June 2007 LSAT Section 2 Question 18

Modern science is built on the process of posing hypotheses and testing them against observations—in essence, attempt...

Jay75 on February 2, 2018

Recognizing Useful Information

I read this question for a little bit and then proceeded to watch the video explanation, which I did find helpful in some regards. How is one supposed to distinguish what is "useful" or extraneous information within a passage? When I look at the sentence regarding recognition, I assumed it was LSAC attempting to derail the reader by inserting irrelevant, so I immediately discredited B and E, yet saw no viability in A,C, or D.

Replies

Create a free account to read and take part in forum discussions.

Already have an account? log in

Mehran on February 4, 2018

Hi there, thanks for your post. Your question is a good one, but there is no simple answer, except as follows. In the Logical Reasoning sections of the LSAT, you are going to read a series of paragraphs. Each one will either be an argument, or a set of facts.

For the arguments, you need to identify, with precision, the conclusion presented, and the premise or premises offered in support of that conclusion.

Only by doing this can you identify what is useful and what is irrelevant.

On this question, answer choice (B) is correct because it is textually supported by the stimulus (the question stem here sets this as the criteria for the correct answer). The stimulus tells you, "nothing brings more recognition than overthrowing conventional wisdom." In other words, climatology researchers have "substantial motive" to find discrediting evidence - if they could do so, they'd gain max recognition.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

eishamaqbool on July 19, 2020

answer b doesnt make sense to me because "most" seems like a strong word. In the paragraph they say that "some scientists"

If I were to be taking the Lsat i would eliminate that right away