Q12 - Researcher: We studied two groups

[lichenrachel]

I limited the right answers down to D and E but couldn't decide which one was better... And as always, I went for the wrong answer... Why is D wrong? Is it the "no one" part?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT2]

Yeah, you got it -- it's the "no one" part --

This is what we would categorize as an inference question -- we are looking for the answer that is most provable --

From the passage, we don't have nearly enough information to prove that no one in the control group had a rise in temperature before bedtime -- we only have enough information to compare general tendencies among the groups.

In terms of (E), from the argument, we know that a slightly raised body temperature induces deeper sleep.

Therefore, it makes sense to infer that...

If taking a bath raises body temperature, it will likely induce deep sleep.

[ryan.oconnor110]

I chose D as well. Looking back, I think I probably viewed this incorrectly like a Strengthen/Weaken question. So if we KNEW D was true, that would go a long way to support the statements above. That also explains why I liked A as well. Moral of the story, I should try to not read the question backwards.

[deedeeward]

When I did this question I went to check off the obvious wrong answers and I crossed off 'A' 'D' and 'E', my tendency with inference questions is to mark of those answers that seem to be out of scope to me, or off topic, but end up being the correct answer, like choice 'E'. I first chose 'C' because it made the most sense to me, I am now supposing it is wrong because of a detail creep the "the best way" part. Anyway, I would like to know if their is a trick or some advice as to better see the correct answer when it is talking about a different subject yet than the passage was, like in this case the answer was talking about a warm bath. Thx for the help.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT2]

I think it would benefit you to shift your thinking just about 10 degrees from out of scope to not provable.

A lot of right answers to tough inference q's seem out of scope but are provable. Others seem totally in scope (most of them) but are not provable.

Imagine the following argument:

All Lakers are good rebounders, and some Lakers are good scorers.

Some of the most tempting wrong answers will bring these ideas together in correct ways. Example: All good rebounders are scorers.

Some of the easiest-to-overlook right answers will bring in outside info, but in a way that makes the answer provable. Example: If Al is a Laker, he must be a good rebounder.

Where did "Al" come from? It doesn't matter - this answer is provable based on the text.

So, again, for inference q's, I would recommend switching from in/out scope thinking to provable/not provable thinking.

Most answers, many of them obviously so, are NOT provable! You want to get better and better at seeing why not.

Hope that helps!

[funner567]

Ok, so i can completely see why E is the right answer as it does support our stimulus.

I just cant see why "C" is wrong?

Maybe the "best way" but can someone explain this in a little more detail? Thanks in advance...

[ManhattanPrepLSAT2]

That's right -- keep in mind that for this question we are searching for the answer that is most definitively provable based on the text.

"The best" in answer (C) is very hard to prove. What we would need in the text (and this is true of any extreme like "most" or "tallest" or "richest") in order to prove (C) is some actual proof that it is more significant than any other method for inducing deep sleep, and we don't have that. In fact, all we are given is just one way to get increased deep sleep.

Hope that helps! Please follow up if you'd like to continue the discussion.

[marykatemoller]

Why is (B) wrong?

[rinagoldfield]

Thanks for your posts!

I’m going to go through this whole problem since there seem to be so many little questions about it.

As always on inference questions, we want to start by looking at what we know. In this case, we know that the people who exercised in the afternoon got more sleep than those who didn’t exercise in the afternoon. This is because exercise raises body temperature till after bedtime, and this extra warmth helps with sleep.

(E) is supported, although it might seem out of scope at first glance! However, we KNOW that "extra heat induces deeper sleep." It actually doesn’t matter how body temperature is raised; no matter what, a slight boost will deepen sleep. So this holds true for baths as well as exercise.

(A) is too strong: we can’t prove that exercise is "required" for deep sleep, only that it helps.

(B) is also unprovable. We know that afternoon exercise helps with sleep because the heat it generates lasts through bedtime. We don’t know if this is true of morning exercise. Maybe the heat dissipates after a few hours.

(C) is too strong: "best" is the kind of extreme term that should raise red flags on inference questions.

(D) is, again, too strong. "No one?" Maybe some of the people in the control group found another way to raise their body temperature. (For example, by taking a bath...)

As always, be wary of strong answer choices on inference questions!

[smsotolongo]

So for an most strongly support, or inference, the info can be used to prove a hypothetical situation? It would seem to me as choice E is a hypothetical situation. That's why I shied away from it. Thanks.