LSAT 138 | Section 1 | Reading Comprehension: Q8

RC Question 8 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The correct answer for main point questions must be true, and it must cover the whole passage.

You can first eliminate answers that aren’t true, then eliminate those that are incomplete.

___________

1. This ignores evolution, which was a major part of paragraphs 2 and 3.
2. This isn’t even true. Evolution has narrowed the range of plants that insects can eat, true. But we’re not told that plants have fewer secondary substances. It sounds like they have more secondary substances, for protection against a wide variety of insects.
3. CORRECT. This covers the evolutionary process (paragraphs 2 and 3) as well as plants’ tastes and smells (paragraphs 1).
4. This ignores the evolutionary interaction mentioned in paragraph 3. Answer C is better. Plants influence insect evolution as well.
5. This ignores the first paragraph, and also does a poor job of describing the final two paragraphs. It isn’t just the mutation of secondary substances that’s led to the competition. It was the fact that some of them were defensive.