor nations at a much lower price. But this practice is unjustified. A nation with a low average income may still have a substantial middle class better able to pay for new drugs than are many of the poorer citizens of an overall wealthier nation.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the journalist’s reasoning?

1. People who are ill deserve more consideration than do healthy people, regardless of their relative socioeconomic positions.
2. Wealthy institutions have an obligation to expend at least some of their resources to assist those incapable of assisting themselves.
3. Whether one deserves special consideration depends on one’s needs rather than on characteristics of the society to which one belongs.
4. The people in wealthy nations should not have better access to health care than do the people in poorer nations.
5. Unequal access to health care is more unfair than an unequal distribution of wealth.

C. Whether one deserves special consideration depends on one’s needs rather than on characteristics of the society to which one belongs.

400

About two million years ago, lava dammed up a river in western Asia and caused a small lake to form. The lake existed for about half a million years. Bones of an early human ancestor were recently found in the ancient lake-bottom sediments that lie on top of the layer of lava. Therefore, ancestors of modern humans lived in western Asia between two million and one-and-a-half million years ago.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

1. There were no other lakes in the immediate area before the lava dammed up the river.
2. The lake contained fish that the human ancestors could have used for food.
3. The lava that lay under the lake-bottom sediments did not contain any human fossil remains.
4. The lake was deep enough that a person could drown in it.
5. The bones were already in the sediments by the time the lake dried up.

E. The bones were already in the sediments by the time the lake dried up.