no they cannot from what I'm reading online

I would provide the explanation. It's your truth and important part in providing context to your statistics and story. Good luck!

good luck - you clearly got this!

@GeraldoEscatel it's not that the math professor needs to give a reason to support it, it's that his response/argument doesn't even address what the psych professor said. that's what makes the argument questionable. he says he disagrees then doesn't explain why he disagrees with the reasoning of the psych professor. saying the same material/textbook is used doesn't address the psych professor's reasoning that social science departments best teach their students how to apply methodologies most useful for their unique discipline and how to interpret data/results.

Wow I totally missed the reasoning in this argument first time around. I thought it was flawed because it overlooked the fact that some places they live like the Arctic Circle and Tierra del Fuego may be geographically isolated and therefore threatened. What I, importantly, missed was that it said species become threatened when they only reside in geographically isolated areas, which is not what the argument was saying about the species of ants.

I clearly see the actual reasoning was now that because ants are the most successful insects that spread virtually into every ecosystem -> no species of ant is threatened, which is a classic whole-to-part flaw.

I usually am good at necessary assumption, but I chose B for this one. I completely missed how the conclusion was just focused on hypotheses regarding great national leaders while the premise talked about leaders who had success getting their programs passed by their country's legislature. It is necessary that getting success in programs passed by their country's legislature indicates great leadership, otherwise the support of the argument would hold no viability.

As someone else explained in this thread, B is wrong because the argument is saying that sometimes leaders both shape and react to public opinion by providing an example (leaders who have had success in getting their programs passed). It is not saying that is the case in every instance.

@SirHarvey I didn't either, but what helped me realize it was B was that the stimulus says "that... might influence society in pernicious ways".

I originally chose D but then realized D had an "if" statement, whereas the stimulus says that we shouldn't do this, even if it might influence society (not we shouldn't do this if that)

Based on this logic, A could have also been a viable answer, but I crossed out A because A says someone should not act upon information, whereas the stimulus says we should not disapprove of unearthing truths, which to me is more similar to saying we should not restrict research (aka "truths"). Hope this helps

@haena @Kevin_Lin thank you both so much. I've accepted that I can't just rely on intuition and am practicing diagramming only or only those versus the only statements!

this is a great question to practice to ensure you understand diagramming and the difference between "only" and "the only"

"only" ___ indicates a necessary condition whereas "the only" indicates a sufficient condition. If you map out C and E, E provides you with the conditional chain that you need to connect the premises with the conclusion

@haena thanks so much for taking the time and effort to diagram them out. the formula part of diagramming for the conclusion (that "appreciate advances" should be in the necessary condition because it's preceded by only) makes sense, but conceptually, I still feel like it should diagram to "appreciate tech -> CS". I interpret "only those who appreciate these advances are computer scientists" as you have to be a computer scientist (necessary condition) in order to appreciate the advances (sufficient condition).

@august10ten yes, that's how I usually think of them too. all of what you said make sense to me, including the "only those" example. I think the "are" in the stimulus' conclusion is what throwing me off? I interpret "only those who appreciate these advances are computer scientists" as you have to be a computer scientist (necessary condition) in order to appreciate the advances (sufficient condition). feeling like a lost cause rn lol

I don't know how far you are from your testing center but driving to the testing center a day in advance to 1000% make sure I knew where it was and what the landscape looked like helped ease some of my test anxiety.

i don't think it looks bad and i don't think applying at the end of October would put you at a significant disadvantage I think it's worthwhile if you can get a slightly higher score

@EzraG I'll look at those - thank you so much!

@Jdunni appreciate the honesty, that's what I was thinking too. also, I see you are in the process of applying to Penn. I am currently doing my masters at Penn and have lived in the Philadelphia area (both city and suburbs) for 3 years. You might already be from around the area, but if you have any questions about the area, let me know!

@sagely seeing that you're a 170+ scorer and saying that brings me peace b/c i'm like HELLL reading this

no I'm planning on submitting in oct or even november if needed

@hanasafia agreeed

lol i did not know what an epoch meant. this test is humbling

the wording "the absentee rate would drop" messed me up. I was thinking the absentee rate would get worse (drop sounds like a negative to me for some reason). I chose E and now see that it is definitely beyond what the author is saying

I think test anxiety is just a normal part of the process that you have to accept. I had anxiety but I drove to the testing center the day before for familiarity and I think that helped. Also, what you're seeing here is not an accurate representation of all test takers. I had test anxiety for August, thought I bombed it, and scored around what I do in PTs. just trust that your brain has got you and you won't magically forget everything during the test

I'm a huge visual learner. I diagram during questions that I struggle to understand in my head and I think that helps a lot. I would not suggest always diagramming, though, as I think that would be a time suck

@icegirl135 you're welcome!! good luck :)