Which one of the following principles underlies the arguments in both passages?

Lauren on August 29, 2019

@Maroun Hi there, I don’t know if this is completely right but the reason I picked (E) is because it talks about “objective standards” in Passage A in lines 8-12 as an argument used by the defendant but also later in lines 30-33 as a reason why fingerprint examiners are reliable. The passage also states in lines 24-28 that “fingerprint examiners are held to a consistent ‘points and characteristics’ approach to identification” and in lines 30-33 “examiners are regularly subjected to testing and proficiency requirements, and uniform standards have been established through professional training and peer review”. I took these lines as proof that passage A uses the principle that “fingerprint examiners must follow OBJECTIVE STANDARDS”

Hope that helps a bit! :) Good luck with all your studying!

Victoria on August 30, 2019

Hi @Maroun and @Lauren-Au,

Great job @Lauren-Au!

The one thing that I would add is that lines 30-33 are used to support the passage's conclusion that "the trial court was therefore within its discretion in crediting testimony that fingerprint identification has an exceedingly low error rate" (lines 33-35). The fact that the principle underlines the conclusion of the argument strengthens the answer choice.

Keep up the great work!