PT36.S1.Q13 - when astronomers observed the comet

katherine.t

Soo... lets get hooked on phonics here. Anyone else have an "LSAT" voice in your head that dictates how you read/interpret an answer choice?
https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-36-section-1-question-13/

Did anybody else read “E” and interpret “this" period as the period of November rather than the entire period of September – November? I picked E because I read it as an outside factor, occuring in November that caused the break up

I dont know if I’m just misreading the referential phrasing or if this could be argued to be a bad question. Thoughts?

quinnxzhang

I think you're misreading the referential phrasing, but even if we grant that you're not, (E) still doesn't help us. We need to explain why there was a period of time between the brightness increase and the breaking up. Even if "this" refers only to November, knowing that the sun's gravity caused this to break up in November doesn't tell us why there was a discrepancy between observing the brightness increase and the breaking up.

Even worse, your interpretation would contradict the stimulus. If the sun's gravitational strain caused the break up, and if this only had an effect on the comet AFTER observing the brightness increase, then the brightness increase couldn't have been a result of the comet breaking up. But the stimulus explicitly says that the brightness increase was the result of the comet breaking up.

katherine.t

Nicely done! and quick response at that. I can't wait to get in that kind of mindset. Thanks!