LSAT 142 – Section 2 – Question 10

LSAT 142 - Section 2 - Question 10

December 2014

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT142 S2 Q10
+LR
+Exp
Inference +Inf
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
83%
165
B
6%
155
C
1%
148
D
1%
153
E
8%
159
137
147
157
 +Medium 146.338 +SubsectionMedium

In a vast ocean region, phosphorus levels have doubled in the past few decades due to agricultural runoff pouring out of a large river nearby. The phosphorus stimulates the growth of plankton near the ocean surface. Decaying plankton fall to the ocean floor, where bacteria devour them, consuming oxygen in the process. Due to the resulting oxygen depletion, few fish can survive in this region.

Summary
Agricultural runoff from a river has caused phosphorus levels to double in an ocean region.
The phosphorus causes the stimulation of plankton growth near the ocean surface.
The plankton decay and fall to the floor, where bacteria eat them and consume oxygen.
This oxygen depletion means that few fish can survive in the region.

Very Strongly Supported Conclusions
The agricultural runoff and the phosphorus contribute to the plankton growth, the oxygen depletion, and the fishes’ inability to survive in the region.

A
The agricultural runoff pouring out of the river contributes to the growth of plankton near the ocean surface.
Very strongly supported. The agricultural runoff contributes to the growth of plankton because it caused phosphorus levels to double, which in turn caused the stimulation of plankton growth.
B
Before phosphorus levels doubled in the ocean region, most fish were able to survive in that region.
Unsupported. Higher phosphorus levels have contributed to fish being unable to survive in the region. But we don’t know whether most fish could survive before phosphorus levels doubled.
C
If agricultural runoff ceased pouring out of the river, there would be no bacteria on the ocean floor devouring decaying plankton.
Unsupported. If the agricultural runoff stopped, there might be fewer plankton and fewer bacteria devouring decaying plankton. But we don’t know that there would be no bacteria devouring decaying plankton.
D
The quantity of agricultural runoff pouring out of the river has doubled in the past few decades.
Unsupported. Agricultural runoff has caused phosphorus levels to double in the past few decades. This doesn’t mean that the runoff itself has doubled in the past few decades.
E
The amount of oxygen in a body of water is in general inversely proportional to the level of phosphorus in that body of water.
Unsupported. It’s true that in this specific region, the water’s oxygen levels have decreased as its phosphorus levels have increased. But this is due to a particular chain of events. We don’t know that oxygen and phosphorus levels are inversely proportional in general.

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LSAT PrepTest 142 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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