#18 - Essayist: The way science is conducted and regulated

[jonwg5121]

Hi,

I was wondering if you could go over why (E) is correct instead of (C). Also, is (C) a premise or subsidiary conclusion? The only reason why I chose (E) is because it took into account the essayist's viewpoint and the word "but" clued me into that. However, I still had trouble breaking down the argument into its component parts (premises, subsidiary conclusion, main conclusion). Thanks!

[Jon Denning]

Hey Jon,

Thanks for the question! Let's take a look at (C) and (E) and see if we can figure out why (E) is the main point

The essayist here is arguing that scientific changes are possible, but come at a cost that we need to consider before committing to the changes. The trouble is that that belief is never stated explicitly (written out as a full sentence), but rather is given by the argument as a whole: we must infer that conclusion from the totality of what's said here.

So when you look at answer choice (C)—which is true from this stimulus by the way; scientific regulation and practices can be changed—you're missing the second, crucial point, which is that those changes can be costly and thus the costs need to be assessed and weighed before we commit to making changes.

And that's where (E) succeeds in better delivering the main point. It's more than just the possibility of change. It's the cost of change and our need to determine whether changes are then justified.

Finally, note that were this an early Main Point question, like question #4 in the section or something, the chances are much better that the conclusion would be explicitly stated and could be pulled directly from the text. But since it's a later question the test makers are much more likely to present the main point implicitly, forcing you to determine it by analyzing the whole stimulus and its implications.

I hope that helps!

[gabe_katz)=_]

Hi,

I was wondering if you could explain why the answer is E and not D. My thought was that the first two sentences supported E, while the final sentence provided evidence for D (and other, weaker answer choices). Can you explain this further?

Thanks for your help,
Gabe

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Gabe,

Let's start with a question for you. Are you prephrasing your answers? Or are you jumping in right after the question and hoping the correct answer choice is clear? Main point questions absolutely should be prephrased because the answer choices will not steer you to the right answer. Many of them will look possible because, in this question type, an answer that is something taken directly from the stimulus could still be wrong if it isn't the main point.

We can use the "since....therefore" test as a way of distinguishing a premise (support) from a conclusion. We can try the two statements in either order to see which way makes sense.

Option 1: Since restricting the conduct of science would be expensive, therefore we should be aware of the impact of changes before implementing the changes.

Option 2: Since we should be aware of the impact of changes before implementing changes, therefore restricting the conduct of science would be expensive.

Hopefully you can see here that option 1 makes more sense. In option 2, the statement following since (premise indicator) doesn't actually provide any support for the idea that restricting the conduct of science would be expensive.

Hope that helps!

[gabe_katz)=_]

Hi Rachael,

Thanks for the help! I am paraphrasing my answers. This was a question where I got stuck between two answers and took an educated guess. For the future, I will do my best to use the since-then method, which seems to really clarify which answer is correct.

Thanks again,
Gabe