Q5 - While biodiversity is indispensable

[mshinners]

Question Type:
ID the Conclusion

Stimulus Breakdown:
B is important, but it doesn't require all animals to survive. This is because some important things can be done by more than one species.

Answer Anticipation:
I actually think this is a relatively difficult question for an early ID the Conclusion question! There are a lot of good structural indicator words, though.

The "While" at the beginning suggests a concession being made before the author shifts, and we see that in the second clause. That's a statement that needs back up, so it seems a good candidate for conclusion. The following information seems to cut against it, but the author shifts back again with a "however".

At this point, I'd focus on the second half of the first statement and the "however" statement, using the "Therefore" test to see which supports which. In this case, the final statement (multiple species fill the same role) supports the second half of the first sentence (that some species can die off while maintaining B). The answer should reflect the statement that we don't need all these species.

Correct answer:
(A)

Answer choice analysis:
(A) Bingo. The argument structure was difficult, but the correct answer is almost word-for-word the statement we identified.

(B) Premise that has context added.

(C) Concession made ("While…")/background.

(D) Premise supporting the main point.

(E) Out of scope/unstated.

Takeaway/Pattern:
When the argument structure is tricky, rely on the structural indicator words.

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