You guys are awesome for doing this!! 89.9% done with the CC. so close

@ I was thinking the same thing :'D If I get the email during work, I'm not opening until I leave...

Concise summary:

MSS

CA: Supported

IAs: Not supported

MSS X

CA: Not supported

IAs: Well supported

MSS LEAST evidence

CA: Not supported

IAs: At least a little supported

MSS LEAST compatible

CA: Not supported (contradict)

IAs: Not necessarily supported (could be irrelevant)

@ Thanks so much. That's great advice. That's why it's important to figure out your own speed and how much you can usually afford to spend on each section.

Thanks so much for your response, @ ! That's pretty much what I do right now (i.e. glance at the other choices), but I wasn't sure whether I was wasting precious time that could be used for other questions.

Thanks!

Okay, I have a question about interpretation. I was wondering if anyone else interpreted this similarly, or if you did not, whether you could help me understand why my interpretation is wrong. Thanks so much

In the stimulus, I interpreted "there is no other evidence than the fact that Sb are present in the person's throat" as there is no other evidence. In other words, the person can't be physically rundown. If he were, then the evidence would be there.

Consequently, we run the contrapositive: if there no evidence except the presence of the bacteria, then there's not evidence of being physically rundown, and hence we can't conclude the person has strep (because as stated in the premise, if the person has strep/infection, he must be run down).

Now looking at the answer choices:

(B) It's good, but there's no indication that there is an absence of alkaline soil, as there is in the stimulus.

(E) It's better, because of the phrase "that is exceptional for that person." Here's what E says: "We can't conclude that a patient is hypertensive on the basis of a high reading for blood pressure that is exceptional for that person, because only ppl with chronic hbp are hypertensive." In other words, if a reading is exceptional then it can't be chronic. And running the contrapositive, if it's not chronic, then it's not hypertensive. Just like in the stimulus.

Thoughts?

@ thank you so much for your message. It's funny, I was so intimidated by RC at first, but the more passages I look at, the more excited I am by the prospect of looking at the next one. I think this is because when your ability to understand the passages increases, the more simple each passage becomes, and rather than appearing as a daunting, convoluted essay, it feels more like a little compact, nugget of information :'D

But anyway, I've got so much to learn.

Thank you @ and @!

@ You're right. Fully understanding "weird fish/blue fungus" may not be as critical as understanding the argumentative structure. Thanks so much for your reply. It's really helpful.

@ Thank you! Won't be intimidated and won't be sacrificing efficiency! :)

@ I would take a couple of days off. Like two full days of not thinking about the test and maybe going outside for walks, working out, cooking - whatever lets your head relax. You got this.

Thanks so much everyone for your input. It's very much appreciated, and I'll definitely try out a bunch of different options.

@ I was SO focused on one of the sections, and when the 'proctor' made the five minute warning I actually jumped in my seat. The people next to me probably thought I was crazy :'D

I should probably turn my volume down...

Since you’re making “stupid mistakes” maybe your brain is just a bit tired. I would try taking a couple of days off, refresh your mind, then review some of those “stupid mistakes” to make sure you don’t do them again, and then do a practice test the following day.

@ , I'm with @ ! My house is not quiet at all :( But I'll take your advice and try public library first. @ I totally feel that. It's the worst when your envi is perfect and then someone comes and messes it all up :'D But hey, that'll help you be prepared for anything on test day

@ and @ thanks so much! The poll is now 60% to 40% :'D I think I will try both ways just to get a feel for the different experiences. But Leah I completely agree. I'll make sure there's no one in the area with me, and turn it on super quietly! :)

@ Warrior Princess, I'm rooting for you and hope you'll be able to retake!! That sounds awful.

Can we all just take a minute to acknowledge that... we're done!!! Congrats everyone on your hard work :)

Can someone please explain why answer choice D is incorrect for question 19? I understand why E is correct, but D also seems reasonable.

Line 32 says "The emaciated appearance of many dolphins indicated that they were metabolizing their blubber reserves, thereby... releasing stores of previously accumulated synthetic pollutants, such as PCBs, which further exacerbated their condition."

Doesn't this match what D says? ("The dolphins' emaciated state was probably a symptom of PCB poisoning rather than of brevetoxin poisoning") Perhaps D is wrong because we don't know the effects of brevetoxin poisoning... maybe it also causes emaciation...

Please #help and thank you!

Thanks for the advice! @ and @

@ that's so funny, that's exactly what I was thinking (taking it out of the wrapper). Thanks so much for your quick response.

Could someone please explain how JY is able to translate "Adequate prenatal care decreases the risk of low birth weight babies" to "Inadequate pc increases the risk of lbw"?

Isn't that a mistaken negation?

Taking it in June and about 40% done with the CC! @ could you add me to the study group thread as well?