Q20 - Scientists studying a common type

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
ID the Conclusion

Stimulus Breakdown:
Conclusion: Unlikely that most types of bacteria hibernate regularly.
Evidence: Even though scientists found one type of bacteria that hibernates regularly, it's not reasonable to conclude most bacteria have the same quality since bacteria are extremely diverse.

Answer Anticipation:
If we identified the correct conclusion, we simply need to look for the best paraphrase of "it's unlikely that most types of bacteria hibernate regularly".

Correct Answer:
B

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Opposite of the conclusion.

(B) Yes! This matches the final idea, which we ID'd as the Conclusion.

(C) This is trying to appeal to test-takers by spelling out this author's faulty assumption. But the author never said this claim explicitly. She has an explicit conclusion, which is the final idea of the stimulus.

(D) This may seem attractive because it's the first moment of pushback we hear from the author against the 3rd person point of view (and on a Main Conclusion question, that is frequently where we find the conclusion). But this claim is not supported, so it can't count as a conclusion. And even if it did, it would still be subsidiary to the ultimate one the author draws about whether most bacteria do, in fact, hibernate regularly.

(E) Never said, and it has an extreme word "only". Students picking this choice think they are looking for a hidden idea, an inference. But the question wants us to pick one of the explicit claims as the overall conclusion.

Takeaway/Pattern: On an ID the Conclusion question, the conclusion is usually found in the first sentence or attached to a but/yet/however rebuttal. Since this argument starts with 3rd person points of view, it's natural to expect the but/yet/however rebuttal. We get "But" to begin the last sentence, and the last sentence has two clauses. The first clause is introduced by "since", which guarantees that the second clause is a conclusion.

#officialexplanation

[clarafok]

hello,

i'm having trouble seeing why B is a better answer than D. i thought the last sentence was actually a premise to support D. why is this not the case?

thanks in advance!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

I can see how you got turned around. Frequently questions that ask you to identify the conclusion of the argument establish a conclusion as a challenge to an opposing point. This question is designed to look like that, but not actually organize itself in that way. Here's a simple way to show that answer choice (D) is not the main conclusion. Does this argument make any sense?

Since bacteria are extremely diverse, it is unlikely that most types of bacteria hibernate regularly. Therefore This conclusion would be reasonable if all types of bacteria were rather similar.

It simply makes no sense! So we wouldn't want to say that answer choice (D) represents the conclusion of the argument.

Answer choice (B) does represent what the argument was designed to establish and we have evidence for the fact that it's a conclusion with the word "since" in the final sentence, implying that what comes after the comma is a conclusion. With no other conclusion to choose between, it becomes the final conclusion.

Good question, and thanks for bringing this to the forum! Does that answer your question?

[peg_city]

Can you go into more detail as to why D is wrong?

It's a direct restatement of the 3rd sentence which to me is obviously the conclusion.

Thanks

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Structurally, this argument is flawed in that it relies on a negation of a conditional statement.

A ---> B
~A
-----------
~B

A = all types of bacteria are rather similar, B = bateria in general are usually in hibernation

But that doesn't change our task, which is still to find the conclusion. So we want an answer choice that reflects ~B - bacteria are not usually in hibernation

Answer choice (D) represents the conditional statement A ---> B, which is one of the two premises of the argument.

Does that answer your question?

[denis468]

I initially picked D as well. However, what got me confused about answer B is that it mentioned that ..."bacteria hibernate regularly", and the argument says "...bacteria in general are usually in hibernation..." I was under impression that "hibernate regularly" entails periodic hibernation and "bacteria usually in hibernation" means the continuous action... excluding cyclic repetition
So, if authors were more precise about their wording it would make answer B perfectly fine.

[hovaLSAT]

Can we go over answer choice (C)?

I got this one right but I get tripped up when they start throwing in conditional statements into answer choices on main conclusion questions.

How is C different than B? (aside from the fact that it is given that bacteria are in fact diverse)

And for a hypothetical argument if the conclusion is that "Because all apples are green they are not red" how would a choice that says "If all apples are green, then they are not red" not express that conclusion.

Example would be:

"The true color of apples has been a puzzling mystery. Some people think that apples are red. This must be false because all apples are green."

(Apologies if this is a bad argument -- perhaps you could make another/ better sample argument for purposes of going over this conclusion vs. choice with an "if" statement in it)

Thanks in advance!!

Any feedback on this one? Thanks!

[e. chung]

What threw me is that the passage says that "it is unlikely that most types of bacteria hibernate regularly," and

B says that "it is probably not true that most types of bacteria hibernate regularly."

I thought that there was too much of a gap between "unlikely" and "probably not true," so I chickened out on my original assessment of where the conclusion was and went with D.

Because we have to pay such careful attention to most/ some/ all/ etc. on the test, can anyone tell me if there is a relationship between "unlikely" and "probably not true?"

Does "likely" mean there is a 51-100 percent chance, for example?

Thanks!

