Q20

[kyuya]

Its important to understand the stem of this question, for of all. We are looking for A CENTRAL topic, not to be confused with THE central topic. This distinction is important from main point questions.

(A) This logical asymmetry is only brought up in passage A, and positive evidence is only explicitly brought up in A. We need something in both, though.

(B) Planetary orbits are found only in passage B, although the word auxiliary appears in both ( aux prem and aux assumptions, respectively). Wrong.

(C) This is honestly a really hard correct answer choice. It is true that B never explicitly says anything about negative evidence, it doesn't have to. It is a no brainer that negative evidence is a central topic of A, but what about B? We can infer this from the discussion about Uranus and also Mercury, where there is a lack of evidence that leads to contradiction in a theory. This is exemplified by Newton and Eiensteins theories.

(D) They both talk about scientific theories, but NOT about techniques for confirming them. Neither passage really goes into much detail about how to make sure a theory is correct, although you could make the argument that A does to a decent extent. I do not believe that B does however. It is simply talking about a natural progression from one theory to another, but not techniques that are for the sole purses of confirming a theory.

(E) Neither says experimenting is irrelevant. Rather, it seems both passage authors would agree it is central to effective science.

[layamaheshwari]

Would you say the wording of D ("proper technique") is too strong? I selected D while taking the test under timed conditions, but now, while reviewing, feel the wording should have been a warning sign.

[tommywallach]

I think that's a fair assessment, yes.