Q4 - Cats spend much of their

[dayme11]

I chose E instead of D and do not get how E does not strengthen the argument. Thanks!

[spack]

I also chose E, but my instinct was telling me to choose D. I think the reason E isn't correct is because it really doesn't resolve the paradox. It's kinda like you're saying "Cats have strong and agile musculature because they need it" without any further explanation, when what really is being called into question is how they can maintain their agility while spending so much time sleeping. Answer Choice D fully solves the paradox by essentially saying "Cats have this increased agility despite them sleeping a lot because they stretch often, and their stretching is their form of exercise".

Hope this helps. In a nutshell, E doesn't really provide an explanation for anything.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

I agree with spack.

dayme11, if you still have a hard time seeing this one let me know.

[jdieck]

I have a question about the correct answer choice. I initially went with D but then was deterred by the use of the word frequent, as the stimulus does not say cats stretch frequently. It only says that when they awaken, they do so "only to stretch and yawn." There is no element of frequency involved.

I choose B because I figured if other animals who do the same thing, that explains why it occurs in cats. I understand it doesn't fully explain the paradox, but I figured saying cats stretch frequently was a bit of a stretch.

So I guess my question is is it okay for paradox questions to add the frequently? I guess it is, as D is the right answer, but why?

[ohthatpatrick]

Gotta put up a complete explanation for posterity, but I will address your specific questions within it.

Question Type: Explain Paradox

Given that most animals would need to exercise a bunch to have as strong a body as cats
Why is it that cats have such a strong body, when they only wake up to stretch and yawn?

(A) This explains why they sleep. We need a reason why they're strong.

(B) The fact that other animals ALSO sleep a lot but still have strong bodies is not an explanation -- it just makes the question burn even stronger ... "HOW do all these animals have strong bodies if they're just sleeping?"

The other problem with (B) is that these other animals may do strenuous exercise when they wake up. The sleep that cats do is a side issue. The paradox comes from the idea that cats seemingly don't do the strenuous exercise that would be required of a strong body. (B) gives us no info about whether these other strong animals do / don't do strenuous exercise.

(C) We don't care about cats sleeping, except for adorable internet memes.

(D) Oh, okay. So cats DO get exercise and that's why they have strong bodies. The previous poster was concerned about whether we know that cats do frequent stretching. We weren't before, but we know it now.

The way that (D) is phrased, it implies that cats DO frequently stretch. It is a positive statement of fact. Cats DO derive ample exercise from the frequent stretching THAT THEY DO.

I think the poster was worried about an answer choice that would sound more distant, like, "It is possible to derive ample exercise from frequent stretching". With that sort of answer, we'd be more unsure about whether that idea is applicable to cats. But since 'cats' is the subject of the sentence in (D), we know that the idea does in fact apply to cats.

Remember that there's no such thing as too new / too strong whenever a question stem says "Which of the following, if true / if valid / if assumed". Also, the correct answer doesn't have to be bulletproof. It just has to help explain the paradox more than any other answer.

(E) The fact that they NEED to be strong still doesn't give me a WAY that they get strong.

(D) is the correct answer.

[AliceInWonderland]

(C) We don't care about cats sleeping, except for adorable internet memes.

Thanks, Patrick! I chose C because I thought cats sleeping in apparently uncomfortable positions may be "exercising" various muscles at the same time. But I realised that that's way too much assumption going on outside of the text and D aligns much better with the missing link in the stimulus.