Jones: Prehistoric wooden tools found in South America have been dated to 13,000 years ago. Although scientists attri...

Anita June 21, 2018

@richmond We’re looking for the point at issue between Jones & Smith.

Jones tells us that wooden tools were found in South America that are 13,000 years old, but there aren’t any tools found between Alaska and South America that are that old - a path that migrants from Siberia would have had to have taken to get there. So he questions the validity of whether the scientists’ evaluation of the situation.

Smith tells us that given the tools would have eroded in the lands between Alaska and South America, there isn’t enough evidence for Jone’s assertion that something is wrong.

B gives us the point at issue: whether the scientists could still be correct. Jones tells us they can’t be, but Smith tells us they could be.

Julie-V August 19, 2019

can you explain why (a) would be incorrect? Thanks!

Caramujo September 8, 2019

@Julie-V My reasoning for ruling out A is as follows.

The strategy employed during these types of questions is to see whether each party would disagree, agree, or provides no relevant information to the answer choice. The correct answer would be one that one party would agree with, and the other would disagree. In answer choice A, the key word to me was "all", as in , "all" prehistoric tools 13,000 years or older are made of wood. Jones doesn't address this. There could have been tools not made of wood that were found in present day China to be 14,000 years old, but we can't gather his opinion on this based on the stimulus. Instead, he focuses only on the wooden tools found in South America. At this point, since we know Jones' statement doesn't provide enough information for us to determine whether or not he disagrees or agrees with answer choice A, we can rule out the answer choice. But checking what Smith tells us, we can also deduce that there isn't enough information in his statement as well. Again, this scenario deals with a specific finding of wooden tools in South America, and to say that either agrees or disagrees that "all" prehistoric tools 13,000 years or older are made of wood would be inaccurate.