#10 - Researchers have found that most peopleʼs bodies make

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True, Fill in the Blank, CE.

The correct answer choice is A.

The stimulus describes a scenario in which a common enzyme, CYP2A6, has the effect of eliminating nicotine from the body. A correlation is stated: smokers whose bodies make the most common form of CYP2A6 tend to smoke more than those smokers whose bodies make a different form of CYP2A6. The stimulus then asks "why," indicating that the argument will provide a causal explanation for the correlation. The final sentence provides part of a cause/effect conclusion to explain this correlation. The question asks us to fill in the blank with the remainder of the explanation. In other words, we’re looking for an answer choice that provides the most effective causal linkage between the “most common form of CYP2A6” and “smoking more.”

The final sentence of the stimulus points the way by stating that faster nicotine removal leads to quicker cravings for another cigarette (hence, more smoking). But that fact by itself does nothing to connect to those smokers who smoke more, i.e. the ones whose bodies make the most common form of CYP2A6. We therefore need to tie the most common form of CYP2A6 to speed of nicotine removal. Our prephrase should be “the most common form of CYP2A6 removes nicotine faster than any other form of CYP2A6.” If we add that additional causal link to the explanation, we have a perfect causal chain to explain the correlation: Smokers with the most common form of CYP2A6 have faster nicotine removal than smokers with other forms of CYP2A6, causing them to crave additional cigarettes more quickly than those smokers, in turn causing them to smoke more than those smokers.

Answer choice A: This is the correct answer. The answer perfectly fits the prephrase, connecting the most common form of CYP2A6 (the one found in smokers who smoke more) to the notion of faster nicotine removal, calling it the form that “most rapidly eliminates nicotine from the body.”

Answer Choice B: This answer does nothing to explain the correlation, because it does not provide a link between the forms of CYP2A6 and their speed of nicotine removal.

Answer Choice C: This answer would explain a difference in smoking levels between smokers whose bodies make CYP2A6 and those smokers whose bodies do not make CYP2A6 at all. But the question asks us to explain the difference between smokers whose bodies make the most common form of CYP2A6 and smokers whose bodies make some other form of CYP2A6. Thus answer choice C is a shell game, and it cannot provide the specific requested explanation.

Answer Choice D: This is a tempting wrong answer. The problem with answer choice D is that we do not know if (or whether) smokers whose bodies make the most common form of CYP2A6 also make greater quantities of CYP2A6. In fact, the quantity of CYP2A6 made by smokers’ bodies is not addressed at all in the stimulus, so this answer cannot help explain the asserted facts.

Answer Choice E: Answer choice E refers to potential other functions that CYP2A6 serves, but it does nothing to explain the connection between CYP2A6 and nicotine removal (or smoking more).

[lanereuden]

So for this one D is tempting because it deals with those who have the enzyme and the pace of elimination of nicotine. But, D connects the pace of elimination to the quantity of the enzyme, rather than the type.

So with that being said, if B had said instead:


The more common the CYP2A6 that oneʼs body makes, the faster nicotine will be eliminated

Would it then be correct?

[lathlee]

Strange reason, my prior post in this Q is deleted. Anyways, I had hard time dismantle conclusion + premises shape. Then I had additional hard time what to expect for the prephrasing. Can any expert help? haha

[Adam Tyson]

lanereuden, I think you mean if answer D had said "more common" instead of "more," right? If so, then yes, that would end up essentially matching answer A, which is the correct answer.

Not sure what happened to your prior post, lathlee! Here's how this argument is built (not in the original order, but in logical order:

Premise: the enzyme eliminates nicotine
Premise: the faster you eliminate nicotine, the sooner you will want another cig
(assumption: smoking sooner means smoking more - more cigs per hour, let's say)
Premise: most common form of enzyme correlates with smoking more

Inference/prephrase: most common form is fastest form (because faster means more, and most common means more)

I hope that makes sense of it for you!

[Mozi]

Could someone please explain the reasoning behind A being the right answer and not D. The previous questions do not make sense.
Thanks!

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Mozi,

We've posted a complete question explanation above, so check that out--hope it's helpful!

Jeremy

[RoseW]

Hi,
I would like ask whether the 'Why?' at the end of the stimulus makes this 'Fill in the Blank' question more like a Strengthen question?
I noticed that LSAT likes to include 'Fill in the Blank' questions in recent PTs, which resembles more as a Must Be True question, until now. I wonder whether 'Fill in the Blank' can be all types of questions (MBT, Strengthen, Weakening) depending on the text of each stimulus?

Thank you!

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Rose,

To address your more general question, there are definitely varieties of "Fill in the Blank" question, though as you note (and have probably noticed), by far the most common one is the Must Be True form.

But you will see questions that very clearly call for an answer that fills in a blank that serves a "premise" role in the argument, in that the information filling the blank supports the argument's conclusion. These would be "Strengthen-FIB" questions. Two very clear examples of this type of question are PT 79, September 2016, LR 1 (Section 1), question 12; and PT 86, November 2018, LR1 (Section 1), question 12, where the blanks follow the word "since" and provide very clear premises/support for the arguments' overall conclusions.

It seems doubtful you'd see a Weaken-FIB (or Cannot Be True-FIB), since the blanks being filled are normally part of an author's argument, and authors don't try to weaken or contradict their own arguments. I suppose there could be a way to make that type of question work in the context of a counterargument, but I don't think I've ever seen it on an actual test--so it's not something I'd be too worried about.

There are other types of question that wouldn't (and probably couldn't) lend themselves well to a "fill in the blank" style question, including Assumption, Method, Flaw, Parallel, Point at Issue, and Evaluate the Argument.

To return to this question specifically, you should view the blank as the final step in a cause/effect argument: that is, the final sentence supplies an explanatory/causal conclusion based on an observed correlation. So we label this a Must Be True-FIB (where the blank supplies a conclusion, it is a Must Be True).

The blank is telling you why the correlation (the tendency of smokers with the most common form of CYP2A6 to smoke more than those without that most common form) holds. And to get that explanation, we need to connect the dots between the form of enzyme heavier smokers make and the speed at which they eliminate nicotine from their bodies.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[momgoingbacktoschool]

I would l just like to point out another reason why D is incorrect. If you actually add it to the sentence, then the sentence would say "Well, the faster nicotine is eliminated from one's body, the sooner one will crave another cigarette, and the greater the quantity of CYP2A6 that one's body makes, the faster nicotine will be eliminated." The repetition of "the faster nicotine will be eliminated" at the beginning and end of that sentence just makes no sense. Another reason why D was a loser for me. It would just be a terrible sentence.