LSAT 155 – Section 2 – Question 26

LSAT 155 - Section 2 - Question 26

November 2019

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT155 S2 Q26	+LR	Weaken +Weak Critique or Debate +CritDeb Problem-Analysis +Prob Causal Reasoning +CausR	A 13% 157 B 39% 164 C 41% 158 D 4% 153 E 3% 154	155 165 175	+Hardest	145.934 +SubsectionMedium

The three-spine stickleback is a small fish that lives both in oceans and in freshwater lakes. While ocean stickleback are covered with armor to protect them from their predators, lake stickleback have virtually no armor. Since armor limits the speed of a stickleback’s growth, this indicates that having a larger size is a better defense against the lake stickleback’s predators than having armor.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The author hypothesizes that a lake stickleback’s having a larger size is a better defense against its predators than having armor. This is based on the fact that ocean stickleback have armor for protection, whereas lake stickleback have almost no armor. In addition, armor limits the speed of a stickleback’s growth.

Notable Assumptions

The author assumes that lake stickleback are larger than ocean stickleback. In addition, the author assumes that the need to protect from its predators is the reason lake stickleback are larger and lack armor.

Sticklebacks with armor are unable to swim as fast, making them most vulnerable to fast-moving predators.

This is a disadvantage of having armor. This doesn’t undermine the author’s hypothesis, because it’s possible lake predators are fast-moving, making armor less effective against them.

Having a larger size is an important factor in whether lake stickleback, but not ocean stickleback, survive cold winters.

This raises a potential alternate explanation for the lake stickleback’s larger size. The author thinks the larger size must have something to do with protection from predators. But it might instead be due to the need for surviving cold winters.

Unlike ocean stickleback, the lake stickleback are more often preyed upon by predatory insects than by larger fish.

This doesn’t undermine the author’s hypothesis, unless you make the unwarranted assumption that a larger size wouldn’t be necessary or more effective at deterring insect predators. We have no reason to think a larger size is better defense than armor only against larger fish.

Both ocean stickleback and lake stickleback feed primarily on the same types of foods.

This concerns the diet of each stickleback. This has no clear relationship to lake sticklebacks’ larger size or lack of armor.

Sticklebacks originated in the ocean but began populating freshwater lakes and streams following the last ice age.

This relates to the origin of sticklebacks. This has no clear relationship to lake sticklebacks’ larger size or lack of armor.

LSAT 155 – Section 2 – Question 26

LSAT 155 - Section 2 - Question 26

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LSAT PrepTest 155 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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