LSAT 55 – Section 3 – Question 05

LSAT 55 - Section 3 - Question 05

October 2008

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT55 S3 Q05
+LR
Most strongly supported +MSS
A
95%
163
B
2%
153
C
1%
155
D
0%
150
E
1%
155
125
134
143
 +Easiest 144.364 +SubsectionEasier

The question stem reads: Which of the following is most strongly supported by the statements above? This is a Most Strongly Supported question.

These types of questions will contain a set of facts that will Support a claim found in the answer choices. In other words, the stimulus of an MSS question will make the correct answer choice more likely to be true. The stimulus reads the "star-nosed mole" has a nose with tentacles that are crucial for hunting because the moles have terrible eyesight. The stimulus then goes on to explain that the tentacles work by detecting electric fields produced by other animals. The detection enables the moles to find and catch prey like worms and insects. It's hard to see exactly where this is going. Before we dive into the answer choices, let's take a quick recap:

  1. The star-nosed mole has poor eyesight.
  2. It uses its nose to hunt.
  3. The nose works by detecting electric fields produced by other animals.
  4. The nose enables the mole to catch suitable prey, such as worms and insects.

Correct Answer Choice (A) looks great and is supported by the stimulus. It is more likely to be true that worms and insects produce electric fields because the star-nosed moles hunt them. The mole has bad eyesight, so the way it hunts is by detecting the electric fields procured by its prey (worms and insects).

Answer Choice (B) could be tempting, but it is far too strong to be supported by the stimulus. The stimulus only mentions that the moles are poor-sighted, not that they are entirely blind. So while we know that their eyesight is not the primary method for hunting, it is still possible the mole uses its eyesight in some way while hunting. Furthermore, there is more to survival than just hunting. Maybe the mole uses its poor eyesight to determine the time of day.

Answer Choice (C) is unsupported because we know nothing about the mole's sense of smell or how it does or doesn't use that sense of smell for hunting.

Answer Choice (D) is unsupported because it draws a general rule from a single instance in the stimulus. (D) claims that only animals that hunt have these eclectic tentacle noses. Sure, that might be true in the case of the mole, but how can we then make that claim about all electric tentacle nose animals?

Answer Choice (E) is unsupported because we cannot determine from the stimulus if an animal does not have an electric field. The stimulus only offers a way for us to determine whether an animal does have an electric field.

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LSAT PrepTest 55 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logic Games

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