- PowerScore Staff
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- Fri May 06, 2016 2:26 pm
#24054
Complete Question Explanation
Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (D)
In this Must Be True question we are really just given a statement of facts. Although the stimulus does refer to the scientists’ conclusions, they are not actually the conclusions of the passage as a whole. Based on the theory that “the more genetically similar two species are to each other, the more recently they diverged from a common ancestor,” the scientists have come to two conclusions. The first being that “bears and raccoons diverged 30 to 50 million years ago.” While the second is a bit more convoluted since it really includes two main pieces of information. Red pandas separated from raccoons millions of years later, and this occurred 10 million years before giant pandas diverged from bears. This means that giant pandas diverged from bears after all bear species diverged from raccoons.
Answer Choice (A): We cannot know this to be true because we never knew what the scientists “originally thought” about how closely related these two species are. And so we must eliminate this answer choice.
Answer Choice (B): The stimulus does not give us any information about what criteria scientists use to classify animals as a certain species. It just discusses how closely related certain species are to each other based on how recently they diverged.
Answer Choice (C): The scientists concluded that bears and raccoons diverged “30 to 50 million years ago.” 20 million years is not “within a margin of just a few years.” This answer choice is way off base.
Answer Choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. We come to (D) by combining all the information in the stimulus. First, we know that the more recently species diverged, the closer they are related. Second, we know that bears diverged from raccoons 30 to 50 million years ago. And finally that a few million years later red pandas diverged from the ancestor of raccoons, and more importantly this occurred 10 million years before giant pandas diverged from bears. So in fact giant pandas diverged from bears more than 10 million years after bears diverged from raccoons. And because of this we know that giant pandas are more similar genetically to bears than to raccoons.
Answer Choice (E): There is no indication in the stimulus about whether or not the majority of scientists agree with this theory and its conclusions. Furthermore, the explanation of answer choice (D) shows that giant pandas and red pandas cannot be equally related to raccoons according to theory.
Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (D)
In this Must Be True question we are really just given a statement of facts. Although the stimulus does refer to the scientists’ conclusions, they are not actually the conclusions of the passage as a whole. Based on the theory that “the more genetically similar two species are to each other, the more recently they diverged from a common ancestor,” the scientists have come to two conclusions. The first being that “bears and raccoons diverged 30 to 50 million years ago.” While the second is a bit more convoluted since it really includes two main pieces of information. Red pandas separated from raccoons millions of years later, and this occurred 10 million years before giant pandas diverged from bears. This means that giant pandas diverged from bears after all bear species diverged from raccoons.
Answer Choice (A): We cannot know this to be true because we never knew what the scientists “originally thought” about how closely related these two species are. And so we must eliminate this answer choice.
Answer Choice (B): The stimulus does not give us any information about what criteria scientists use to classify animals as a certain species. It just discusses how closely related certain species are to each other based on how recently they diverged.
Answer Choice (C): The scientists concluded that bears and raccoons diverged “30 to 50 million years ago.” 20 million years is not “within a margin of just a few years.” This answer choice is way off base.
Answer Choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. We come to (D) by combining all the information in the stimulus. First, we know that the more recently species diverged, the closer they are related. Second, we know that bears diverged from raccoons 30 to 50 million years ago. And finally that a few million years later red pandas diverged from the ancestor of raccoons, and more importantly this occurred 10 million years before giant pandas diverged from bears. So in fact giant pandas diverged from bears more than 10 million years after bears diverged from raccoons. And because of this we know that giant pandas are more similar genetically to bears than to raccoons.
Answer Choice (E): There is no indication in the stimulus about whether or not the majority of scientists agree with this theory and its conclusions. Furthermore, the explanation of answer choice (D) shows that giant pandas and red pandas cannot be equally related to raccoons according to theory.
