LSAT 143 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q1

LR Question 1 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Among Trinidadian guppies, males with large spots are…

QUESTION TYPE: Principle – Most strongly supported

FACTS:

1. Large spotted male Trinidadian guppies have a mating advantage.
2. Small spotted male Trinidadian guppies have a survival advantage against predators.

ANALYSIS: This situation is pretty clear. Males with large spots are more attractive but also have a higher risk of being eaten.

On principle questions, all you need to do is put this information in terms of a general principle. E.g. : “a trait that can help can also hurt.”

The LSAT rewards your ability to move effortlessly between specific factual situations and general principles.

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1. This isn’t supported. The stimulus tells us nothing about whether spots help females attract mates or cause females to be visible to predators.
    
   So we can’t say if one sex is more affected than the other.
2. This contradicts the stimulus. The stimulus shows that in predator infested waters, the most attractive males get eaten. 
3. This isn’t supported. A small spotted male that survived a long time still might not reproduce if he wasn’t attractive enough to females.
4. The stimulus gave us no information about whether females have spots, so we can’t make this kind of comparison.
5. CORRECT. Large spots increase male attractiveness (and therefore mating). But large spots increase the odds that a male will get eaten. You can’t reproduce if you’ve been eaten.