PrepTest 130, Section 1, Question 15
Almost all advances in genetic research give rise(40 more words not shown)
If all the statements above(11 more words not shown)
- AMost advances in(12 more words not shown)
- BMost genetic research(12 more words not shown)
- CAt least some(10 more words not shown)
- DNo ethical dilemmas(12 more words not shown)
- EAs long as(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Keep research, advances, and ethical dilemmas separate. A research project can receive funding without making an advance. The first sentence concerns almost all advances, not almost all projects.
The funding rules are clear. Government is the only source for most genetic research. Projects without government funding are funded solely by corporations. Every genetic research project needs one of those sources; the passage leaves no third funding route.
What we’re looking for
I can imagine why an advance might pose a dilemma—for example, a discovery about changing inherited traits could raise questions about which changes people should pursue. But we don't need to settle any such ethical question. These are premises, and the task asks what must follow from them. We need to connect the funding requirement with the research and its results without assuming that funding guarantees success.
Working the answers
- A
Most research being government-funded doesn't mean most advances occur there. Perhaps the many government projects have only a one-percent success rate while the fewer corporate projects produce more advances. The passage tells us how research is funded, not which source produces the most discoveries.
- B
This assumes that most government-funded research succeeds in making advances. Imagine a hundred projects of which only five produce an advance. Almost all of those advances could raise ethical dilemmas while most of the original projects do not. B moves the quantity from advances to research projects.
- C
Corporate funding doesn't guarantee even one corporate success. For all we know, every corporate project fails to make an advance and the advances occur elsewhere. The existence of a funding source doesn't establish its results.
- DCorrect
Any ethical dilemma resulting from an advance in genetic research depends on genetic research having occurred. That research requires government or corporate funding. Thus no dilemma of this specified kind arises without one of those funding sources. This doesn't say that all ethical dilemmas require such funding, or that every funded project produces one.
- E
Continued government funding might support projects that make no further advances. It therefore doesn't guarantee the ethical dilemmas associated with advances. The passage gives funding as a requirement for research, not as a promise of successful research and its consequences.
More Must Be True questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Must Be True questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.