Q1 - Researcher: It is widely believed that, given its

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
ID the Conclusion

Stimulus Breakdown:
Conclusion: England's mild winters aren't due to the Gulf Stream.
Evidence: A similar stream of tropical water to northern latitude takes place in the Pacific (going only as far north as Oregon), but areas well north of that still have mild winters.

Answer Anticipation:
Almost all ID the Conclusion questions present the Conclusion earlier than the Evidence for it. The conclusion is usually found in the first sentence or in the author's "I disagree" pivot.

In this question, the first sentence is ascribed to "it is widely believed", so this is not our author's opinion. Furthermore, it makes us highly, highly anticipate that the author will disagree with this widely believed position. Sure enough, she does: "This belief is mistaken" and then goes on to support that disagreement in the final two sentences.

This conclusion uses borrowed language, so we should take a sec to straighten out what we're looking for.
This belief = England's mild winters are due to the Gulf Stream.
This belief is mistaken = England's mild winters are NOT due to the Gulf Stream.

Correct Answer:
B

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) This is the first sentence, an opposing point.

(B) YES, this matches the 2nd sentence, our author's conclusion.

(C) This is a concession to the opposing point (signified by "while / although / despite").

(D) This is one of the two premises.

(E) This is one of the two premises.

Takeaway/Pattern: We can't get lazy an EXPECT this most-famous ID the Conclusion pattern of "But / yet / however, [conclusion]." On test 85, there were two ID the Conclusion questions in which the idea after the but/yet/however was NOT the main conclusion. But if we see this familiar form and can validate that the but/yet/however claim is
1. The author's opinion
and
2. supported by at least one explicit premise,
then we should enjoy that we're doing an easy problem and be quick with picking.

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