I didn't pick C because of "modern" and "most". I thought that "modern" doesn't weaken since animals evolved, so it's not a strong indicator for something that already exist. Did someone get tricked by this too and can explain why? Thanks :)
I was left with C & D but went with D. I see why D is wrong but C doesn't seem that great either. If most dont have porous bones, it implies that some do. Maybe the ichthyosaur is one of those some that do. I assume this goes back to the spectrum of support, because C does weaken, but itself makes you draw some assumptions.
I got this question right, however, I was way over the target time. Anyone have any tips of how to approach a question like this in more of a timely manner?
I understood it wasn't D because it only talked about whales and there are other marine deep diving mammals that the ichthyosaur could have be similar to so I ruled it out immediately.
Even if we make "D" correct by saying the Whales have the characteristics that the dinosaurs did not have, is it still the best answer? I crossed out "D" because it was talking about the Whales (subset ) specifically, rather than the deep-diving mammals (superset) as a whole. I saw the whales as a subset, so even if the dinosaurs had dissimilar characteristics to the whales, wouldn't there still be a possibility that there were other deep-diving mammals without those characteristics similar to the dinosaurs?
For those of you who might still be having trouble seeing how ridiculous the analogy in this stimulus is, this is basically what it's saying:
"Modern rockets have combustion engines that make them capable of space travel. The earliest cars also had combustion engines. We can conclude from this that the earliest cars were also capable of space travel."
on my interface the stimulus was jumping back and forth, one word jumping from one line to the next line down making all the text move. This has happened on one previous question
I understand why C. is correct, but isn't it still true that the phrase in D. "for which there is no clear evidence whether these were shared by ichthyosaurs," weakens the argument (although more weakly than C.?).
"No evidence for" does not mean evidence against. However, no evidence for DOES mean less likely to be true, doesn't it?
If I have no evidence something is true, it is less likely to be true compared to if I DID have evidence for that thing. So the fact that there is no evidence for does weaken (albeit weakly). I bring up this point because J.Y. has mentioned multiple times that weaken questions DO NOT ask us to definitively disprove the conclusion. Does "no evidence for" disprove anything? No, it does not. But that is not the standard anyway.
I don't understand what J.Y. means when he says D. "invites us to make an unwarranted assumption." Why doesn't D. weaken even when you DO NOT assume no evidence = evidence against?
When I read "for which there is no clear evidence," I immediately thought to myself that it is clearly not the right answer. It left room in my mind that the question wasn't really weakening the stimulus' conclusion because there is room left to say "well, maybe the scientists just haven't been able to find those other characteristics on the ichthyosaur"
I chose C because it was statistically bringing down the likelihood that the ichthyosaur was a deep diver. There was no direct evidence, but it was simply saying "greater than 50% of prehistoric reptiles had porous bones but were not deep divers," and this told me that there is a greater-than-not chance the ichthyosaur fell into that category.
for those two reasons, C questioned the support of the premises to the conclusion more than D.
I am surprised everyone was tricked by D, I almost chose E, I wasted 2 mins starring at it before I ultimately chose C. I canceled out D pretty quickly though
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85 comments
I didn't pick C because of "modern" and "most". I thought that "modern" doesn't weaken since animals evolved, so it's not a strong indicator for something that already exist. Did someone get tricked by this too and can explain why? Thanks :)
I was left with C & D but went with D. I see why D is wrong but C doesn't seem that great either. If most dont have porous bones, it implies that some do. Maybe the ichthyosaur is one of those some that do. I assume this goes back to the spectrum of support, because C does weaken, but itself makes you draw some assumptions.
I think I was so attached to "mammal", I missed the change to "reptile" so I thought (c) was just irrelevant. Good lesson in close reading!
it felt too easy, as i submitted i questioned if i was baited. how do i become more confident in my answer choice :/
i will spend 5 min on an easy difficulty question and get it wrong but get this one right in 30 seconds LOL
Would C still be the answer if we replaced "most" with "some"?
I got this question right, however, I was way over the target time. Anyone have any tips of how to approach a question like this in more of a timely manner?
I understood it wasn't D because it only talked about whales and there are other marine deep diving mammals that the ichthyosaur could have be similar to so I ruled it out immediately.
Even if we make "D" correct by saying the Whales have the characteristics that the dinosaurs did not have, is it still the best answer? I crossed out "D" because it was talking about the Whales (subset ) specifically, rather than the deep-diving mammals (superset) as a whole. I saw the whales as a subset, so even if the dinosaurs had dissimilar characteristics to the whales, wouldn't there still be a possibility that there were other deep-diving mammals without those characteristics similar to the dinosaurs?
D just gonna play in my face like that
For those of you who might still be having trouble seeing how ridiculous the analogy in this stimulus is, this is basically what it's saying:
"Modern rockets have combustion engines that make them capable of space travel. The earliest cars also had combustion engines. We can conclude from this that the earliest cars were also capable of space travel."
Like... bro.
Call me Ishmael the way I focused too much on the whale
I was stuck between D and C but I had a feeling it was C but went with C. I shouldve trusted my gut
I ate. Finally.
Finally got one 😮💨
HA first question that has genuinely pissed me off. I would've bet my entire LSAT score that D was right. OMG this was hurtful.
I ruled C out because it says "most." Can't we conclude that some of the /DD can include the Ichthyosaurus since it has the porous bones?
Wow, this was a tricky one
on my interface the stimulus was jumping back and forth, one word jumping from one line to the next line down making all the text move. This has happened on one previous question
#feedback
In the end of the Let's Review section, fourth line, it says "mammal ichthyosaur" instead of reptile ichthyosaur. with love to 7sage
#co-design
I understand why C. is correct, but isn't it still true that the phrase in D. "for which there is no clear evidence whether these were shared by ichthyosaurs," weakens the argument (although more weakly than C.?).
"No evidence for" does not mean evidence against. However, no evidence for DOES mean less likely to be true, doesn't it?
If I have no evidence something is true, it is less likely to be true compared to if I DID have evidence for that thing. So the fact that there is no evidence for does weaken (albeit weakly). I bring up this point because J.Y. has mentioned multiple times that weaken questions DO NOT ask us to definitively disprove the conclusion. Does "no evidence for" disprove anything? No, it does not. But that is not the standard anyway.
I don't understand what J.Y. means when he says D. "invites us to make an unwarranted assumption." Why doesn't D. weaken even when you DO NOT assume no evidence = evidence against?
#help
I'm pissed. i picked D and ruled out C with so much confidence LOLOL
I had it right but switched to D on blind review because I thought, "oh this is the analogy lesson so I should probably attack the analogy." :(
When I read "for which there is no clear evidence," I immediately thought to myself that it is clearly not the right answer. It left room in my mind that the question wasn't really weakening the stimulus' conclusion because there is room left to say "well, maybe the scientists just haven't been able to find those other characteristics on the ichthyosaur"
I chose C because it was statistically bringing down the likelihood that the ichthyosaur was a deep diver. There was no direct evidence, but it was simply saying "greater than 50% of prehistoric reptiles had porous bones but were not deep divers," and this told me that there is a greater-than-not chance the ichthyosaur fell into that category.
for those two reasons, C questioned the support of the premises to the conclusion more than D.
I am surprised everyone was tricked by D, I almost chose E, I wasted 2 mins starring at it before I ultimately chose C. I canceled out D pretty quickly though