LSAT 102 – Section 4 – Question 25

LSAT 102 - Section 4 - Question 25

June 1998

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT102 S4 Q25
+LR
Necessary assumption +NA
Conditional Reasoning +CondR
Link Assumption +LinkA
A
1%
161
B
9%
159
C
2%
156
D
17%
161
E
71%
168
152
159
166
 +Harder 146.127 +SubsectionMedium

The dwarf masked owl, a rare migratory bird of prey, normally makes its winter home on the Baja peninsula, where it nests in the spiny cactus. In fact, there are no other suitable nesting sites for the dwarf masked owl on the Baja peninsula. But a blight last spring destroyed all of the spiny cacti on the Baja peninsula. So unless steps are taken to reestablish the spiny cactus population, the dwarf masked owl will not make its home on the Baja peninsula this winter.

Summary
The argument concludes that the dwarf masked owl will reside on the Baja peninsula this winter only if steps are taken to bring back spiny cacti. This is supported by the claims that spiny cacti provide the only suitable nesting sites for this owl on the Baja peninsula, and that a recent blight destroyed all of the peninsula’s spiny cacti.

Notable Assumptions
The conclusion that taking steps to reestablish spiny cacti is necessary for the owls to reside on the Baja peninsula over the winter involves several assumptions:
- That spiny cacti will not reestablish themselves on the Baja peninsula before winter even if no steps are taken.
- That there are no other plants which could be introduced to substitute for spiny cacti.
- That suitable nesting sites are necessary for the owls to reside on the Baja peninsula over the winter.

A
No birds of prey other than the dwarf masked owl nest in the spiny cactus.
The impact of the cactus blight on other birds is irrelevant to this argument, which is purely about the impact on the dwarf masked owl.
B
If the Baja peninsula contains spiny cacti, then the dwarf masked owl makes its winter home there.
Posing spiny cacti as a sufficient condition for the owl to reside on the peninsula over winter doesn’t contribute to the conclusion that reestablishing cacti is a necessary condition. Like (D), this is unnecessary.
C
On occasion the dwarf masked owl has been known to make its winter home far from its normal migratory route.
Whether this owl has previously spent the winter elsewhere doesn’t affect whether reestablishing the spiny cactus is necessary for the owl to spend this winter on the peninsula.
D
The dwarf masked owl will not make its winter home on the Baja peninsula only if that region contains no spiny cacti.
Like (B), this makes spiny cacti a sufficient condition for the owl to spend winter on the peninsula. This isn’t necessary for the argument, which poses reestablishing the cacti as a necessary condition.
E
Suitable nesting sites must be present where the dwarf masked owl makes its winter home.
The argument concludes that reestablishing spiny cacti is necessary on the basis that they exclusively provide nesting sites for the owl. Without this assumption, that link of support would be broken and the conclusion would be unsupported.

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LSAT PrepTest 102 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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