LSAT 33, Logical Reasoning II, Q1, LSATHacks

LR Question 1 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: North American eastern white cedars grow both on cliff faces…

QUESTION TYPE: Paradox

FACTS: Cliff-side cedars get few nutrients and rarely grow as big as cedars in forests. Yet they are often older than cedars found in forests.

ANALYSIS: We need to either find a reason why cliff-side cedars live a long time or we have to find a reason that forest cedars die young. 

___________

1. This doesn’t explain why cliff-side cedars live so long.
2. CORRECT. Fires kill the forest cedars but are unable to kill the cliff-side cedars. So the cliff-side cedars can survive longer. 
3. This makes things even more puzzling. Shouldn’t the old cliff-side cedars be even more vulnerable since they get fewer nutrients?
4. This explains why cliff-side cedars aren’t tall. It doesn’t explain why they live longer than trees in forests. The forest trees get more nutrients.
5. This shows that people will rarely want to cut down the forest cedars. This makes it harder to explain why they don’t live as long.

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