pt 57 S3 Q19 Essayists: one of the drawbacks of extreme

[PRADEEPCHANDY]

What is the difference between option A and option D... Both lead to totalitarian political regime

Why is D preferred?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Like always it's the little words...

I just looked at my copy of PT57, which I must have taken recently. Low and behold, I can see that I had answer choice (A) circled, and then erased, and answer choice (D) chosen.

Clearly, answer choice (A) was tempting for me!

Look for the difference between answer choices (A) and (D). (A) says "inevitably," whereas answer choice (D) says "could." Big difference.

Notice in the stimulus the information says "often" in the first sentence and then "frequently" in the next sentence. "Inevitably" is simply too strong to apply to the situation at hand.

(A) is too strong for the reasons above.
(B) does not discuss supporting a political system, which is the conclusion of the argument in the stimulus.
(C) has all the right buzz words but not the right meaning. The political system described in the stimulus would still give people the freedom to make wise choices, so we couldn't rule out the possibility of supporting such a system - as the conclusion does.
(D) would support the argument as the argument does discuss a political system that could lead people to prefer totalitarian political regimes and so we would not support such a system.
(E) has the political system in the argument confused. Nowhere is it the case that the political system is built on unrealistic expectations about people's behavior under the system.

You were down to the two closest answers. The key at that point would be if they look the same, find a difference in word choice. "Could" simply matches the stimulus better than "inevitably."

Good work!

[PRADEEPCHANDY]

thanks for the explanation

do you remember what exactly made you change the your response from A to D? and how to start thinking in that manner

I chose option A because option d looked worse because it only selects political systems whose destructive consequences exists , whereas political systems in option A are not qualified with any criteria

option A is more reflective of the conclusion, which concludes for all political systems that allow extreme freedom

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

when seeking to eliminate an answer choice due to over specification, you need to make sure that the specification does not apply. So for example, you would need to establish that the political organization discussed in the stimulus had no destructive consequences.

Notice the stimulus specifically says that this political system possesses "destructive consequences." So you wouldn't want to eliminate on that ground.

Your question about how to start making better decisions during the test, will be a matter of how well you

1. familiarize yourself with the distinctive patterns underlying these question
2. move faster, so that you have more time to answer the challenging questions

Most people spend too much time on the easier questions and then don't have time to think about the trickier ones toward the end of the section. Move fast! when you can... And then slow down! when you need to.

[PRADEEPCHANDY]

thank you mshermn I appreciate ur response