LSAT 101 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q12

LR Question 12 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: For years scientists have been scanning the skies in the hope of…

QUESTION TYPE: Main Point

CONCLUSION: We probably won’t find alien life.

REASONING: Nothing has worked so far, and there’s no reason to think we’ll succeed in the future.

ANALYSIS: This isn’t really a great argument: the past doesn’t guarantee the future. We might find aliens, if some new technology lets us search more effectively.

The last sentence is the conclusion, and main point.

If you’re ever unsure what the conclusion is, ask yourself: why are they telling me this? That will usually get you the conclusion.

___________

1. The author didn’t say this. They said there’s no reason to believe we’ll find life. Life can exist without us finding it.
2. The author implies that we won’t find aliens even with fancier equipment.
3. CORRECT. This says the same thing as the last sentence. The point of telling us all of that was to convince us that the search is just a dream.
4. The author didn’t say whether or we should keep searching. Maybe finding life is so important that we must try, even if we’ll almost certainly fail.
5. Same as D.

Recap: The question begins with “For years scientists have been scanning the skies in the hope of”. It is a Identify The Conclusion question. Learn more about LSAT Identify questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.