LSAT 153 – Section 3 – Question 10

LSAT 153 - Section 3 - Question 10

June 2019

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT153 S3 Q10	+LR	Strengthen +Streng Causal Reasoning +CausR	A 0% 147 B 1% 152 C 0% 146 D 2% 152 E 97% 162	126 133 141	+Easiest	146.755 +SubsectionMedium

Giant ground sloths began disappearing from the Americas about 10,000 years ago, around the time that the last ice age ended, and are now extinct worldwide. Scientists had thought that these sloths failed to adapt to climate changes, but they are now coming to believe that it was the arrival of human beings shortly before that ice age ended that was responsible for the sloths’ disappearance.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The scientists hypothesize that humans, who arrived just before the last ice age ended, caused sloths to start disappearing from the Americas around 10,000 years ago and eventually to go extinct. This is supported by the fact that humans’ arrival and sloths’ disappearance happened around the same time.

Notable Assumptions

The scientists assume that humans could have caused the extinction of all giant ground sloths worldwide. They also assume that there are no alternative hypotheses, like other predators, natural disasters, or disease, to explain the sloths’ disappearance.

Scientists have not found any physical evidence to support the idea that giant ground sloths were hunted to extinction.

This weakens the argument by suggesting that humans may not have been responsible for sloths’ extinction, since no physical evidence of hunting has been found.

Species of smaller tree-dwelling sloths continue to live throughout South and Central America.

The scientists’ argument only addresses giant ground sloths that did go extinct. The survival of other kinds of sloths is irrelevant.

Their large size made the giant ground sloths less adaptable than most other ground mammals.

This weakens the argument by suggesting that the scientists’ original hypothesis- that giant ground sloths failed to adapt to climate changes- may have been correct after all.

Giant ground sloths are not the only large mammals that began to disappear from the Americas around 10,000 years ago.

This fails to address the cause of the giant ground sloths’ disappearance. Even if other large mammals also began disappearing at the same time, (D) doesn’t strengthen the hypothesis that humans are responsible for these disappearances.

One type of giant ground sloth survived on isolated islands until human beings arrived there well after the last ice age.

Some giant ground sloths survived long after the last ice age, meaning they didn’t disappear due to climate changes. These sloths only disappeared after humans arrived, which strengthens the hypothesis that humans were responsible for their extinction.

LSAT 153 – Section 3 – Question 10

LSAT 153 - Section 3 - Question 10

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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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