Q17

[nthakore]

I had the opposite instinct. I picked (B) for 16 and (A) for 17. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that (A) is wrong for Question 17 when the primary purpose of the passage is the function of the bill. Shouldn't the two correspond. Even taking the relationship between Q16 and 17 out, the passage seems mostly about the bill in general rather than its function detecting prey. What am I missing?


Thank you for your help!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

I still can't wrap my head around the fact that (A) is wrong for Question 17 when the primary purpose of the passage is the function of the bill. Shouldn't the two correspond.

I do see them essentially corresponding. On question 17 both answer choices (A) and (B) discuss the bill of the platypus. The issue is that answer choice (B) describes it's function, answer choice (A) describes its importance.

The central thesis of the passage is in (lines 4-6). The first paragraph goes on to support this idea with research. Then a failure in the explanation is provided, and then a remedy for the failure is offered in the final paragraph.

But everything is designed to support the thesis laid out at the very beginning - best expressed in answer choice (B).

(A) focuses on the importance of the platypus bill, and while this is a topic of Bohringer, it's not large enough to be the central thesis because it doesn't include Scheich's contribution.
(C) is too narrow in scope and confuses the information. Bohringer's research was about tactile stimulation.
(D) is too narrow in scope and while true... this has long been known (line 1-2).
(E) is too narrow in scope - this is only the 2nd paragraph.


Hope that helps!

[jwms]

Another issue with A that I had is that it states that the bill is 'one of its primary sensory organs', whereas the passage states that Bohringer concluded that the bill must be the primary sensory organ'.

This may be too minor to note, but it made me dismiss A immediately (rightly or wrongly, I suppose).