Lsat180Please wrote:Hi can you please discuss why A is better than B? I thought B ruled out an alternate cause by ruling out the idea that fairy circles are forming from climatic conditions.
Thank you!
I happen to be a huge fan of this question, so let's break it down and see why this ended up being so difficult for most test takers.
The key to the entire problem is in the stimulus (as always!). In particular the scientists' hypothesis is quite pointed: "it is the
burrowing activities of these termites that cause the circles to form" (italics added). The question stem then asks you to support this hypothesis, and the key to correctly choosing (A) is to realize it is the only answer that addresses "burrowing." This is critical because most students head into the answers simply trying to prove that termites and fairy circles are linked; that's not enough here, and you need an answer that links burrowing with the circles.
Answer choice (A): Note that the discussion of damage here centers on the roots, which helps support the idea that the burrowing activity is connected to these circles.
Answer choice (B): It's not a likely scenario that climate is causing unique circles to form in the desert, and to think this rules out an alternate cause is something that LSAC would say is too tenuous of a connection. Even interpreted in the best possible light, this answer would require further assumptions (such as the grasses inside the circles are for some unknown reason less able to survive these conditions than the grasses outside the circles) and be far more indirect than answer choice (A)'s direct support of the termite burrowing explanation.
Thanks!