A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.
Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one
Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step
81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests
Let's get rid of the four answers we can match up with the passage.
It can be inferred from the passage that the author would most probably agree with which one of the following statements about brevetoxin?
It may have been responsible
One of our two support lines from the 4th paragraph said, "Although brevetoxin may have been a contributing factor", so the author definitely thinks that brevetoxin could have contributed to the ultimate bacterial infection that killed the dolphins.
4% picked this
It forms more easily when
Not in Support Window Unknown Comparison: forms more easily This doesn't sound like either of our support lines: - the specific effects of brevetoxin on dolphins are unknown - brevetoxin may have been a contributing factor (in killing all those dolphins) The author never discusses conditions under which brevetoxin forms more easily.
7% picked this
It damages liver function and
This seems to contradict the first of our two support lines: - the specific effects of brevetoxin on dolphins are unknown - brevetoxin may have been a contributing factor (in killing all those dolphins) This answer makes it sound like the author knows the effects of brevetoxin on dolphins. This is grabbing language (damaging liver function and immune system) that was used in reference to PCBs, not brevetoxin.
17% picked this
It is unlikely to be
One of our two support lines from the 4th paragraph said, "Although brevetoxin may have been a contributing factor", so the author definitely thinks that brevetoxin could have contributed to the ultimate bacterial infection that killed the dolphins.
9% picked this
It is unlikely to have
Why this is right
This sounds like the gist-y prediction we made, "Brevetoxin was not the #1 culprit". The author starts the final paragraph by saying, "This explanation [that primarily blames brevetoxin poisoning for the die-off] is not entirely plausible. First, ____ . Second, dolphins began dying in June, hundreds of miles north of and some months earlier than the October red tide bloom." The red tide bloom was the source of the supposed brevetoxin poisoning, so the author was doing an Effect w/o Cause plausibility weakener by saying, "Yo, the dolphins started dying 3 months earlier and hundreds of miles north of where the brevetoxin poisoning supposedly took place".
Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
63% picked this
Continue the review in LSAT Lab
Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.
Turn this review into a targeted study plan.
Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.