Logical Reasoning

PT154 · S4 · Q12 A lichen is made up of

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A lichen is made up of a photosynthetic organism and a fungus growing in symbiosis on a solid surface.

Given

A lichen is made up of a photosynthetic organism and a fungus growing in symbiosis on a solid surface.

Lichens absorb minerals from air and rainwater but also from the surfaces on which they grow.

They cannot excrete the elements they absorb.

Some varieties are very vulnerable to toxic compounds, including compounds found in polluted air.

Such compounds can damage both of the symbiotic partners.

Evaluate / Goal

We're given a bunch of information about lichens, but there aren't conditional or quantified statements that can clearly be linked together. The best approach here is to dive into the answers and compare them to the given statements. We should keep an eye open for answers that seem related to these statements but are actually unsupported or out of scope.

12.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

  1. Lichens would not be vulnerable

    Unsupported Causality

    We're never told that some lichens are vulnerable to toxic compounds because they can't excrete the elements they absorb. This answer does reference two of the statements in the stimulus, but they're separate statements. The stimulus doesn't clearly connect these statements in any way that indicates a causal or conditional relationship.

    4% picked this

  2. The return of lichens to

    Too Strong Out of Scope

    Lichens disappearing or returning to a region is outside the scope of the information we're given. We're told that some varieties are very vulnerable to toxic compounds, which can damage the lichens, but this doesn't necessarily mean that they will disappear.

    1% picked this

  3. The absence of lichens in

    Too Strong Out of Scope

    As with answer choice B, this answer is, at best, too strong. We can't conclude that pollution will cause lichens to completely disappear. We only know that pollution can damage lichens. An absence of lichens in a region is really outside the scope of the information we're given.

    4% picked this

  4. The photosynthetic organism and the

    Out of Scope

    We know that the photosynthetic organism and the fungus that make up a lichen can exist together on the same surface. Whether or not they can thrive independently, or even survive independently of each other, is beyond the scope of the information we're given.

    2% picked this

  5. Correct

    Serious air pollution in a

    Why this is right

    We're told that some lichens are very vulnerable to compounds found in polluted air. We're also told that these compounds can damage lichen. This supports the idea that serious air pollution can cause problems for lichens.

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    88% picked this

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