Which one of the following situations involving volatile oils is most analogous to the situation involving peptides t...

Victoria on July 17, 2020

Hi @Isabel-Zuniga,

Happy to help!

This is definitely a daunting question due to the sheer amount of text. If you come across a question like this on the LSAT, I would recommend leaving it until the end of the section so that you can get more points instead of wasting your time reading through all of these answer choices. Once you've answered all the reading comp questions, head back to this one if you have time. If you have run out of time and need to guess, that's okay! You don't lose points for wrong answers and you will have spent your time on the section answering shorter questions and gaining more points.

As for approaching the question itself, the question stem asks us which situation is most analogous to the situation involving peptides presented in the passage.

We learn that Belcher's research group discovered that a specific peptide causes calcium carbonate to crystallize into a structure only found in the abalone shell. They theorized that they could use a peptide to direct the crystal growth of semiconductor materials which form transistors, allowing them to build nanoscale electronics.

As there was no known peptide which could do this, Belcher and her team grew one billion different peptides to see if any of them bound to crystals of three widely used semiconductor materials. They found some which bound exclusively to one of the crystals, thereby succeeding in achieving their initial goal.

Let's summarize the situation:

(1) Researchers find peptides crystallize into abalone shell.
(2) Researchers test similar peptides to see if they crystallize to semiconductor materials.

Researchers find that X does Y. Researchers test similar Xs to see if they do Z.

Now we must find the answer choice which illustrates an analogous situation.

Answer choice (E) is correct because this situation directly parallels that of Belcher's research team.

(1) Researchers find volatile oil which protects trees from fungal infection.
(2) Researchers test similar oils to see if they protect humans from bacterial infections.

Researchers find that X does Y. Researchers test similar Xs to see if they do Z.

Answer choice (A) is incorrect because the researchers in this situation abandoned their line of experimentation when they received a grant to study a different topic.

Answer choice (B) is incorrect because the researchers in this situation tested the oil for one purpose but then found that it had another purpose.

Answer choice (C) is incorrect because these researchers tested the same oils whereas the researchers in the passage tested similar but different peptides.

Answer choice (D) is incorrect because the researchers in this situation were looking to see if similar oils could cause damage, not provide a benefit.

Hope this is helpful! Keep up the the good work and please let us know if you have any further questions.