#17 - From a book review: The authors blithely claim that

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must be True. The correct answer choice is (B)

The reviewer is clearly critical of the claim that there are only three basic ways to store energy, partly because he disagrees with one of the three chosen and can list at least three additional ways to store energy.

Answer choice (A):The reviewer does not make any statements as to whether or not any of the listed ways to store energy are better than any other.

Answer choice (B):This is the correct answer choice. That the list is “possibly inaccurate” is revealed by the reviewer’s dismissal of electricity as a way to store energy. That the list is “certainly not exhaustive” is revealed by the reviewer’s addition of three additional ways to store energy: chemical, gravitational, and nuclear.

Answer choice (C): There is no evidence in the stimulus that the authors think basic ways to store energy are unrelated to the question of effectiveness, nor does the reviewer assert this.

Answer choice (D): The reviewer is concerned with the general list the authors have provided, not the distinction between being basic and being effective.

Answer choice (E):Although the reviewer questions including electricity as a basic way to store energy, he does not criticize or claim that the other forms listed are equally effective.

[reop6780]

I may be obsessed with the details, but still cannot understand the following part of B, "certainly not exhaustive."

Where in the stimulus is the statement found indicating the importance of exhaustive energy?

For that matter, I chose D.

It was not clear whether the author certainly stressed the effectiveness of energy; however, the author definitely criticizes the book. The author suggests the list the book provides is false in that basic energy is subjective according to different perspectives (the author, student, etc). I thought D expresses the author's view of listing energy in that effectiveness is a criteria for her/him to make a list of energy.

Could anyone reveal the weakness of D and assure me of the right answer of B?

Thank you

Hyun Kim

[David Boyle]

On the page 30, question number 33, the answer is B.

I may be obsessed with the details, but still cannot understand the following part of B, "certainly not exhaustive."

Where in the stimulus is the statement found indicating the importance of exhaustive energy?

For that matter, I chose D.

It was not clear whether the author certainly stressed the effectiveness of energy; however, the author definitely criticizes the book. The author suggests the list the book provides is false in that basic energy is subjective according to different perspectives (the author, student, etc). I thought D expresses the author's view of listing energy in that effectiveness is a criteria for her/him to make a list of energy.

Could anyone reveal the weakness of D and assure me of the right answer of B?

Thank you

Hyun Kim

Dear Hyun:

"Exhaustive" is not a type of energy (were you thinking of heated automobile exhaust gas?); here, it's an adjective describing what a complete or at least comprehensive list of energy types would be. The criticized list omits chemical, etc., therefore is not exhaustive.
As for "subjectiveness", I don't see that mentioned in the passage (maybe stupidity is implied, but that does not mean the same thing as subjectiveness); and I'm not sure what it would have to do with "effectiveness" anyway. So D just doesn't deal with the issues well at all.

David

[willmcchez]

Complete Question Explanation

Must be True. The correct answer choice is (B)

The reviewer is clearly critical of the claim that there are only three basic ways to store energy, partly because he disagrees with one of the three chosen and can list at least three additional ways to store energy.

Answer choice (A):The reviewer does not make any statements as to whether or not any of the listed ways to store energy are better than any other.

Answer choice (B):This is the correct answer choice. That the list is “possibly inaccurate” is revealed by the reviewer’s dismissal of electricity as a way to store energy. That the list is “certainly not exhaustive” is revealed by the reviewer’s addition of three additional ways to store energy: chemical, gravitational, and nuclear.

Answer choice (C): There is no evidence in the stimulus that the authors think basic ways to store energy are unrelated to the question of effectiveness, nor does the reviewer assert this.

Answer choice (D): The reviewer is concerned with the general list the authors have provided, not the distinction between being basic and being effective.

Answer choice (E):Although the reviewer questions including electricity as a basic way to store energy, he does not criticize or claim that the other forms listed are equally effective.

For this, I also chose D. The first criticism offered by the reviewer is that he/she cannot call to mind any effective ways to store energy as electricity.

