(LR) PT#37, S#4, Q#18 Forum

[sighsigh]

About comets and dinosaurs.

The question stem states "what weakens the argument?"

How is the stimulus stating an argument? All I see is a single statement: A comet could have caused dust which killed the dinosaurs. There is no premise from which this conclusion is being inferred.

[ws81086n]

Definitely an odd stimulus for a weaken question, but you can get an argument out of it.

P: It's possible that a large comet could have kicked up a bunch of dust and had an effect on the climate that killed the Dinosaurs.

C: Therefore, comet theory is plausible.

[Jcastro1]

Common trick for Strengthen/Weaken questions:

Theory X says this.

Therefore, X is the case (or However, X is not the case).

For this q, B is the best choice, since in an analogous situation with similar characteristics, the study's findings proved faulty.

[mindarmed]

It's telling you that a dust cloud killed dinosaurs, my first instinct would be to look for an answer choice that tells me dinosaurs either didnt die via dust cloud or it's uncertain whether they died via dust cloud

A - Irrelevant, stimulus doesnt even mention paleontology
B - Who cares about other animals?
C - Credited answer choice, says you cant determine whether dinos died via dust cloud
D - Again, who cares about other animals?
E - We're not talking about vegetation here - we're talking about dinos

OP, consider reading the the question before you read the stimulus. In this instance, once you see it's a weaken question you can ignore most of the stimulus while looking for the conclusion. Once you've identified the conclusion, you just figure out which answer choice undermines the conclusion and boom you've got your credited answer choice

[Jcastro1]

^ dude, you're wrong. B is the right answer choice. A "study of dinosaur skeletons" is irrelevant to the discussion. C is out of scope.

[ws81086n]

It's telling you that a dust cloud killed dinosaurs, my first instinct would be to look for an answer choice that tells me dinosaurs either didnt die via dust cloud or it's uncertain whether they died via dust cloud

A - Irrelevant, stimulus doesnt even mention paleontology
B - Who cares about other animals?
C - Credited answer choice, says you cant determine whether dinos died via dust cloud
D - Again, who cares about other animals?
E - We're not talking about vegetation here - we're talking about dinos

OP, consider reading the the question before you read the stimulus. In this instance, once you see it's a weaken question you can ignore most of the stimulus while looking for the conclusion. Once you've identified the conclusion, you just figure out which answer choice undermines the conclusion and boom you've got your credited answer choice

The answer is actually (B). Other animals, in particular ones who share relevant similarities with dinosaurs, are important because presumably they would have gone extinct too if the cause of the dinosaurs going extinct was something that would have been liable to affect other species too (i.e. a comet colliding with earth and blanketing the skies with a dust cloud), and not something specific to the dinosaurs.

[sighsigh]

Ty for responses.