LSAT 145 – Section 2 – Question 04

LSAT 145 - Section 2 - Question 04

December 2015

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT145 S2 Q04
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
91%
164
B
1%
157
C
1%
150
D
3%
154
E
4%
154
134
142
151
 +Medium 145.859 +SubsectionMedium

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The northern cardinal, a nonmigratory songbird, was rare in Nova Scotia in 1980; the province was considered to be beyond that bird’s usual northern range. By 2000, however, field observations indicated that northern cardinals were quite common there. The average winter temperature rose slightly over that period, so warmer winters are probably responsible for the northern cardinal’s proliferation in Nova Scotia.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that warmer winters caused northern cardinal populations to increase in Nova Scotia, which was previously beyond the cardinals’ range. This is based on a correlation between warmer winters and increasing northern cardinal populations.

Notable Assumptions
Based on a mere correlation, the author believes warmer winters caused the northern cardinals to expand their range into Nova Scotia. While the inverse relationship (i.e. that cardinal populations caused warmer winters) can’t be true, the author assumes there’s no third factor that could’ve caused the cardinals to migrate.

A
Bird feeders, an important source of nutrition to wintering birds, became far more common in Nova Scotia after 1980.
Warmer winters didn’t cause northern cardinal populations to expand. Instead, a proliferation of bird feeders made winters more manageable for wintering cardinals, hence why their populations increased.
B
Because of their red plumage, northern cardinals are easier to spot than most other songbird species are.
This suggests that northern cardinals would be liable to predation. However, that doesn’t explain why their populations increased in Nova Scotia.
C
Some songbird species other than the northern cardinal also became more common between 1980 and 2000.
Perhaps warmer winters benefitted those songbirds, as well. We’re trying to weaken the link between warmer winters and increasing songbird populations.
D
According to field observations, the populations of migratory birds fluctuated less during the period from 1980 to 2000 than the populations of nonmigratory birds.
We don’t care what happened before 2000.
E
Birds that prey on songbirds became more common in Nova Scotia between 1980 and 2000.
If those same predatory birds decreased after 2000, we would have a weakener. But this doesn’t tell us that those predatory birds decreased.

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LSAT PrepTest 145 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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