D states that "What needs to be considered is not whether various ways to store energy are basic, but whether they are effective." Isn't that exactly the assertion made by the reviewer? Thus making D true?

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Will,

This is a good example of how the makers of this test can create attractive wrong answers based on using certain words or ideas. It also highlights the need for reading extremely closely with each LR problem. Let's take a closer look:

• First, the question stem is specific about what you are seeking: "The reviewer makes which one of the following criticisms of a claim that appears in the book under review?" So, we're looking for either a stated or implied criticism.
  
  Second, the initial criticism is contained in the word "blithely," which means a sort of indifference or lack of regard for something. So, right away, the reviewer is saying that the book authors have been a bit casual in making their claim of three basic ways to store energy.
  
  Next, the prior point is followed up with a criticism of one of the three ways, but the test makers do something wickedly smart here: they use a criticism based on the word "effective," which is a distractor element. The "effective" vs "basic" usage isn't the issue here—the reviewer is criticizing the claim that electricity is one of the three basic ways to store energy, but does so by taking the idea a step farther than "basic." That we are still talking about basic ways to store energy is further supported in the remainder of the sentence, when the reviewer notes that any capable students could "readily suggest a few more ways to store energy" (and thus we return to the "storage" usage).

The gist is that the reviewer has taken issue with this claim of three basic ways, and pointed out that one of the ways doesn't really work and that there are several other ways that have gone unmentioned. Thinking about it broadly, what's the full framework of what we are seeing: is everything about the nature of the list (as in (B)), or is it about the nature of what would qualify to considered for any type of list (which is more like (D))?

With that in mind, let's see how that works with (B) and (D).

• Answer choice (B): This is a reflection of the points made above, where the author thinks one of the ways might be in error and that other ways should be on the list. Most students like this answer, and usually when they don't choose it it's not because they dislike it, it's because they feel (D) is better. But, when you look at (B), what is described in the answer is exactly what happens in the stimulus (which is the test for a Must question). Each part occurs, and it occurs as part of a criticism of the book. It's not a glamorous answer, but it's also fault-free.
  
  Answer choice (D):Obviously, this is the most popular incorrect answer. But, the criticism is not whether they are basic vs effective; if that was the case, the argument would be framed in a different manner, and address that point more comprehensively. In other words, that use of "effective" is not what the author centers his or her criticism around. It's simply mentioned a single time as a way to dispute a claim about whether electricity is a basic way (the idea being that maybe electricity isn't a basic storage mechanism if there isn't an effective way it can store energy). The question of whether they should be entirely considered in one manner (Basic) or another (Effective) is not addressed. If we were to apply the Fact Test here, the question would be: Where in the stimulus does the author state or directly imply that we should not consider whether the storage is basic but instead whether it is effective?" I don't see that we do (nor did the test makers).

To follow up that ""basic vs effective" point, consider the following analogy (with some liberties taken to make the point):

• TV commercial: There are three basic ways to get rich these days: real estate, the stock market, or becoming a celebrity!
  
  Critic: Huh, I don't know that I agree with that claim. I certainly don't know of any assured way to way become a celebrity, and I can think of a few other basic ways to make a lot of money, such as inventing a popular product or becoming a high-powered executive.

I made that up on the fly so it might not be the best example, but in looking at it, would you say the criticism above is about whether the list is a good list (like answer (B)), or whether that the criticism above is about the idea of whether we should be discussing Basic ways vs Assured ways (as in (D))? I'd say it's more about criticizing the list. Note also how the criticism of "basic" is that how can something be termed "basic" if it's dependent on something as variable as fame, which is meant to mirror the idea that maybe electricity isn't a basic storage mechanism if there isn't an effective way it can store energy.

I've always thought that (D) is a great example of the skill of the test makers in creating incorrect answers that are appealing, but when framed against the entirety of what the reviewer says, answer choice (B) holds up far better. The best thing is to encounter this now, and study the mechanism used by the test makers here, because this sort of thing happens all the time in Must questions.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[willmcchez]

Second, the initial criticism is contained in the word "blithely," which means a sort of indifference or lack of regard for something. So, right away, the reviewer is saying that the book authors have been a bit casual in making their claim of three basic ways to store energy.

