The question stem reads: Which of the following is most strongly supported by the statements above? This is a Most Strongly Supported question.
These types of questions will contain a set of facts that will Support a claim found in the answer choices. In other words, the stimulus of an MSS question will make the correct answer choice more likely to be true. The stimulus reads the "star-nosed mole" has a nose with tentacles that are crucial for hunting because the moles have terrible eyesight. The stimulus then goes on to explain that the tentacles work by detecting electric fields produced by other animals. The detection enables the moles to find and catch prey like worms and insects. It's hard to see exactly where this is going. Before we dive into the answer choices, let's take a quick recap:
- The star-nosed mole has poor eyesight.
- It uses its nose to hunt.
- The nose works by detecting electric fields produced by other animals.
- The nose enables the mole to catch suitable prey, such as worms and insects.
Correct Answer Choice (A) looks great and is supported by the stimulus. It is more likely to be true that worms and insects produce electric fields because the star-nosed moles hunt them. The mole has bad eyesight, so the way it hunts is by detecting the electric fields procured by its prey (worms and insects).
Answer Choice (B) could be tempting, but it is far too strong to be supported by the stimulus. The stimulus only mentions that the moles are poor-sighted, not that they are entirely blind. So while we know that their eyesight is not the primary method for hunting, it is still possible the mole uses its eyesight in some way while hunting. Furthermore, there is more to survival than just hunting. Maybe the mole uses its poor eyesight to determine the time of day.
Answer Choice (C) is unsupported because we know nothing about the mole's sense of smell or how it does or doesn't use that sense of smell for hunting.
Answer Choice (D) is unsupported because it draws a general rule from a single instance in the stimulus. (D) claims that only animals that hunt have these eclectic tentacle noses. Sure, that might be true in the case of the mole, but how can we then make that claim about all electric tentacle nose animals?
Answer Choice (E) is unsupported because we cannot determine from the stimulus if an animal does not have an electric field. The stimulus only offers a way for us to determine whether an animal does have an electric field.
Aristophanes’ play The Clouds, which was written when the philosopher Socrates was in his mid-forties, portrays Socrates as an atheistic philosopher primarily concerned with issues in natural science. The only other surviving portrayals of Socrates were written after Socrates’ death at age 70. They portrayed Socrates as having a religious dimension and a strong focus on ethical issues.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Portrayals of Socrates written after his life are markedly different than the one written during his life.
Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that explain why the portrayals of Socrates after his life attribute a religious and ethical dimension to his philosophy, whereas the contemporaneous one ascribes him a strictly atheistic, scientific outlook. We’re looking for something that either says the portrayals had different motivations, or that Socrates himself changes after his portrayal in Aristophanes.
A
Aristophanes’ portrayal of Socrates in The Clouds was unflattering, whereas the other portrayals were very flattering.
The portrayals are diametrically opposed. Whether or not they’re flattering doesn’t explain the vast differences in who they say Socrates really is.
B
Socrates’ philosophical views and interests changed sometime after his mid-forties.
Aristophanes portrays Socrates at age 40. If his views changed afterwards, and if those are the views he’s remembered best for, then it absolutely makes sense later portrayals would emphasize those. This explains the discrepancy in the stimulus.
C
Most of the philosophers who lived before Socrates were primarily concerned with natural science.
We don’t care about other philosophers. We need to know why later portrayals of Socrates differed from the contemporaneous one.
D
Socrates was a much more controversial figure in the years before his death than he was in his mid-forties.
We need to know more about Socrates as a controversial figure for this to be right. How did the controversy influence those later portrayals? Why were they so different than the one in Aristophanes? We simply don’t have enough information to choose this answer.
E
Socrates had an influence on many subsequent philosophers who were primarily concerned with natural science.
This doesn’t explain why Socrates was portrayed as an ethical and religious philosopher after his life. If this answer were true and he influenced philosophers concerned with natural science, why didn’t later accounts portray him as the scientific figure in Aristophanes?
