#10 - Godinez: In the past, land was sometimes measured by

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[emekj]

Hi!
I am having trouble determining what the difference is between D and E. To me it seems like they are both saying the same thing. Please help!

[James Finch]

Hi Emekj,

(D) and (E) are saying very similar things, which means we should always go back to the scope and precise language and meaning of the original conclusion to parse out the difference and choose the correct answer. Here the stimulus's conclusion is that "it became necessary to adopt new measures of land, such as acreage, when land uses diversified." So necessity is an element, as is a new diversification of land uses (ie people started doing more than just plowing the land). (D) deals with a "realization of inadequacy" for "some land uses," neither of which are in the stimulus's original conclusion. (E), on the other hand, deals directly with how "new diversified land uses" (check) "made new measurements necessary" (check). So (E) is the correct answer because it deals with the precise topics the stimulus does, rather than merely similar ones.

Hope this clears things up!

[andrewb22]

I almost got tripped up by (D) but recognized that (E) was the stronger answer. My main reason for dismissing (D) was that it used "modern measures of land". To me, that was a distinction the stimulus did not make. Am I correct in my thinking here?

[Ryan Twomey]

Hey AndrewB22,

Whenever I am teaching my students main point questions, I tell them to be confident in the conclusion before going down to the answer choices. In this case, our conclusion is just the last sentence: "it became necessary to adopt new measures of land, such as acreage, when land use diversified."

Then at that point you just want to match the answer choice to the conclusion. Answer choice D adds the modern measures of land part, which you correctly identified as new information, but even more so, answer choice D added "when people realized that plowing time was an inadequate measure for some land uses."

Answer choice E is an exact match, they just switched the order of the sentence, but not the meaning: "the advant of diversified land uses made new measures of land necessary." This is an exact match and thus is the correct answer choice.

Find your conclusion in the stimulus and stick to it. Then pick the answer choice that matches that conclusion. Main point correct answer choices should not contain evidence or sub conclusions.

I hope all this helps you and I wish you good luck in your studies.

Best,
Ryan

[andrewb22]

Thanks for the response, Ryan. I can see why that would be a better reason to dismiss (D).

[lsatstudent99966]

Hi there,

I didn't choose (C).

But I'm curious if (C) counts as an intermediate conclusion or if it's just background information?

I think it's just background information because even though it sounds like a minor conclusion in the stimulus ("Thus, two plots of equal physical dimensions were considered unequal id one was more difficult to plow than another"), the main conclusion of the stimulus is not supported by it.

Am I right?

Thank you very much!

[Adam Tyson]

That's a really interesting question! I'm inclined to think of it as an intermediate conclusion, because we couldn't say that we need a new method of measuring land unless we knew that an old measuring system did something that doesn't currently make sense. That claim about two plots having the same dimensions having different worth supports the claim that we need a new system, as I see it.

But you've made me think about it, and I see your point about it being just descriptive of the old way. So, is it just a description of the problem that needs to be solved, and not really supporting the main conclusion? I think that's a reasonable way to look at it. If they had asked us a Method of Reasoning - Argument Part question about that claim, I think it could have been very challenging!

[lsatstudent99966]

That's a really interesting question! I'm inclined to think of it as an intermediate conclusion, because we couldn't say that we need a new method of measuring land unless we knew that an old measuring system did something that doesn't currently make sense. That claim about two plots having the same dimensions having different worth supports the claim that we need a new system, as I see it.

But you've made me think about it, and I see your point about it being just descriptive of the old way. So, is it just a description of the problem that needs to be solved, and not really supporting the main conclusion? I think that's a reasonable way to look at it. If they had asked us a Method of Reasoning - Argument Part question about that claim, I think it could have been very challenging!

Thank you Adam. I think I'm persuaded by your analysis!

An example of the new method in the conclusion ("acreage") directly measures physical dimensions, so I think the statement in (C) can be seen as supporting the conclusion in that it shows us that the old method could not help us compare and measure physical dimensions (which is something important for some new land uses, such as how many apartment complexes can be built), so new methods that can help us deal with some of the new land uses ( which, for example, might require measuring physical dimensions) are needed?