#9 - Two months ago a major shipment of pythons arrived

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (A)

In this stimulus the author warns of one potential hazard that has emerged with a recent shipment of
pythons from Africa: a deadly liver disease, difficult to detect in its early phases, contracted by a few
of these snakes that have hatched in North America, and a much greater proportion of those hatched
in Africa. All pythons die within six months of contracting this disease.

The stimulus is followed by a Must Be True question, so the correct answer choice must pass the
Fact Test, and be confirmed by the information provided in the stimulus.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice, since it is confirmed by the information
from the stimulus. We know that a few of the pythons hatched in North America have this disease,
which means that they will surely be dead within six months. We also know that the disease can be
difficult to detect in its early stages, so if any of the pythons were stricken with the disease recently,
those pythons may still appear fine.

Answer choice (B): All that we know about pythons that hatch in North America versus those that
hatch in Africa is that a greater proportion of African hatched pythons have the disease. Because we
have limited information, we cannot conclude from this that African hatched pythons have a greater
general susceptibility.

Answer choice (C): The liver disease under discussion kills all pythons within six months of
contracting the disease—not within six months of life. Thus this answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (D): All we know about the python pricing is that a large shipment of them has
resulted in a great number of inexpensive pythons in pet stores. We cannot presume that the low
prices are based on their suffering from the liver disease—perhaps the prices are based solely on
the great supply that came with the recent shipment. In any case, since the author neither states nor
implies that the pythons are cheap because of the liver disease, this choice is unsupported.

Answer choice (E): The stimulus provided information about some pythons hatched in Africa, and
some hatched in North America. Since we are provided with no information about pythons hatching
on any other continent, this cannot be the correct answer to this Must Be True question.

[moshei24]

Is the reason why the answer is A and not C because the stimulus assumes that some of the pythons recently hatched in North America had the disease, but it doesn't assume that all pythons who get the disease have it when they hatch. Some could get it after being hatched already?

[Adam Tyson]

Absolutely right - the stimulus leaves open the possibility that a python might contract the disease later, maybe even after it is more than 6 months old. Good analysis, moshei.

Adam

[moshei24]

Thank you!

[emilysnoddon]

I was choosing between answer A and answer B. I figured that answer B doesn't HAVE to be true, but I wasn't sure about this. can someone explain why A is correct over B. Thank you!

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi Emily,

Answer choice (B) makes a causal claim that cannot be proven by reference to the information contained in the stimulus. Just because a higher proportion of the African-hatched pythons have the disease doesn't mean that they are more susceptible to it than American-hatched pythons. We have no idea why some pythons get the disease and others don't. Maybe the contagion is more prevalent in Africa than in North America? We just don't know.

Let me give you an analogous case: just because malaria is more widespread in Africa than in North America doesn't mean that African children are more susceptible to it than are children born in North America. If the pathogen is more widely spread in one geographic region than another, that can easily account for the variance in the rates of infection.

Hope this helps!

[emilysnoddon]

yes, that analogy helps a lot! Thank you!

[sheywards]

Hi, I understand why A is correct, but I am confused as to the (seemingly) conflicting use of few in the stimulus and some in the answer choice. Does "some" not denote more snakes than "a few"?

[Jeremy Press]

Hi sheywards,

Turns out those terms aren't conflicting! "Some" in LSAT-speak means "at least one (maybe more)." Since "some" allows for the possibility of more than one, that matches quite nicely with the phrase "a few" in the stimulus. "A few" does not have a precise LSAT meaning, though we can safely assume it means "more than one" (how many more than one? we're not sure!).

I hope this helps!

[bankofamerica]

Hi! I have a question about this one: I get why B isn't a great answer (although it was the one I chose). But I guess I am confused because we definitely don't know with certainty that "some pythons hatched in North America may appear fine but will die within six months as a result of the liver disease" - like we know that there is a risk for that based on past information - but theres no certainty that that would happen - for example, something else could happen to them (they get exterminated in a fire, a doctor develops a liver disease python cure, etc).

I understand that those are far fetched and not in the stimulus, but other LSAT questions require you to consider results that are outside of the parameters established by the stimulus, so I am confused why we don't have to consider those options in this question.

Thanks!