Dave,

This is HUGELY helpful. I think one of the biggest issues in leading me to select the incorrect answer choice was not understanding the definition of the word "blithely."

I had no idea what it meant, but I obviously assumed it to be critical or negative. However, I took it to mean "stupidly,": "wrongly," or something that went further than indifference. Thus, I saw the reviewer's criticism as "The authors were entirely incorrect in their claims" as opposed to "Perhaps the author's claims have some merit, but they did not consider the following points."

In my opinion, that makes a huge difference. The Question Stem essentially asks us to summarize the criticism made by the reviewer. By not knowing the definition of "blithely," I understood the criticism to be entirely damning to the assertions made by the authors of the book in question, which answer choice D does. The correct answer choice, B, is much more suiting to the criticism. B is a much softer critique than D.

And, as you said, most test takers initially like B, which I can see that I initially took a strong Contender, but eliminated it once I saw D.

Hopefully some of this made sense, cold medicine and LSAT-level critical thinking don't seem to walk hand-in-hand!!

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Will,

That makes a lot of sense to me! If you interpret that "blithely" as strongly negative, I can see it tilting your overall view that it's not a matter of whether the list is viable but whether the criterion employed is useful. Maybe the takeaway is watch how they tossed out that word "effective," but then went back to "basic" thereafter. I think they knew they needed to do that to forestall further criticism.

Good point though!

[anureet]

Hello, I understand why B is the correct answer, however, I don't understand why option C is incorrect. I think it's because I don't understand what the option is saying.

[Beatrice Brown]

Hi Anureet! Thanks for the great question, and happy to help

First, let's breakdown the stimulus. The book review concludes that the authors' claim that there are three basic ways to store energy is incorrect. The evidence that the book review gives is twofold: first, the reviewer cannot himself/herself think of any ways to store energy as electricity; and second, any physics student could suggest several additional ways that the authors' do not include.

The question asks us to select the answer choice that correctly names the criticism that the reviewer offers in the stimulus, making this a Must Be True question. We can prephrase two different criticisms that may be named in the correct answer choice:

1. The reviewer cannot himself/herself think of a way to store energy as elecricity, one of the three ways named. In other words, one of the ways claimed by the authors is incorrect.
2. The list given by the authors fails to include several ways to store energy.

Answer choice (B) matches both of these prephrases. "Inaccurate" describes our first prephrase, and "certainly not exhaustive" matches our second prephrase.

Let's turn to why answer choice (C) is wrong and what answer choice (C) is really saying. Answer choice (C) is saying that the reviewer believes the authors make an unwarranted link between basic ways to store energy and effective ways to use energy. However, for an answer choice to be correct on a Must Be True question, it must pass the Fact Test. The stimulus never mentions anything about what is effective or anything about uses of energy. Instead, the stimulus is about basic ways to store energy. As a result, this answer choice is incorrect because it fails the Fact Test.

Answer choice (C) definitely has some tricky wording to it, but remember that any correct answer choice for a Must Be True question must pass the Fact Test. Although the wording is tricky, since the answer choice uses words/concepts not mentioned in the stimulus, it cannot be correct.

I hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions!

[cgleeson]

Hi,
I was reviewing my answers. I had B and C. In the past I have dismissed answers I did not fully understand and went with another answer that seemed feasible....the result is I was wrong. Now I'm trying to be careful LOL. I am trying to break down C. It states "that is is overly limiting" for treating basic ways to store power....then it goes into "unrelated to the question". This is where I get tricked up I don't see any question, certainly nothing unrelated. The stimulus is talking about storing energy, the word usage of "basic" and "effective" make this an answer that causes me concern because B just comes out with "inaccurate" and "not exhaustive".
Is my understanding of C correct? Am I dismissing it for the correct reasons?
Thank you in advance.
Chris