#12 - Must Be True, Principle

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14300)

The correct answer choice is (E)

To answer this PC-Must question, consider the principle that underlies the reasoning in both
passages.

Answer choice (A): Only the author of passage A argues that courts should be reluctant to reject
those forms of evidence that have withstood the test of time (lines 21-23). Meanwhile, the question is
asking us to identify a principle that can be inferred from both of the passages.

Answer choice (B): The author of passage B is likely to agree that defendants should have the
right to challenge fingerprint identification—a form of evidence whose reliability has not been
scientifically proven. The first author, however, regards the practice of fingerprint identification
as reliable despite the fact that it has not attained the status of scientific law. That author would
therefore disagree with the claim that defendants should have the right to challenge a form of
evidence just because its reliability has not been scientifically proven.

Answer choice (C): Only the author of passage B discusses the importance of knowing how likely it
is that partial prints from two different people would match (lines 53-56). The first author holds that
fingerprint identification has an exceedingly low error rate, but does not address the specific issue
raised by this principle.

Answer choice (D): While this is probably a principle with which the second author would agree,
we have little reason to believe that the author of passage A would also agree. The latter never
argued that the reliability of fingerprint identification depends upon evidence drawn from rigorously
conducted tests. It is the test of time (line 23) that has shown fingerprint identification to be a reliable
method.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. Both authors would agree that the reliability
of fingerprint identification depends, at least in part, on the objective standards for determining what
constitutes a match (lines 31-35 and 36-46).

[agroves]

Hello,

Can you help me understand the best approach to RC questions like this which ask for underlying principles? I struggled with finding an AC that satisfactorily applied to Passage A. Answer Choice E does not seem important enough to underlie Passage A. In fact, none of the AC's here seemed fitting when I first answered this question.

Your help would be much appreciated!

Angela

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi Angela,

Thanks for your question.

To answer this Principle/MBT question, you need to consider the principle that underlies the reasoning in both passages. It's similar to LR Principle/MBT questions, though here you need to prove the correct answer choice by referencing two arguments, not one.

Answer choice (E) is correct, because both authors would agree that the reliability of fingerprint identification depends, at least in part, on the objective standards for determining what constitutes a match (lines 30 – 33 and 36 – 46). You're correct in that this principle is not important enough to underlie the reasoning in passage A. However, it need not be: this is essentially a MBT question, so all you need to do is prove that the principle would be something with which both authors would agree. It need not be a principle that underlies the main argument in either passage.

Hope this helps!

[agroves]

Thanks! It helps to think of this as a MBT question.