LSAT 114 – Section 4 – Question 24

LSAT 114 - Section 4 - Question 24

October 2002

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT114 S4 Q24
+LR
Most strongly supported +MSS
Quantifier +Quant
A
4%
157
B
8%
157
C
8%
155
D
6%
155
E
74%
164
144
153
161
 +Harder 144.851 +SubsectionEasier

Most land-dwelling vertebrates have rotating limbs terminating in digits, a characteristic useful for land movement. Biologists who assume that this characteristic evolved only after animals abandoned aquatic environments must consider the Acanthostega, a newly discovered ancestor of all land vertebrates. It possessed rotating limbs terminating in digits, but its skeleton was too feeble for land movement. It also breathed using only internal gills, indicating that it and its predecessors were exclusively aquatic.

Summary
Most land-dwelling vertebrates have rotating limbs with fingers, a feature useful for land movement. The Acanthostega, a newly discovered ancestor of all land vertebrates, possessed rotating limbs with fingers, but its skeleton was too feeble for land movement. The Acanthostega breathed using only internal gills, indicating that it was exclusively aquatic.

Strongly Supported Conclusions
Some physical features common to certain aquatic animals are useful for land movement.

A
Many anatomical characteristics common to most land animals represent a disadvantage for survival underwater.
This answer is unsupported. We only know that rotating limbs with fingers are common to most land animals. To say that there are “many” characteristics in common with most land animals is too strong.
B
None of the anatomical characteristics common to most aquatic animals represent an advantage for survival on land.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know anything from the stimulus about the physical characteristics of most aquatic animals. We only know that the Acanthostega had rotating limbs with fingers.
C
Acanthostega originated as a land-dwelling species, but evolved gills only after moving to an underwater environment.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know where the Acanthostega species originated from the stimulus.
D
All anatomical characteristics not useful for land movement but common to most land animals represent an advantage for survival underwater.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus if there are characteristics common to most land animals that are useful for surviving underwater. We only know that most land animals have at least one feature that is useful for land movement.
E
Certain anatomical characteristics common to some aquatic animals represent an advantage for survival on land.
This answer is strongly supported. We know from the stimulus that the Acanthostega had rotating limbs with fingers, a characteristic useful for land movement, even though this species was exclusively aquatic.

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LSAT PrepTest 114 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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