Q23 - The diet of Heliothis subflexa caterpillars

[mshinners]

Question Type:
Inference (Must be True)

Stimulus Breakdown:
In HS diet → P fruit
P fruit → No LA
Other insects grow/mature → LA
Volicitin → LA
Most caterpillars have V; HS doesn't have V

Answer Anticipation:
There's a lot of overlap between the statements with LA, but since there are so many conditionals and no chain, I'm going to focus on comparing the answers to the statements instead of predicting something specific.

Correct Answer:
(B)

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Not supported. While LA is necessary for other insects, we don't know if it's necessary for LA. If the seconds statement said LA was necessary for all insects, this would be our answer, but since HS is excepted from it, we can rule this out.

(B) Bingo. Most caterpillars have V, which requires LA in the diet. Combining those two statements supports this as our answer.

(C) Illegal reversal. LA is required for V, not sufficient for it.

(D) Out of scope. Nothin gin the passage talks about a substance being poisonous.

(E) Degree/Illegal Negation. Caterpillars that require LA couldn't live on just P fruit, but it could be a part of their diet.

Takeaway/Pattern: If there are many conditional statements with "messy" overlaps (e.g., no clear chains), rely more on comparing the answers to them than chaining them together and predicting an answer.

#officialexplanation

[JorieB701]

This one was crazy. It's like the H. subflexa was a shiny object they were waving around, had me totally distracted. I only found B on a double or triple pass. I don't really have a question about it, just felt compelled to post props to LSAC on this one.