Hi Relona! Thanks for your great question, and happy to help
First, I want to mention one trick that can be helpful for Main Point questions. To prephrase the correct answer choice, ask yourself the following: "If I were to explain to a friend the passage that I read today on the LSAT, how would I do so?" When you summarize the passage to your (hypothetical) friend, you're telling them the main point of the passage.
Answer choices (A) and (C) appear similar, but there are a few things that make answer choice (C) wrong.
First, answer choice (C) uses more extreme language than what is supported by the passage. For example, the phrase "jurors make errors in judgment" is more extreme than what is claimed in the passage. For example, in the last line of the first paragraph, the author argues that jurors
may jmake inferential errors. This is different than claiming that they
will make inferential errors.
Second, answer choice (C) is too narrow in scope for a Main Point question. Answer choice (C) names things like "particularly shocking evidence" and "complex situations," but these are just examples of situations in which jurors may make inferential errors or errors in judgment. The passage on the whole is concerned with the what can cause jurors to make inferential errors, but answer choice (C) only names a few situations in which they may. For a Main Point question, we need to make sure not just that the answer choice contains things that are actually present in the passage, but also that what is conveyed in the answer choice matches the main point that the author is trying to get across to the reader.
Let's contrast answer choice (C) with answer choice (A), the correct answer. First, answer choice (A) uses language with the same degree of certainty as the language contained in the passage. For example, answer choice (A) says juries
may commit inferential errors, which is mirrored in the last sentence of the first paragraph of the passage.
Second, the first half of answer choice (A) is more broad and captures the breadth of situations in which juries may commit these errors, rather than naming a few specific examples discussed in the passage like answer choice (C) does. This more general language is preferable on a Main Point question since it captures more of what is discussed in the passage.
Finally, notice that answer choice (A) is nearly identical the last sentence of the first paragraph of the passage, which makes it a very promising answer choice since the rest of the passage goes on to explain the situations in which this occurs and why.
To sum up, on a Main Point question, we want to make sure that the answer choice accurately conveys the point that the author is arguing for. To do so, we want to make sure not just that the answer choice contains accurate information, but also that the answer choice is not too narrow in scope and explains the message that the author is conveying to the reader; just because an answer choice contains information that is stated in the passage does not make it correct. Answer choice (C) contains information that is correct, but it does not acccurately explain what the author is conveying to the reader because it is too narrow in scope.
I hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions!
