PrepTest 103, Section 4, Question 14
Between June 1987 and May 1988, the bodies(454 more words not shown)
The passage is primarily concerned(2 more words not shown)
- Athe effects of(9 more words not shown)
- Bthe process by(10 more words not shown)
- Cthe weaknesses in(9 more words not shown)
- Dpossible alternative explanations(5 more words not shown)
- Erelative effects of(6 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We already predicted the central response: increased exposure to synthetic pollutants is a better explanation for what started the deaths than brevetoxin. The researchers offer one account, and the writer challenges it before proposing another.
What we’re looking for
This question asks what we're assessing. I'd put it simply: what caused this massive die-off?
Working the answers
- A
Bacterial infection is identified as “the ultimate cause of death,” but the larger question is what first weakened the dolphins and made that infection possible. Assessing the infection's effects leaves out the competing accounts of how the disaster began.
- B
We aren't following the process of a correct diagnosis. The writer disputes the research team's explanation and proposes an alternative. The focus is the cause of the deaths, not the testing procedures used to identify it.
- C
The writer questions the conclusion drawn from the findings, not how the research was conducted. A complaint about contaminated samples or unreliable tests would concern methodology. Instead, we get facts that the proposed explanation doesn't adequately account for.
- DCorrect
Paragraph 3 develops the brevetoxin account. The final paragraph criticizes it and offers an “alternative hypothesis” involving increased pollutant exposure. That matches our prediction: evaluate possible explanations for the die-off.
- E
We aren't comparing how dangerous various marine pollutants are to dolphins. The focus is what started this particular disaster, with brevetoxin and synthetic pollutants assigned different roles in competing explanations.
More Main Point questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Main Point questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.