[christine.defenbaugh]

What threw me is that the passage says that "it is unlikely that most types of bacteria hibernate regularly," and

B says that "it is probably not true that most types of bacteria hibernate regularly."

I thought that there was too much of a gap between "unlikely" and "probably not true," so I chickened out on my original assessment of where the conclusion was and went with D.

Because we have to pay such careful attention to most/ some/ all/ etc. on the test, can anyone tell me if there is a relationship between "unlikely" and "probably not true?"

Does "likely" mean there is a 51-100 percent chance, for example?

Thanks!

Great question!

Yes, "likely" means a 51-100% chance, and "unlikely" means a 0-49% chance. "Probably not true" similarly means a 0-49% chance, while "probably" would mean a 51-100%. (And to be clear, if something were at 50%-50%, it would neither be likely nor unlikely!)

So, here, the switch from "unlikely" to "probably not true" makes absolutely no material difference.

Can we go over answer choice (C)?

I got this one right but I get tripped up when they start throwing in conditional statements into answer choices on main conclusion questions.

How is C different than B? (aside from the fact that it is given that bacteria are in fact diverse)

And for a hypothetical argument if the conclusion is that "Because all apples are green they are not red" how would a choice that says "If all apples are green, then they are not red" not express that conclusion.

Example would be:

"The true color of apples has been a puzzling mystery. Some people think that apples are red. This must be false because all apples are green."

(Apologies if this is a bad argument -- perhaps you could make another/ better sample argument for purposes of going over this conclusion vs. choice with an "if" statement in it)

Thanks in advance!!

Any feedback on this one? Thanks!

This is a very interesting question that you raise! I completely understand why (C) feels like it's right in line with everything! It's entirely in scope, it all the right terms...so what's the issue?

The problem is the very thing that you note!! You say "aside from the fact that the it is a given that the bacteria are in fact diverse" - our argument gave us that part as a premise. And then it gives us the 'so it's unlikely' bit as a conclusion. By turning those two pieces into a conditional statement, we've changed it!

In fact, this kind of conditional statement (If [premise], then [conclusion]) is the assumption of the argument!! This is a classic way that assumptions can be stated. This is the connnective tissue that would make the argument valid.

It's tempting simply because you realize that if you combine this statement with the given premise it LEADS TO the conclusion - but this conditional statement is not itself an expression of the conclusion.

Does that help a bit?

I initially picked D as well. However, what got me confused about answer B is that it mentioned that ..."bacteria hibernate regularly", and the argument says "...bacteria in general are usually in hibernation..." I was under impression that "hibernate regularly" entails periodic hibernation and "bacteria usually in hibernation" means the continuous action... excluding cyclic repetition
So, if authors were more precise about their wording it would make answer B perfectly fine.

It's fantastic that you're keeping a keen eye out for language reflection! However, be careful that you are looking for language reflection in the right places!

"bacteria in general are usually in hibernation" is a quote from the opposing argument, not the author's conclusion. However, the author's conclusion is the final phrase, which contains the quote "most bacteria hibernate regularly" - exactly as the correct answer does!

I hope this helps clear up a few questions! Let me know if you need further clarification!

[hnadgauda]

I had a difficult time figuring out what the conclusion is. I kept debating between if the conclusion is "This conclusion would be reasonable if..." or if is is "it is unlikely that most types of bacteria hibernate regularly." What is the thought process between figuring out which is the conclusion? The therefore test doesn't make sense to me here.

I think I got confused because a lot of ID the conclusion questions have the structure of: Opposing point-conclusion-supporting premise-intermediate conclusion

but here the structure seems to be: Opposing point-intermediate conclusion-supporting premise-conclusion.

[VendelaG465]

Hi,

I'm still a bit confused as to why choice (C) couldn't work. I saw your previous explanation: "This is trying to appeal to test-takers by spelling out this author's faulty assumption. But the author never said this claim explicitly. She has an explicit conclusion, which is the final idea of the stimulus." I understand the part about the author's faulty assumption but I'm a bit lost about what you meant in regards to the author never stating that claim explicitly? What claim were you referring to ? thanks!

[ohthatpatrick]

When they ask us to identify the conclusion, they're almost always asking us to pick one of the explicitly stated claims in the paragraph.

(C) is a claim that was never made in the paragraph.

(B) is a claim that was made in the paragraph.

"It is unlikely that most types of bacteria hibernate regularly" means the same thing as "it is probably not true that most types of bacteria hibernate regularly".

The part of (C) that is not in the paragraph is its "if, then" conditional structure. The last sentence of the paragraph does not contain an "if, then" conditional statement.

It says,
"But, in fact, since this premise fact is true, we get this conclusion.

An "if, then" claim is one claim.

A "since ____ , _____ " is two claims (or one ARGUMENT).

When they ask us to identify the CONCLUSION, they are not asking us to summarize the ARGUMENT (which is Premise(s) + Conclusion).

As soon as you see that (C) is discussing a Premise ("SINCE bacteria are extremely diverse"), it is disqualified from being a restatement of the Conclusion.

[VendelaG465]

Thank you so much