LSAT 84, Logical Reasoning II, Q6, LSATHacks

LR Question 6 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: The waters surrounding Shooter’s Island have long been…

QUESTION TYPE: Strengthen

CONCLUSION: The still waters around Shooter’s Island serve as a nursery for the juveniles.

REASONING: The Shooter Island waters are very still. There are far more juveniles around Shooter’s Island than there are around the other islands, even though the overall population is similar at each island.

ANALYSIS: This feels like a pretty good argument already. But we can strengthen it by providing more evidence – possibly to show that the juveniles would not be at Shooter’s Island if it weren’t a nursery, or evidence for why there would be a nursery there.

___________

1. This doesn’t support the conclusion. It only tells us that Shooter’s Island waters have been still for a while, but doesn’t link that to the nursery conclusion.
2. This tells us that it’s the same year-round, but doesn’t advance the nursery conclusion.
3. CORRECT. This answer tells us that still waters are preferred. This supports the idea that Shooter’s Island waters serve as a nursery.
4. This is something we already basically knew! The stimulus tells us that Shooter’s Island waters are “exceptionally still”.
5. This doesn’t support the conclusion! In fact, it raises the question of why there aren’t more waterbirds at Shooter’s Island than at the other islands. If Shooter’s Island is a nursery, this answer tells us that there should be more waterbirds there.

Recap: The question begins with “The waters surrounding Shooter’s Island have long been”. It is a Strengthen question. Learn more about LSAT Strengthen questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.

Hi, I'm Graeme Blake

Founder of LSAThacks; I scored a 177 on the LSAT.

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