#5 - Smith’s new grazing land consists entirely of fescue

[donger]

I have multiple questions about certain preptests but I thought it'd be best to divide them up into different posts rather than squeeze all of them into one post. I hope it's okay if I ask so many questions... Anyway, here's my first question:

I don’t see how A cannot also be the answer because I thought that if the Smith’s cows are to be able to “graze exclusively on the grass that does not contain the fungus” doesn’t that mean there has to be at least some grass that doesn’t make the cows ill, which answer choice A addresses? I thought this was a minimalist answer, as the Powerscore Bible put it.

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Donger,

A quick question: since this test is from the SuperPrep, which explains each question, did you have an issue with the explanation they provided for (A), which generally runs along the lines of the argument is focused on one type of fungus, so if (A) were negated, the argument would not be affected ?

If so, then perhaps there could be a problem with your negation of (A). Be careful with the negation here--since this answer contains a quantity ("at least one...") that's what get negated here, as in: "No other species of fungus...that does not..." The "not" that appears later in the answer does not get removed. When negated, (A) essentially says that no other species of fungus is contained in the "good" grass--a claim that the author would say is great, and if anything, supports his or her position.

Please me know your thoughts, and we can discuss it further if needed. Thanks!

[donger]

Hey Dave,

Thank you for the prompt response. Yes, I did read the explanations on Supreprep and negated the statement as you said. But after you mentioned "good" grass, I think I realized that I made a faulty assumption while reading the stimulus. I just wanted to confirm with you if this indeed was faulty. The cows don't necessarily have to graze on fungus, they can simply graze on grass without fungus, right? I didn't think the Supreprep explanation directly addressed this.

Thanks,
Ho Dong

[Dave Killoran]

Yes--they can graze on grass without the fungus.

Sounds like that takes care of it

Thanks!