LSAT 103 – Section 1 – Question 22

LSAT 103 - Section 1 - Question 22

September 1998

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Request new explanation

Target time: 1:42

This is question data from the 7Sage LSAT Scorer. You can score your LSATs, track your results, and analyze your performance with pretty charts and vital statistics - all with a Free Account ← sign up in less than 10 seconds

Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT103 S1 Q22
+LR
+Exp
Evaluate +Eval
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
2%
161
B
29%
162
C
4%
160
D
55%
167
E
10%
160
152
163
174
 +Hardest 147.884 +SubsectionMedium

Kevin’s explanation

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

When a planetary system forms, the chances that a planet capable of supporting life will be formed are high. The chances that a large planet the size of Jupiter or Saturn will be formed, however, are low. Without Jupiter and Saturn, whose gravitational forces have prevented Earth from being frequently struck by large comets, intelligent life would never have arisen on Earth. Since planetary systems are unlikely to contain any large planets, the chances that intelligent life will emerge on a planet are, therefore, low.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that the chances intelligent life will emerge on a planet are low. This is because planetary systems generally lack large planets, which protected Earth from large comets before life on Earth eventually arose.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that most or all planetary systems are afflicted with large comets that could impact planets capable of producing intelligent life, and that these large comets can only be avoided by the presence of large planets. This means the author assumes there are relatively few planetary systems that differ from Earth’s planetary system.

A
whether all planetary systems are formed from similar amounts of matter
We’re not interested in matter. We have no reason to believe all planetary systems have to have the exact same features for the author’s argument to work. They simply have to have planets and comets.
B
whether intelligent species would be likely to survive if a comet struck their planet
We don’t care about what happens once intelligent life emerges. The author’s conclusion is about the likelihood intelligent life will emerge in the first place.
C
whether large comets could be deflected by only one large planet rather than by two
This tells us one large planet would suffice, but the author claims most planetary systems don’t have any large planets. This doesn’t help us evaluate the author’s claim about the likelihood of intelligent life emerging, which is tied to the average features of planetary systems.
D
how high the chances are that planetary systems will contain many large comets
If virtually every planetary system contained many large comets, the author’s argument would be greatly strengthened. If the opposite was true, then there would be no need for large planets to protect smaller planets capable of producing intelligent life.
E
how likely it is that planetary systems containing large planets will also contain planets the size of Earth
The author never claims Earth is the only size of planet that can produce intelligent life. If larger or smaller planets were also capable of doing so, then we wouldn’t care how likely it is that planetary systems contain planets the size of Earth.

Take PrepTest

Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 103 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

Get full LSAT course

Leave a Reply