LSAT SET CR

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LSAT SET CR

by punitkaur » Tue Dec 01, 2009 6:40 pm
Taylor: Researchers at a local university claim that
61 percent of the information transferred during a
conversation is communicated through nonverbal
signals. But this claim, like all such
mathematically precise claims, is suspect, because
claims of such exactitude could never be
established by science.
Sandra: While precision is unobtainable in many areas
of life, it is commonplace in others. Many
scientific disciplines obtain extremely precise
results, which should not be doubted merely
because of their precision.
The statements above provide the most support for
holding that Sandra would disagree with Taylor about
which one of the following statements?
(A) Research might reveal that 61 percent of the
information taken in during a conversation is
communicated through nonverbal signals.
(B) It is possible to determine whether 61 percent of
the information taken in during a conversation
is communicated through nonverbal signals.
(C) The study of verbal and nonverbal
communication is an area where one cannot
expect great precision in one's research
results.
(D) Some sciences can yield mathematically precise
results that are not inherently suspect.
(E) If inherently suspect claims are usually false,
then the majority of claims made by scientists
are false as well.

How should one approach this question? Do such questions appear in GMAT?
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by Testluv » Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:05 pm
Well, the OA should definitely be choice D.

The first speaker (Taylor) thinks that ALL mathematically precise claims are suspect because claims of such exactitude could NEVER be established by science. The second speaker (Sandy) states: Many scientific disciplines obtain extremely precise results, which should not be doubted merely because of their precision.

Therefore, they definitely disagree about whether (some) sciences can yield mathematically precise claims that are not inherently suspect.

This is called a point at issue question. There are a couple of different effective approaches for this type of question, which I won't belabor because I have yet to see a point at issue question from OG or GMAT prep.
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