A report on the likely effects of current levels of air pollution on forest growth in North America concluded that, s...
Madelyn-LuskeyJune 6, 2018
choosing answers
With this question especially, I'm having a hard time with the rules/steps to finding the conclusion that corresponds with the correct answer choices. It seems as though the Main Point video was a little unclear, as the correct answer to many of these questions don't seem to directly restate the conclusion.
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@Madelyn-Luskey, that's a good question, and Main Point questions can be tricky. They're not as easy to diagram and pull apart as some of the others, so they take a bit of a different approach. To me, they feel more like reading comprehension questions than logical reasoning questions, despite their placement on the test (that's probably why they're there).
While you're looking for an answer that generally restates the conclusion, it's often more broad than just the conclusion. You're looking for something that reinforces the conclusion but synthesizes the rest of the argument at the same time.
This question is a good example. Over a fairly long paragraph, the author cites a study saying that the likely effects of air pollution would probably benefit eastern forests, then talks about a European finding that calls it into question, and finally concludes that the original study is likely wrong and that the forests are likely already suffering. (E) sums this up nicely and is the correct answer, but let's see why the others are wrong.
(A) does not support the conclusion but rather supports the assertion of the cited report. You do not have enough information to know whether (A) is true or not, and it certainly does not restate the conclusion.
(B) adds information that is not present within the original question. The information also seems to contradict the European findings that the author uses to question the original report, so it cannot be the main point of the passage.
(C) directly contradicts the author's assumption that "this finding is likely to apply to forests everywhere..." This could serve as a way to question the author's logical progression, but it is not the main point of the passage.
(D) is basically irrelevant to the conclusion. The author only talks about eastern forests, but that does not mean the implications of any of this research is limited to eastern forests, and this is certainly not the main point of the passage.
