Q15

[catie0128]

I do not understand why B is a better answer than C. C seems to be a more precise statement of what both passages are trying to examine.

[dababbott]

B isn't the right answer, A is.

I think C is tempting, but is wrong because none of the societies discussed are "strictly agriculural."

[bbirdwell]

Right on!

"Examining which of the following topics" is an interesting phrase. This doesn't mean we're looking for the main point. We are looking for something that's "examined," which is actually more likely to be evidence for the conclusions. Evidence is what's examined. So what's the main kind of evidence that each passage relies on? Agriculture and diet in history!

That's pretty much what (A) says.
(B) nope. Passage A does not talk about overall health.
(C) nope. Much of Passage A discusses non-agricultural societies.
(D) nope. The "first" is never mentioned.
(E) nope. Too specific.

Process of elimination!

[Laura Damone]

Here's my take on it...

15. (A)
Question Type: Synthesis (1-5, 13-22, 36-38, 55-63)

This question requires that we assess the similarities between the two passages and identify the subject matter that is central to both. Because both passages look at dental records in order to assess when agriculture was developing within a given population, (A) is the correct answer. It might be surprising that the answer doesn’t include a reference to teeth, but the dental record is part of the archeological record.

(B) is too narrow in scope. Although overall health is mentioned, it is not central.
(C) is also too narrow in scope because we're not examining strictly agricultural societies. We’re examining societies transitioning from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to agricultural ones.
(D) is out of scope because we're not looking for the first agricultural society.
(E) is also out of scope because we're looking at both pre-agricultural and agricultural populations, and we're not primarily concerned with either's ability to obtain foods. Rather, we're concerned with what the dental records indicate about the foods each group consumed.

[chike_eze]

This question pisses me off.

This is really subtle, at least for me.

I guess If Passage A's main conclusion is "prehistoric human teeth can provide clues about transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural one"
And
Passage B's overall conclusion is "that although agriculture increased, the diet of Ban chiang was varied which accounts for the unexpected results"

Then I guess I could see that (A) is the correct answer. But it seems so annoyingly non-obvious.

Or am I still missing the obvious?

[Acing LSAT]

I must take issue with Laura.baragona, the passages are not using the dental records to indicate what those people ate. there is a number of references in both passages to independent knowledge of what people ate.
passage one P2 and P3

passage 2 P3


it might be the best choice by POE but it is not the focus of either passage

[gplaya123]

Didn't anyone have a trouble with wording of the question...
like the word "primarily?"

[513852276]

Didn't anyone have a trouble with wording of the question...
like the word "primarily?"

The "primarily" means 1. for the most part (as chiefly) 2. in the first place (as originally) in Merriam-Webster Dictionary App. I take the first meaning. As bbirdwell correctly pointed, "examining" indicates answer choice may be a little bit "indirect", as we need to see it "functions as examining..." rather than its "direct meanings". The main point for two passages are about "teeth". I would say even if choice C includes "agriculture and non-agriculture society", the right answer would still be A. As choice C is "what it says" but choice A is more like "what it could be used for...":)

[JinZ551]

I think one thing that makes B so attractive is we sometimes intuitively link "teeth caries" to "health"...
But these two passages mainly uses teeth caries as one kind of archeological evidence, without mentioning its harmful health effect at all. Nice trap, LSAT!