PrepTest 135, Section 2, Question 14
Early urban societies could not have been maintained(41 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AMost peoples who(11 more words not shown)
- BOnly if farming(18 more words not shown)
- CIn early times(15 more words not shown)
- DUrban societies with(17 more words not shown)
- EEarly rural societies(9 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A city can't feed itself just by sending everyone out to look for berries and mushrooms. There are too many people in too little space. That's the practical reason given for needing large-scale farming nearby.
Now follow what that farming requires. It needs irrigation, and in early times irrigation wasn't feasible far from rivers or lakes. Put those requirements together: an early city needs nearby large-scale farms; those farms need irrigation; and irrigation then depends on access to those water sources.
What we’re looking for
For the supported-inference question, I'd expect the conclusion that early urban societies couldn't be maintained far from rivers or lakes. Keep 'early' and 'urban' attached to the conclusion. We haven't learned where every person lived or what every kind of society needed.
Working the answers
- A
Most people needn't have lived in cities. Many could have lived in small, scattered groups that didn't require the same nearby farming system. The passage restricts early urban societies; it doesn't count the whole population or establish where most people lived.
- B
This applies to societies generally, not just the dense urban societies discussed. A smaller population might live by foraging without needing large-scale farming at all. It also drops the early-time limitation on irrigation. The stated restrictions don't support such a broad rule.
- CCorrect
Maintaining an early urban society required nearby large-scale farming, which required irrigation. Since irrigation wasn't feasible far from rivers or lakes then, an early urban society couldn't be maintained in such a location. C joins the supplied requirements without expanding their scope.
- D
Being near water makes the necessary irrigation feasible; it doesn't remove the need for irrigation. The passage says large-scale farming requires it. This answer mistakes access to a requirement for freedom from that requirement.
- E
We haven't compared rural reliance on foraging and farming. Rural people might have farmed extensively too. Knowing that dense urban populations needed large-scale agriculture doesn't tell us which food source was more important to rural societies.
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.