#11- Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=14208)

The correct answer choice is (B)

This question asks for the author’s purpose mentioning that various types of information that can
now be electronically stored occupying very little space. The author mentions these various forms to
suggest that electronic storage might be considered a potential solution to the problem of information
storage.

Answer choice (A): The referenced list is not presented to justify an assertion presented in the first
paragraph.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. The author presents this list of various
information that can be electronically stored in order to suggest one potential solution to the issue of
information storage.

Answer choice (C): The author does not provide the list referenced to argue a point that is rejected in
the last sentence of the passage, so this choice should be ruled out of contention.

Answer choice (D): The list is offered to suggest electronic storage as one possible response to the
issue of information storage, not to offer an additional example of modern storage and its decreasing
durability.

Answer choice (E): The author’s mention of the wide variety of information that can be
electronically stored was intended to suggest electronic storage as one possible response to the issue,
but not to suggest that that the issues facing archivists have been exaggerated.

[mpoulson]

Hello,

Can you point me to the passages or indicator words that lead to answer B? I couldn't decided between B or D. If you could explain why one is right and the other is wrong that would be great. I couldn't see why D was wrong. Thank you.

- Micah

[David Boyle]

Hello,

Can you point me to the passages or indicator words that lead to answer B? I couldn't decided between B or D. If you could explain why one is right and the other is wrong that would be great. I couldn't see why D was wrong. Thank you.

- Micah

Hello Micah,

"Computer technology would seem to offer archivists an answer" has the word "answer" in it, which tips you off. D is not a good answer, since it sounds like the problem's getting worse rather than offering a solution.

Hope this helps,
David

[lsatnoobie]

I have a question about A. I found A to be tricky because passage 2 mentioned that information stored on computer technology is also risky because they became outdated and “may not now be retrieavable.”

Doesn’t this help the assertion that the potential for losing this information is now greater than ever?

[Adam Tyson]

Perhaps, lsatnoobie, but that information didn't come from the lines that we are directed to look at in the question. The question, paraphrased, is "why did the author tell us that all that stuff can be stored electronically?" He told us that to point out a possible solution to the problem of losing information. Later he tells us that this solution may not be so great after all, and that it has problems of its own, including the problem of deciding what to preserve and how to access it, but that wasn't the purpose of the lines we were asked about.

Stay focused on exactly what they asked us about, and be sure to prephrase it!

[MichaelYan]

I am still confused why B is right, it is the choice I eliminated first. Since lines 19-23 is talking about how computer technology allows the stored information to occupy only a small amount of space, whereas the problem raised in the first paragraph is one concerning the durability of storage, how would a smaller space solve the problem of durability as B argues?

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Michael!

The very first part of the sentence provides us with the support for answer choice (B): "Computer technology would seem to offer archivists an answer...". What was the question archivists need an answer to? The first paragraph tells us that "While recent decades have seen more information recorded than any other era, the potential for losing information is now greater than ever" and "this prospect is of great concern to archivists, who are charged with preserving vital records and documents indefinitely." So the problem archivists are facing is preserving a great amount of information indefinitely, and computer technology may provide an answer.

The overarching "problem" of the first paragraph is really information storage generally, and then there are two main components of that problem--the exponential increase in the quantity of material that needs to be saved, and a decrease in the durability of recording media. Computer technology seems to provide a solution to the first issue, even if it doesn't fully solve the durability issue, as the rest of the passage discusses.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[morri3mg]

Perhaps, lsatnoobie, but that information didn't come from the lines that we are directed to look at in the question. The question, paraphrased, is "why did the author tell us that all that stuff can be stored electronically?" He told us that to point out a possible solution to the problem of losing information. Later he tells us that this solution may not be so great after all, and that it has problems of its own, including the problem of deciding what to preserve and how to access it, but that wasn't the purpose of the lines we were asked about.

Stay focused on exactly what they asked us about, and be sure to prephrase it!

Regarding Adam Tyson's answer to this question, you claim that 'A' is wrong because the answer isn't supported specifically around the lines we are directed to in the question. Whenever I read an explanation concerning the author's purpose of specific lines in the text, PowerScore says to read little before and after those lines. Applied in this case, that would heavily support 'A.' Is there another reason aside from this that 'A' is wrong? Are we not supposed to consider the context of the lines both before and after what we're specifically directed to? Thank you!

[Jeff Wren]

Hi morri,

You're absolutely correct that when answering a specific reference question, generally a good place to start is about 3-5 lines above the line cited (or a logical starting place such as the beginning of the paragraph) and to keep reading another 3-5 lines past the line cited, as the information needed is generally (but not always) in that vicinity.

Where you may be going astray is understanding how the context relates to and informs the role/function of the sentence in question.

In this passage, the first paragraph lays out the problem: the potential for losing important information is now greater than ever.

The second paragraph starts out by offering a potential solution to this problem (this is the sentence cited in the question). The paragraph then provides problems with this solution.

When answering this function/purpose question, you want to describe the cited sentence's role in the passage.

This sentence is not providing "evidence to justify the assertion made in the first sentence." Simply put, that is not its role. Answer A would better describe the remaining sentences in the paragraph, which do give examples supporting the problem mentioned in the first sentence.

The fact that the remaining sentences in the paragraph show problems with the potential solution doesn't mean that the solution itself is evidence of the assertion in the first sentence of the passage.