- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 5970
- Joined: Mar 25, 2011
- Tue May 07, 2019 3:43 pm
#64639
Complete Question Explanation
Must be true. The correct answer choice is (B)
This is a very challenging problem, and only about a quarter of students answer this problem
correctly. The stimulus is a fact set and offers a solution for dating an event when the usual sources
offer conflicting chronologies:
1. Minimize the number of competing sources, possibly by eliminating the less credible ones.
2. Independent of the usual sources, determine which date is more likely to be right.
Notice how the test makers throw in the word “historiography” in order to be intimidating. As usual,
you do not need to know the meaning of this word (or any unusual word) in order to continue
with the problem. The remainder of the sentence makes clear that dating an event is the point
of discussion, and you can comfortably connect the “historio” word root to “date an event” and
“historians” and confidently move on with a good idea that historiography is connected to history in
some way. By actual definition, historiography is the writing of history.
Answer choice (A): The stimulus discusses events where there is conflict in dating among different
sources. In no way does the stimulus support answer choice (A).
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer. As stated in the last sentence, historians are on
occasion unsuccessful in determining independently the date of an event. If the usual sources offered
are in conflict about the date of a particular event and an analysis independent of the usual sources
fails to confirm a date, then a date cannot be reliably determined for the event.
Answer choice (C): About one-third of all test takers choose this answer. The stimulus speaks
specifically of dating an event when the usual sources offer conflicting chronologies. The stimulus
does not discuss dating an event when there is no conflict of chronologies, and most likely many
dates could be set with certainty in the absence of any conflict. With this in mind, the language of
the answer choice becomes problematic because “attaching a reliable date to any event” would not
“require determining which of several conflicting chronologies is most likely to be true.”
Answer choice (D): The language of the answer choice is too strong in saying that an independent
determination is an ineffective way of dating events. There is simply not enough information about
what constitutes a “determination independent of the usual sources” to say it is ineffective.
Answer choice (E): This is another tricky answer, and just under a quarter of test takers incorrectly
select this answer. The answer claims that the soundest approach to dating an event is to undermine
the credibility of as many of the competing sources as possible. First, the stimulus suggests that
the historian should, perhaps, eliminate the less credible ones. No mention is made of eliminating
as many as possible, and the stimulus indicates that several remaining sources are to be expected.
Second, that same section discusses eliminating less credible sources, not undermining the
credibility of those sources.
Must be true. The correct answer choice is (B)
This is a very challenging problem, and only about a quarter of students answer this problem
correctly. The stimulus is a fact set and offers a solution for dating an event when the usual sources
offer conflicting chronologies:
1. Minimize the number of competing sources, possibly by eliminating the less credible ones.
2. Independent of the usual sources, determine which date is more likely to be right.
Notice how the test makers throw in the word “historiography” in order to be intimidating. As usual,
you do not need to know the meaning of this word (or any unusual word) in order to continue
with the problem. The remainder of the sentence makes clear that dating an event is the point
of discussion, and you can comfortably connect the “historio” word root to “date an event” and
“historians” and confidently move on with a good idea that historiography is connected to history in
some way. By actual definition, historiography is the writing of history.
Answer choice (A): The stimulus discusses events where there is conflict in dating among different
sources. In no way does the stimulus support answer choice (A).
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer. As stated in the last sentence, historians are on
occasion unsuccessful in determining independently the date of an event. If the usual sources offered
are in conflict about the date of a particular event and an analysis independent of the usual sources
fails to confirm a date, then a date cannot be reliably determined for the event.
Answer choice (C): About one-third of all test takers choose this answer. The stimulus speaks
specifically of dating an event when the usual sources offer conflicting chronologies. The stimulus
does not discuss dating an event when there is no conflict of chronologies, and most likely many
dates could be set with certainty in the absence of any conflict. With this in mind, the language of
the answer choice becomes problematic because “attaching a reliable date to any event” would not
“require determining which of several conflicting chronologies is most likely to be true.”
Answer choice (D): The language of the answer choice is too strong in saying that an independent
determination is an ineffective way of dating events. There is simply not enough information about
what constitutes a “determination independent of the usual sources” to say it is ineffective.
Answer choice (E): This is another tricky answer, and just under a quarter of test takers incorrectly
select this answer. The answer claims that the soundest approach to dating an event is to undermine
the credibility of as many of the competing sources as possible. First, the stimulus suggests that
the historian should, perhaps, eliminate the less credible ones. No mention is made of eliminating
as many as possible, and the stimulus indicates that several remaining sources are to be expected.
Second, that same section discusses eliminating less credible sources, not undermining the
credibility of those sources.
Dave Killoran
PowerScore Test Preparation
Follow me on X/Twitter at http://twitter.com/DaveKilloran
My LSAT Articles: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/author/dave-killoran
PowerScore Podcast: http://www.powerscore.com/lsat/podcast/
PowerScore Test Preparation
Follow me on X/Twitter at http://twitter.com/DaveKilloran
My LSAT Articles: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/author/dave-killoran
PowerScore Podcast: http://www.powerscore.com/lsat/podcast/