Self-study
Although Pluto has an atmosphere and is much larger than any asteroid, Conclusion Pluto is not a true planet. █████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████ ███████ ████ ███████ █████████ ███████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ████████
Summary
The author concludes that Pluto is not a true planet. As support, she tells us that Pluto formed in orbit around the planet Neptune and was later ejected from said orbit.
Missing Connection
The conclusion states that Pluto isn’t a true planet, but the premise doesn’t mention any criteria for being or not being a planet! We’re looking for an answer choice that tells us that one of the facts in the premise leads to a body not being a planet—either forming in orbit around a planet means that a body is not itself a planet, or being ejected from orbit around a planet means that the ejected body is not a planet.
17.
The conclusion of the argument ███████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
a
No celestial body ███ ██████████████ ██ █ ████ ███ █ ███████
This doesn’t make the conclusion follow logically. Even if Pluto was a moon when it orbited Neptune, it has since been ejected from that orbit! So (A) doesn’t eliminate the possibility that Pluto is currently a planet.
b
Not all celestial ██████ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ████████
This doesn’t prove anything about Pluto. Even if some celestial bodies that have atmospheres aren’t true planets, that doesn’t necessarily mean Pluto falls into that category! The stimulus also doesn’t say anything about orbiting the sun.
c
If Pluto had ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ████████ █████ █████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ███ █████ █████ ██ █ █████
This doesn’t make the conclusion follow logically—it’s completely hypothetical! The stimulus argues that Pluto is not a true planet in this universe, not that it wouldn’t be a planet in some other universe where it wasn’t ejected from Neptune’s orbit.
d
The size of █ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██ ██ █ ████ ███████
This helps make Pluto’s non-planet status seem less strange, but it doesn’t make the connection we need in order to reach the conclusion logically. We need to know that Pluto isn’t a planet, not how relevant its size is to that determination.
e
For a celestial ████ ██ ██ █ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ████████████
This makes the connection! A celestial body must form in orbit around the sun to be a planet; Pluto did not form in orbit around the sun, so it isn’t a planet. (E) perfectly links the premise (Pluto formed in orbit around Neptune) with the conclusion (Pluto isn’t a planet).