LSAT 153 – Section 3 – Question 04

LSAT 153 - Section 3 - Question 04

June 2019

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT153 S3 Q04
+LR
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
89%
162
B
1%
155
C
8%
156
D
2%
155
E
0%
162
123
135
148
 +Easier 146.755 +SubsectionMedium

https://youtu.be/0tmCIsSpvC8

The coat patterns of large cat species correspond to the habitats in which those species live and hunt. Species with spotted coats are at home in trees and dappled forests, while species living in the open plains, such as lions, have plain coats. The only anomaly is the cheetah, a spotted cat that lives in the open savannah.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
The cheetah has a spotted coat.

Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains a key difference between cheetahs and other large cat species. That difference must result in cheetahs gaining some advantage from their spots despite spots being incongruous with their habitat, or else result in the spots making no difference at all.

A
Unlike all other large cat species, cheetahs’ hunting strategy does not rely on stealth but instead relies purely on speed.
Cheetahs have spots because they can. Unlike other cat species, they aren’t trying sneak up on their prey. Instead, they use their speed to hunt, so they don’t need to camouflage.
B
Of all the large cat species, cheetahs most often have their prey stolen from them by larger predators.
What’s the point of spots in this scenario? It still seems that spots would be a disadvantage for cheetahs. We need something to say that’s not the case.
C
Because they have wide paws with semiretractable claws, cheetahs are not able to climb upright trees.
We already know cheetahs aren’t climbing trees, at least not regularly—they live in the open savannah. We need to know why they have spots.
D
Unlike lions, cheetahs are typically solitary hunters.
Whether or not they’re hunting alone, cheetahs have spots that don’t blend in with their habitat. We need to know why this is.
E
Unlike all other large cat species, cheetahs are unable to roar.
This is leading us to think the spots stand in for other aggressive displays, but we need something more explicit to explain the anomaly.

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LSAT PrepTest 153 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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