PT25.S2.Q19 - in all mammalian species

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edited January 2016 in Logical Reasoning 3107 karma
http://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-25-section-2-question-19/
This is the first one I have missed on the 7 practice sets I have done so far for MSS. Since there is no video explanation, I'll add a forum post to see if I can get some people's thoughts. Here is my process:

This is a most strongly supported except question. This was a really weird question stem that I had to reread a few times. It probably contributed to me missing the question. We have to find an answer choice that does not fit the evidence.

In all mammals, during their childhood years in which they play a lot correlates with the most rapid growth in their neural connections. These connections establish complex movement, posture, and social response. Thus, this playful activity is necessary for survival/well being as an adult.

What I am looking for: This is an argument, and there is a flaw (I know we don't need to evaluate the flaw for MSS, but I like the practice). It makes a correlation implies causation flaw. How do we know that it is the playful activity that causes the neural connections to form? Anyway, back to the question. Since I did not really understand the stem, it was hard to formulate what I was looking for.

Answer A: This seems supported. Young mammals are going to run away from predators (which is a similar activity to playing).

Answer B: We don't know anything about non-mammals. The passage is just about mammals. This is the correct answer because there is NO evidence supporting this claim.

Answer C: This seems reasonable supported. I think it is OK to say that this behavior is a type of social response.

Answer D: This is definitely supported. The whole point is of the passage is that playing while you were young mattered. If you didn't play, then you were a weird adult animal.

Answer E: This is what I chose (I had eliminated A-D during the timed section; I was not confident in my answer choice, either), and I ran out of time trying to redo this question. This is supported. When the young play, they practice things that will help them in adulthood. Like answer D, this seems to be explicitly stated.

I missed this because of the weird stem, and I got caught up trying to figure out what it means. Are there any other questions out there with similar MSS, except that are this difficult? I know PT28-Section 3-Question 4 (from the MSS set #6) is an except question, but it was really easy I thought.

Comments

  • c.janson35c.janson35 Free Trial Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    2398 karma
    Your explanation looks solid, and the reasonings that you give for all of the incorrect answers definitely could be true based on the information in the stimulus. What is most important to note here is exactly what you did: answer choice B has absolutely no support and therefore is the least supported by default. You can't use information solely about mammalian species to prove something about non-mammalians, so good job on that.

    The only thing I would take issue with is that the stimulus is actually not an argument, but a set of facts. Therefore there is no flaw. It does present a correlation, but it does so by presenting a fact and does not extrapolate from this any kind of causality.
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