Q9

[ivanau12]

Can someone explain why it's B and not C? I find a lot of evidence for B with the follow excerpts from the passage from lines 48 onwards, but I can't find evidence to eliminate C completely.

"..if the rock is indeed from Mars, it was knocked from the planet...This tiny piece of evidence suggests...However...scientists will need to..."

I felt that when the author wrote "It seems to be a rare example of a Mars rock that made its way to Earth after being knocked from the surface of Mars", he was showing quite the skepticism per answer C.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Good question. There are two important things to look at here. First, the question stem is asking about the author's attitude towards an argument that might be based on the rock, not whether the rock actually came from Mars. The author implies that the rock seems to have come from Mars. The author does not even try to suggest that it did not - though the author also does not try prove that it did come from Mars.

Second, the author is not expressing skepticism toward the argument that the late heavy bombardment extended throughout the inner solar system, but rather suggest that until we have more evidence we should be cautious about arguing that it did - perfectly stated in answer choice (B).

Incorrect Answers

(A) contradicts the passage. The author does not have a hard time believing that the rock came from Mars.
(C) contradicts the passage. The author does not have a hard time believing that the rock came from Mars.
(D) is unsupported. The details surrounding the rock are known, the author would simply like to see more evidence that the LHB extended throughout the inner solar system before we accept the idea.
(E) contradicts the passage. The author would like to see more evidence.