LSAT 145 – Section 4 – Question 16

LSAT 145 - Section 4 - Question 16

December 2015

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT145 S4 Q16
+LR
Argument part +AP
Eliminating Options +ElimOpt
A
2%
154
B
77%
165
C
5%
156
D
1%
153
E
15%
161
139
150
162
 +Medium 148.528 +SubsectionMedium

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Researcher: Dinosaurs lack turbinates—nasal cavity bone structures in warm-blooded species that minimize water loss during breathing. According to some paleobiologists, this implies that all dinosaurs were cold-blooded. These paleobiologists must be mistaken, however, for fossil records show that some dinosaur species lived in Australia and Alaska, where temperatures drop below freezing. Only warm-blooded animals could survive such temperatures.

Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author rejects the paleobiologists’ belief that all dinosaurs were cold-blooded. Since some dinosaurs lived in places where only warm-blooded animals could survive, the author implies that some dinosaurs must have been warm-blooded.

Identify Argument Part
It’s a premise. The author uses the claim that only warm-blooded animals could survive in those areas to prove that the dinosaurs that lived in those areas were not cold-blooded.

A
It is presented as a potential counterexample to the argument’s main conclusion.
The last sentence supports the conclusion, so it can’t be a counter-example to it.
B
It is a premise offered in support of the argument’s main conclusion.
This accurately describes the role of the last sentence. It’s a premise supporting the author’s conclusion.
C
It is presented as counterevidence to the paleobiologists’ assertion that dinosaurs lack turbinates.
The author never suggests that dinosaurs actually have turbinates. The claim that the author counters is the paleobiologists’ claim that all dinosaurs were cold-blooded.
D
It is the argument’s main conclusion.
The main conclusion is the claim that the paleobiologists are wrong. The last sentence supports that conclusion.
E
It is an intermediate conclusion for which the claim that some dinosaur species lived in Australia and Alaska is offered as support.
The claim that some dinosaurs lived in Australia and Alaska isn’t offered to help prove that only warm-blooded animals can live in freezing temperatures.

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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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