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This assumption is so subtle and the correct answer choice "weakens" this argument by such a negligible margin, this question should be rated 7/5 difficulty.

I’ve been studying for over a year now made solid progress, but still not where I want to be. I’m not going to speak to technique or strategies to combat anxiety. But rather argue for a shift in your mentality to embrace your anxiety. It’s probably not going away. Nor should you want it to, it is your mind’s fight/flight response. It means you care and that this is something worth fighting for. You can adapt and use anxiety to your advantage. The LSAT is tough and learning curve is steep. I won’t sugarcoat; be prepared to get your ass kicked over and over. Resiliency is key. And if you can keep pushing through that pain and disappointment, you’ll eventually adapt. At some point you’re going to just accept that the test is going to hit you and your ego hard, it’s up to you to keep picking yourself up and resolving to do better next time. Results will come, most likely slower than you want them to. Be patient, keep pressing. Remember, every attorney and law student has devoted themselves to the LSAT and succeeded in walking this path. You can too.

D – An inference or two is required to arrive at the understanding that this would weaken the argument and for this reason was hard for me to reason with at first , but ultimately came around to only after eliminating all the others. Cod eat a lot of Capelin. Seals eat a lot of Capelin too. Okay so what. Well we’re going to have to make a couple inferences and assumptions for this answer choice to make sense.

Assumption 1: The seal and cod are competing for Capelin.

Assumption 2: There isn’t enough Capelin to go around for everyone.

Assumption 3: There is nothing else they could eat as an alternative.

Assumption 4: If it is a power struggle between Cod and Seals, and the seals are winning

Assumption 5: the winner will increase in population

Assumption 6: the loser will decrease in population

For this answer choice to work a pretty big logical leap is required. It wasn’t very intuitive for me.

A – Seems attractive at first, introduces “commercial fishing” as a potential competing cause for the decline in codfish... But keeping our task in mind, we’re trying to weaken the argument here, and this arguably strengthens it. Furthermore, the answer choice goes on to say that this effort is “inconvenienced” by the seals which only gives very weak support as to whether the act of commercial fishing actually has an effect on the cod population and can thus be eliminated.

B - Maybe someone might be tempted to choose this because it could explain the observed phenomenon we are evaluating. If water pollution poses more serious threat to cod than seal, it makes logical sense that cod are decreasing and seal increasing, right? Not really, maybe they would both decrease but cod at a higher rate, but in the scenario seals are increasing, so this can’t be right. Also, water pollution posing a threat tells us nothing about whether this causes changes in population. Does no work in weakening the argument.

C – Introduces another competing cause. Maybe it is the cold water that is killing the cod. But again this would arguably strengthen the argument. Our job is to weaken.

E – Strengthens the argument. Think back to the Causation lesson on chronology. Causation implies chronology. If we’re trying to weaken the argument, then we want the reverse chronological order presented in this answer choice.

Argument Summary:

CTXT: Codfish population declining, harp seals increasing.

P: Some blame the seal for shrinking cod population. But, seals rarely eat the codfish.

C: Therefore, unlikely that increase in seals caused decrease in codfish.

Like JY says "Feign an interest" in those topics you dislike. I also am more inclined toward subjects like econ, science, law, they just seem more logical and concrete. The art history stuff is harder to grasp for me and don't have a background in it. So one day I decided to give myself an "informal" education on the subject. I spent a couple days deep diving on Wiki about common art themes that arise: Modernism, Postmodernism, Realism, Impressionism. Seems like the RC passages are concerned with art movements, and using individual artists as an example to make some point. Spending a couple days to develop a framework on this subject has shown me a little return on my investment. Maybe it will for you too.

I have the opposite problem sometimes. I feel like if I encounter a passage that catches my interest, I get curious about it and start drawing connections in my mind and then snap myself back into it, "hey get back on task, you're taking the LSAT right now, idiot" lol.

Hope this helps.

Analogy:

"When Billy punches Timmy, this practice greatly increases the health risk to Timmy. Oh but, Billy isn't the only one who punches Timmy. Sally whoops Timmy's ass too. So, the health risk to Timmy is not increased as greatly when Billy punches Timmy."

...What? Just because Sally (Russia) also partakes in punching Timmy (US consumers) in no way weakens the argument that when Billy (US) punches Timmy it still increases the health risk just as much as before.

Clearly, still having trouble understanding why answer choice C is any more relevant than the other incorrect answer choices. If C were true, the conclusion still holds, nor is it weakened.

#help

Chose AC B based on a misunderstanding of the logical translation of the word "presupposes".

I took , MR presupposes T , to mean that Trust implies Mutual Respect. I thought MR is the thing being presupposed. I guess this may have been an error of grammatical interpretation. Didn't understand which concept, MR or T, the term presupposes was being applied to.

The correct understanding is that in the sentence, "MR presupposes T" Trust is the thing being presupposed. Which under this correct understanding translates to MR ---> T.

Truckload of young people on their way to strengthen your argument:

https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chiang-rai-thailand-september-28-2011-2010230483