PrepTest 134, Section 1, Question 2
There are 70 to 100 Florida panthers alive(42 more words not shown)
If the statements above are(10 more words not shown)
- ASome part of(9 more words not shown)
- BIf the population(10 more words not shown)
- CUnless Florida panthers(10 more words not shown)
- DThe population of(10 more words not shown)
- EToday, Florida panthers(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
More panthers is good news, but they still don't have enough room to reach the number they need.
Accept the figures: there are 70 to 100 panthers, and a self-sustaining population needs at least 250. The increase since the 1970s doesn't erase that shortfall. Even 100 is well below 250.
Then we learn that the current habitat cannot support any additional panthers. That blocks the needed growth. We need more animals for a self-sustaining population, but we need more habitat to support those animals. Unless the habitat gets larger, the population cannot become self-sustaining.
What we’re looking for
That's my prediction for what must be true. Notice what it doesn't predict: that the panthers can never recover. Expanding their habitat could remove this obstacle. Nor have we established that expansion alone would solve every problem. We're identifying something they need, not a guarantee of success.
Working the answers
- A
We know the habitat is too small, not that some of it is poor quality. Every part could be excellent panther habitat while the total area remained insufficient. Size and quality are different facts, and the passage only establishes the size problem.
- B
Reaching 250 is a requirement, not a promise that the population will sustain itself. There might be other requirements too. Think of the difference between needing enough players to field a team and guaranteeing that the team will succeed once enough players arrive. The passage says they cannot succeed below the threshold; it doesn't say crossing it settles everything.
- CCorrect
Without a larger habitat, the population cannot be self-sustaining. The current habitat cannot support the additional animals needed to reach 250. This connects the two stated limits without assuming that satisfying them would guarantee success.
- D
“Never” rules out the possibility of expanding the habitat. Why rule that out? The passage describes the current constraint, not an unchangeable future. A larger habitat could allow the population to grow substantially.
- E
More panthers could be living in the same area more densely. Think of a place going from a sparse population to a crowded one: an increase in residents doesn't prove that its borders expanded. Likewise, these panthers could now use more of an unchanged habitat than they did in the 1970s. We know that future growth requires more habitat; we don't know that the growth already achieved involved a larger habitat.
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