Q6 - A purse containing 32 ancient

[martintp]

I dont understand why the answer is C... I thought the answer was D because it would explain why the purse contained only (I thought thats is what the stimulus meant when it stated that it probably should have had more diverse set of coins) 32 ancient gold coins. Even if that is not the case I still dont understand it.

[timmydoeslsat]

Good question. This is most strongly support question, a less strict form of a must be true question if I may say so.

The way I like to attack most strongly supported questions is to use process of elimination. These type of questions are not always going to be 100% provably true.

The stimulus is a set of statements. It is not an argument and thus does not have a conclusion.

However, we can gather the important set of facts in this stimulus.

We know:

- A purse was found in the ruins of an ancient Jordanian city that had 32 ancient gold coins minted in Morocco.

- This city was 4,000 km east of Morocco

- During its time, this Jordanian city was an important trading center between the trading route between China and Europe. Also a popular place for pilgrims on a route from Morocco and Mecca.

- Had the purse belonged to a trader in the city, it probably would have contained a more diverse set of coins.

We really cannot prephrase an answer to this question.

We can think how it seems unlikely for a trader in the city to have this purse, and how it may have been a Pilgrim's. We do not know the relation of Mecca to this Jordanian city where the purse was found. Perhaps it was Mecca?

Answer choices:

A) We have no evidence of Moroccan coins being more valuable than Jordanian coins. Easy to eliminate.

B) We have no evidence that most gold coins were minted Morocco during a certain period. Easy to eliminate.

C) We do not know this for 100% certainty. However, the set of facts almost all but eliminates the possibility of this purse belonging to a trader. These statements mention pilgrims as an alternative group that we label as candidates for having this purse. I will keep it and move on.

D) We do not know that gold is the only medium of exchange used in the ancient city. This is talking about the ancient Jordanian city. We know nothing of this city other than some gold coins were found there and that it was an important trading center.

The statements would seem to suggest the opposite of this. If traders had a diverse set of coins, and this Jordanian city was an important trading center, it would be unlikely for gold coins to be the only medium of exchange.

E) We have no evidence for the likelihood of these two groups, traders and pilgrims, interacting with each other.

C is the only answer from these choices that has any evidence whatsoever.