Q6 - Besides laying eggs in her

[yusangmin]

ok so, this is a support statement (which is the same as must be true or inference)

anyways, i had it down to C and D

C says the nesting boxes for wood ducks have less space for eggs than do natural nesting sites.

So when I first read this I interpreted it as, ok these artifical nexting boxes are more crowded due to their being so visible and overcrowding.

then i read D (correct answer) and it talks of how nesting boxes would be more effective if they were less visible.

However i went with C..
the question is.

1)what is it saying, are they saying these nests have less space in GENERAL, as in the way theyre made allows for less eggs

or that they are so CROWDED, that its less space. I interpreted it as this one at first, that theyre crowded, then later when i checked it assumed it was the first, but now feel it doesnt matter anyways because it doesnt say anything about space allowed for eggs. However, in my mind for some reason i thought that a bunch of ducks laying their eggs in one nest was the only cause for overcrowding.

2) how often are u allowed to make inferences such as D? I see its the best choice but I thought, "do we really know for sure?"

thanks!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

It seems like you've talked yourself into a circle! I think you really understand this one but have just let the facts swirl round and round.

Answer choice (C) says that the actual size of the wood boxes are smaller than the natural nesting sites. We don't know how big the natural nesting sites are, nor do we know the size of the wood boxes. So we can't choose (C).

Answer choice (D) says that the wood boxes are less effective now than they would be if they were hidden. We know that the boxes "actually undercut the ducks' reproductive efforts." Also, we know that when nesting sites are hidden "this parasitic behavior is rare." Hiding the nesting sites would improve the situation, so we can infer answer choice (D).

I hope this helps... If you need me to elaborate on anything, feel free to ask.

[olaizola.mariana]

I remain unconvinced, and still think (C) is a better answer!

Answer (C) does not say that the nesting boxes are smaller, but just that they provide less space for eggs (because they get overcrowded). In my view, the given statements support this conclusion [that the boxes are smaller than the natural nests] because they seem to link the ducks' failed reproductive efforts to the fact that the boxes become overcrowded. If, by negating this conclusion, the natural nesting sites had just as much, or less, space for eggs, then this reproductive practice would seem to be disadvantageous from the start. Therefore, (C) seems to me to be the right answer.

Answer (D), on the other hand, makes less sense in my view. Why would the ducks' reproductive efforts be more successful when the boxes are hidden? Is the assumption that those nests, though hidden, could still be found by some and thus the practice would become less rare?

Please help clarify!

[mitrakhanom1]

I agree with olaizola.mariana.

The reason for answer choice D being right and answer choice C being wrong is still not clear.

Can somebody please elaborate?

Thanks.

[783874728]

I agree with olaizola.mariana.

The reason for answer choice D being right and answer choice C being wrong is still not clear.

Can somebody please elaborate?

Thanks.

(C) As far as we can tell, easily-visible nests in the wild
would be just as crammed with extra eggs as the
easily-visible nesting boxes. No inference can be made
about their relative sizes.

[ohthatpatrick]

Great response!

This question, like many Inference-Strongly Support questions, is testing the underlying causal connection being described.

The underlying causal idea is that when nests are well hidden, a mama duck will be good to go in terms of raising her own eggs.

When nests aren't well hidden, parasitic behavior can result, undercutting reproductive efforts.

What's causing the overcrowding of the nesting boxes isn't that they aren't big enough to begin with -- it's that they're being filled up with OTHER female's eggs, not just the mama's eggs.

Inference questions test our ability to synthesize information in one of four ways:
- conditional language
- causal language
- comparison / contrast language
- mathematical ideas

There are two key causal words in this stimulus pointing us to the eventual answer:
"because" and "undercut".

BECAUSE well hidden, natural nests are rarely overcrowded by parasitic behavior.

The "however" connects this idea to the next one.

Nesting boxes UNDERCUT reproductive efforts.

If we're looking for how those two ideas are connected, the safest conclusion we can draw is that the nesting boxes aren't well hidden.