Self-study
Peter: Because the leaves of mildly drought-stressed plants are tougher in texture than the leaves of abundantly watered plants, insects prefer to feed on the leaves of abundantly watered plants. ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████ █ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████
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Summarize Argument
Peter points out that mildly drought-stressed plants have tougher leaves than abundantly watered plants, and so insects prefer to feed on abundantly watered plants. Thus, Peter concludes, in order to minimize damage to crops, farmers should water their plants only just enough to avoid any substantial threat from lack of water. Jennifer agrees with Peter's conclusion and adds an additional point in support: mildly drought-stressed plants use some of their resources to create pesticidal toxins, while well-watered plants don't.
Describe Method of Reasoning
Jennifer supports Peter's conclusion, and adds another premise in support of his conclusion. Not only do mildly drought-stressed plants have leaves that are tougher and less appealing to insects, they also naturally create pesticidal toxins.
This new premise strengthens the idea that if plants are watered only as much as Peter suggests, this will minimize crop damage. We know the plants are being watered enough to avoid any substantial risk from lack of water, while we also now know that these plants will likely incur less damage from insects for two different reasons: the texture of their leaves and the plants' production of pesticidal toxins.
11.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███████ █████████
a
The leaves of ████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ███████
The differences among species of crop plants are irrelevant to this argument, which is suggesting a strategy for crop plants in general. This doesn't strengthen Peter's argument.
b
In industrialized nations █████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████ █████ ███ █████ █████ █████ ████ ███████ ███████
This doesn't strengthen Peter's argument. It just tells us that according to Peter, industrialized nations probably have higher than necessary rates of crop damage from insects. We're not interested in how industrialized countries handle their crops, we're looking to strengthen the connection between insects' preference for leaves of abundantly watered plants and Peter's suggested strategy to reduce risk of crop damage.
c
Insect damage presents █ ███████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████
This strengthens Peter's argument, because it tells us that whatever risks come with mild drought stress, those risks are less of a problem than insect damage. So the trade-off between the two risks that Peter is suggesting makes sense.
d
Farmers are not ██████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ █████ ███████ █████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ █████ █████ ███ ████████
This isn't relevant for Peter's argument, which is about the overall strategy farmers should adopt with respect to their crops. The fact that sometimes other factors get in the way doesn't strengthen or weaken Peter's suggestion.
e
Mexican bean beetles ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ████████████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███████ █████████
Remember that Peter tells us in one of the premises that insects are more likely to feed on abundantly watered plants. Since we don't directly contradict premises on the LSAT, we have to assume Mexican bean beetles are an exception and are unlike most other insects. Either way, this answer choice would weaken the argument, if anything, and certainly doesn't strengthen it.