LR Question 4 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: The northern cardinal, a nonmigratory songbird…
QUESTION TYPE: Weaken
CONCLUSION: Warmer winters probably caused the increase in Nova Scotia’s northern cardinal.
REASONING: The northern cardinal’s range didn’t extend to Nova Scotia – they used to be rare in that province. Now they are common in Nova Scotia, and winters are warmer.
ANALYSIS: This argument has merely established a correlation between warmer temperatures and songbird populations. Whenever there is a correlation, there are four possibilities:
- Warmer temperatures caused more songbirds.
- More songbirds caused warmer temperatures. (unlikely!)
- Some third factor caused both warmer temperatures and songbirds.
- It’s a coincidence. Another factor caused the increase in songbirds.
The argument is arguing #1. To weaken the argument, point out one of the alternatives. Numbers 2 and 3 are very unlikely in this case, so the answer will probably just give another reason the northern cardinal became common (#4).
___________
- CORRECT. This shows that northern cardinals have more food during Nova Scotia’s winters.
(A wintering bird is a bird that stays in a place for the winter. Such as Northern Cardinals.) - This has always been true. We need a change in a factor in order to explain the change in northern cardinal populations.
- This might indicate that there was a common cause to the population increase. But the common cause could be a warmer winter! This doesn’t weaken the argument.
- Why would we care about such a comparison? This type of answer is almost never right. Also, this answer just tells us about the overall category “nonmigratory birds”. It doesn’t necessarily tell us about Northern Cardinals.
- This tells us nothing. Despite the increase in predators, we know that the Northern Cardinal population did increase.
More Resources for Weaken Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Weaken questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers weaken questions.
I was thinking B because the warmer winters would imply less snow and their red plumage would be more visible, making them easier to spot but not necessarily more prevalent, therefore weakening the argument?
There’s a few major problems with that assumption.
First, we’re only told that the average winter temperature rose slightly. That alone doesn’t tell us anything about snowfall levels or whether the landscape in Nova Scotia changed in a way that would affect visibility. If it went from -20C to -15C, that’s a slight rise but not allow the conclusion = less snow.
Second, even if we DID assume there was less snow, it’s not clear that this would make the cardinals easier to see. In fact, a red bird is arguably more visible against a white, snowy background than against darker ground or foliage.
Most importantly, answer B doesn’t actually introduce any change at all. It simply says that cardinals are easier to spot than other songbirds because of their red plumage – and that has always been true. It gives us a static trait, not a shifting condition.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions.