Official LSAT PrepTest, S3, Q16 - Zebra Mussels

[theaether]

hey couldn't find a forum with questions relating to this PT so I decided to make a topic here. I'm completely stumped on section 3, Q16 about Zebra mussels and algae. The answer choice seems like a huge extrapolation to me. Is the key really "most strongly supported," as in, the other choices are more weakly supported? The answer choice just doesn't really jump out as being super correct unless comparing it to the others one by one...

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

hi theaether!

There is always a number associated with the PT. It will be 1 - 62. There are three other PT found in the a book called the SuperPrep released by the LSAC containing PT A, PT B, PT C. These correspond to the Feb 96, Feb 99, and Feb 00 LSATs.

Check again for the PT #. I couldn't find a question about zebra mussels, sorry!

[theaether]

I have the SuperPrep book with tests A/B/C as well, but I'm not talking about those.

It's called the Official LSAT PrepTest with Explanations book. It contains one and only one PT in it, from February 1997.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

It took me a bit to track down a copy, sorry. I completely agree. There is support for part of answer choice (E) but not all of it. If you grant the author a little creative flourish, answer choice (E) can be reasoned "good enough." The other answer choices are simply so far fetched, (E) is the only decent answer choice.

I think it's fair to say that since the mussels remove some hazardous wastes, it would be supported that the hazardous waste is not immediately then ejected the next time the mussel opens up to find some algae.

So, if the hazardous wastes are not transformed, then they must remain within the mussel. The flourish is the rest. On the assumption that anything that contains hazardous waste is itself hazardous waste. Now that I write that, hmm... maybe it is supported. Regardless... That only makes answer choice (E) more correct.

Hope that helps!