LSAT 139 | Section 3 | Reading Comprehension: Q24

RC Question 24 Explanation

DISCUSSION: Semblance means impression. Something not real. If someone has a semblance of intelligence, they seem intelligent, but are not.

So this indicates that Temple’s overall study was not rigorous, even though his tests made it seem rigorous.

___________

1. This is tempting, but not quite right. The phrase refers to Temple’s overall study. So his experimental findings about the pits may have been accurate.However, those experimental findings were not enough to make his overall study scientific.
2. Actually, the first sentence of the third paragraph is the line that shows direct proof was unobtainable. The ‘semblance of rigor’ line has a different purpose: it shows Temple’s study was not actually rigorous.
3. The first sentence of the third paragraph doesn’t actually say whether the studies Temple used were firsthand studies he did himself. In any case, the passage definitely didn’t contrast the bird studies with the information about the age of the trees. As far as we know, the foresters were credible when they said the trees Temple found were over 300 years old.
4. CORRECT. Temple’s studies of the Calvaria major pits were the only direct, quantitative evidence he produced. The studies made his theory appear scientific, even though it actually was not a very scientific theory.
5. Temple fed some seeds to turkeys, and checked what they pooped out. While that was interesting work, it’s hardly an exceptionally precise or creative experiment. In any case, scientists didn’t praise Temple, and if you were going to praise an experiment’s rigor, ‘semblance’ is not the word you would use.