#17 - Must Be True, Purpose

[SherryZ]

Dec 2000 LSAT, Sec 2 RC, Q17:

Again, I hesitated between two answers and picked the wrong one! I wanna cry out loud

I chose E but the right one is A. I reread the question and refer back to the last paragraph. The last paragraph did bring up a question (third line). So I thought E is right. Could you explain why E is wrong but A is right? I am so confused.

I am grateful to your continuos help!

---Sherry

[Lucas Moreau]

Hi, Sherry,

The trick with this question is to figure out which paragraph each answer choice is referring to. E, as you correctly pointed out, does address the question being asked, but the question being asked ("...what about the potential for the increased uptake of CO2 to decrease the rate of global warming?") is not casting doubt on information in the preceding paragraph. It's mainly aimed at the first.

The preceding paragraph mainly has to do with the fact that increased CO2 in the air would cause different plants to flourish at different rates. The third paragraph has more to do with how increased CO2 might not lead to the hypothesis in the first paragraph - that more CO2 would mean more plants, which would absorb more CO2, thus overall lowering CO2 levels.

The third paragraph presents Billings' research to demonstrate that there are other factors at work that the first paragraph's hypothesis maybe isn't considering, you see.

Hope that helps,
Lucas Moreau
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