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- Thu Feb 20, 2014 12:00 am
#32686
Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=13369)
The correct answer choice is (C)
The author’s primary purpose in the passage is to note that evidence suggests that exceptional performance comes more likely from intense long term practice than from innate ability, and that as such, motivational factors may be better predictors of exceptional performance than innate ability.
Answer choice (A): The issue with the previous theory—that exceptional performance depends to some degree on innate ability—was not that problematic cases could not be explained. Rather, the issue with the previous theory is that it was based on research with a focus on random samples from the population rather than on extraordinary specimens.
Answer choice (B): The author does not assert that previous evidence supports an opposing theory. The old view, that innate ability had to be part of the explanation for extraordinary human performance, was supported by the research that had been done at the time. The issue was that the research focused on random samples from the population rather than on extraordinary performers in particular.
Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. In this passage the author points out that the old research (the basis of the previous views) had been conducted on random samples from the population, while more recent research focuses on those who have shown themselves to be truly exceptional performers—this is the class of cases to which the previous research is not applicable.
Answer choice (D): The author is not offering a new interpretation of data, but rather providing new data on which to base new conclusions about what is necessary for extraordinary human performance.
Answer choice (E): There are no newly formulated abstract postulations discussed or alluded to in this passage, so this cannot be the right answer to this Must Be True question.
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=13369)
The correct answer choice is (C)
The author’s primary purpose in the passage is to note that evidence suggests that exceptional performance comes more likely from intense long term practice than from innate ability, and that as such, motivational factors may be better predictors of exceptional performance than innate ability.
Answer choice (A): The issue with the previous theory—that exceptional performance depends to some degree on innate ability—was not that problematic cases could not be explained. Rather, the issue with the previous theory is that it was based on research with a focus on random samples from the population rather than on extraordinary specimens.
Answer choice (B): The author does not assert that previous evidence supports an opposing theory. The old view, that innate ability had to be part of the explanation for extraordinary human performance, was supported by the research that had been done at the time. The issue was that the research focused on random samples from the population rather than on extraordinary performers in particular.
Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. In this passage the author points out that the old research (the basis of the previous views) had been conducted on random samples from the population, while more recent research focuses on those who have shown themselves to be truly exceptional performers—this is the class of cases to which the previous research is not applicable.
Answer choice (D): The author is not offering a new interpretation of data, but rather providing new data on which to base new conclusions about what is necessary for extraordinary human performance.
Answer choice (E): There are no newly formulated abstract postulations discussed or alluded to in this passage, so this cannot be the right answer to this Must Be True question.