A
takes for granted that a work that never mentions any laudable achievements cannot be of high intellectual value
B
confuses a condition necessary for the receipt of a grant with a condition sufficient for the receipt of a grant
C
presumes, without providing justification, that a work that does not mention a foundation’s laudable achievements is harmful to that foundation’s reputation
D
fails to consider that recipients of a grant usually strive to meet a foundation’s conditions
E
fails to consider the possibility that the work that was produced with the aid of the grant may have met all conditions other than avoiding detriment to the J Foundation’s reputation
The question stem reads: The reasoning in the board member’s argument is vulnerable to criticism on grounds that the argument… This is a Flaw question.
The board member begins by claiming that the J Foundation issued “you” this grant on the condition that the resulting work did not contain anything detrimental to the J Foundation’s reputation. In other words, meeting the conditions of the grant requires that “your” work not contain anything harmful to J Foundation’s reputation. However, the board member notes that the resulting work does not mention anything positive about the J Foundation. The board member concludes that “you” have failed to meet the conditions of the grant.
Here we have a very common flaw in the LSAT: assuming that negation and opposition are the same. The board member assumes that no positive information must mean the existence of negative information. However, positive information could also imply that the information in the work was simply neutral: the information was neither good nor bad for the J Foundation’s reputation. If the resulting work was neutral, then “you” would not violate the conditions of the grant. Let’s move to the answer choices.
Answer Choice (A) is incorrect. Whether or not the work has Intellectual value has nothing to do with the board member’s argument.
Answer Choice (B) is incorrect. The author does not confuse the necessary condition of “no harmful information” for being sufficient to issue the grant.
Correct Answer Choice (C) is what we discussed. The board member has assumed that failing to mention the laudable achievements of J Foundation amounts to harming the reputation of J Foundation.
Answer Choice (D) is something the argument fails to consider, but that is not why the argument is flawed.
Answer Choice (E) is also something that the argument does not consider, but (E) is not a problem for the argument. If you failed to satisfy the necessary condition of “no harmful information,” it would not matter how many other conditions were met. The problem is that we do not know if the work actually contained harmful information.
A
a habit that involves an addictive substance is likely to pose a greater health threat than a habit that does not involve any addictive substance
B
for most people who successfully quit smoking, smoking does not create an immediate health concern at the time they quit
C
some courses of action that exacerbate health concerns can also relieve social pressure
D
most people who succeed in quitting smoking succeed only after several attempts
E
everyone who succeeds in quitting smoking is motivated either by social pressure or by health concerns
Melvin: Although smaller client loads are desirable, reducing client loads at our agency is simply not feasible. We already find it very difficult to recruit enough qualified agents; recruiting even more agents, which would be necessary in order to reduce client loads, is out of the question.
A
Since reducing client loads would improve working conditions for agents, reducing client loads would help recruit additional qualified agents to the real estate agency.
B
Many of the real estate agency’s current clients have expressed strong support for efforts to reduce client loads.
C
Several recently conducted studies of real estate agencies have shown that small client loads are strongly correlated with high customer satisfaction ratings.
D
Hiring extra support staff for the real estate agency’s main office would have many of the same beneficial effects as reducing client loads.
E
Over the last several years, it has become increasingly challenging for the real estate agency to recruit enough qualified agents just to maintain current client loads.
A
Both worms and insects produce electric fields.
B
The star-nosed mole does not rely at all on its eyesight for survival.
C
The star-nosed mole does not rely at all on its sense of smell when hunting.
D
Only animals that hunt have noses with tentacles that detect electric fields.
E
The star-nosed mole does not produce an electric field.
If you had trouble with this game, you should practice the other Games that are similar to this one (listed below). That way, you'll learn to see how the Logic Games really are all the same. That's how high scorers see them and that's how you can improve your speed, accuracy, and score.
Start with the Games in the same set as this Game. Then, work on the Games in the other sets.
The Easy In/Out Games Set
PT24-Game1 | PT29-Game1 | PT36-Game1 | PT48-Game1 | PT54-Game1 | PT63-Game1
_________________________
The Basic In/Out Games Set
PT33-Game2 | PT40-Game4 | PT45-Game3 | PT58-Game2
The Basic+ In/Out Games Set
PT34-Game4 | PT41-Game3
The Medium In/Out Games Set
PT20-Game2 | PT39-Game4 | PT47-Game2 | PT58-Game4 | PT59-Game3
The Difficult In/Out Games Set
PT31-Game2 | PT32-Game2 | PT49-Game3