Q8

[bradleygirard]

Once again, through POE, I was left with two answers, (D) and (E). Though I didn't feel that either were supported in the passage, going back over the test, I am especially confused as to why (D) is incorrect. Passage B indicates that the use of the drilling muds is tightly regulated, but says nothing of the composition of it being regulated. As further evidence, Q10's correct answer reinforces the fact that the government doesn't know exactly what is in the drilling muds. Are we really supposed to infer that the government doesn't know what is in the mud, but perhaps because they don't disallow use of the 30% oil muds, then it means that they allow it? This is driving me crazy, any help?

[bbirdwell]

Hey Bradley,

I've answered a bunch of your posts by now, and it seems like you are getting good at this test. When you start getting good at this test, you've got to eliminate choices when you know they fit the pattern of previous choices that you've seen and not sweat the hair-splitting so much. Your instinct is improved, so you should begin to make more eliminations by instinct.

(D) Passage B is entirely about regulation -- what's allowed, what's not allowed. We know that muds that are 30% mineral oil are used for deep wells. Yes, we can safely infer that they are permitted by government regulations. It's not just the use of mud that's regulated, it's the overboard discharge that's regulated -- and it's regulated because of its composition.

(E) Not supported. Paragraph 2 of Passage B. They recycle it until it's no good, then they discharge it over a period of hours.

[bradleygirard]

Yeah, I have been posting on here quite a bit and I hope it is not getting too tedious for you guys, believe me, all the help has been greatly appreciated. I think that the 'hair-splitting' is good advice. I have gotten a pretty good feel for the test, and have on multiple occasions picked a wrong answer over my instinctual choice. I need to try to be a bit better at not just going with gut feeling, but not entirely fighting it as well. Two weeks until the test, and I am trying to get every/any possible solid footing that I can.

[bbirdwell]

Too tedious? Never! Keep 'em coming. Just wanted to let you know about that little pattern i see in your questions and recommend something specific for your improvement. keep up the good work!

[melotti84]

One more question on the same thing! Does the last paragraph of Passage A constitute the basis for (c)? I am confused about where I can find "some study of the environmental effects of mud discharges"! Thank you in advance!

[bbirdwell]

Yes. Line 23. "One problem in studying the effects of drilling waste discharges..."

This supports (C) "There has been some study of the effects of discharges."

You need not find a particular study project. Here, "some study" is closer in meaning to "at least a little bit of studying."

If we know there's a problem with studying, we can infer that "at least some studying" has been attempted.

[jgpower87]

Too tedious? Never! Keep 'em coming. Just wanted to let you know about that little pattern i see in your questions and recommend something specific for your improvement. keep up the good work!

Where is A supported? Thanks a lot in advance!

[LSAT-Chang]

Hey Brian,
I had a quick question on this one.
I eliminated (E) because I thought we could infer that from lines 31-33 where it basically says that drilling mud is released during the drilling phase of a well's existence. Is it because we don't know if it is discharged "into the sea"??

[timmydoeslsat]

We know that it is released, but the idea of continuously is troubling, if not disproved by the text in Passage B. This passage tells us that the mud that is discharged is controlled. Some of it is recycled, the other stuff (the OBM) is highly selective in what is allowed to be discharged overboard.

[jennifer]

I was thrown off by answer choice E. I was thinking what do they mean by continuously drilling? The word itself threw me off.

Also, It appears to me the the first few sentences of passage B iindicates that during the drilling phase mud is discharged. Although it does not state it, one would assume the mud is going to sea because the rig is off shore? As in the second pharagraph they state that mud is being dumped.

Also I do not see the word government anywhere in either passage, I certainly may have missed it, but assuming I am correct, they how could D be wrong. Ta

Sorry

[americano1990]

Continuously discharging means exactly what anyone would think it means: in this passage in particular, it would mean that from the start to an end of the drilling phase, at every moment and instance, you would see the drilling mud being dumped into the ocean.

As for your second question, yes, we would assume that the mud is going to sea because we are told in line 33 that "these discharges are the MAIN envi concern in OFFSHORE oil production.."
So basically, they are being released and they are causing envi problem OFFSHORE....hm....its cuz its being released into the ocean..So yes, we in fact know its going into sea.

In any case for the answer choice (E) per se, its not supported anywhere in either of the passages. As bbirdwell has mentioned, we are even told in line 44 that "companies typically ....no longer suitable and then, OVER A PERIOD OF HOURS, dump..."
So we know that they choose when to discharge and do so only for a set period of time. coo?

And that government thing. Right, there isnt any explicit mention that government ALLOWS 30% composition. But we know that from line 49 that OBM, which contains 30% mineral oil, is being used without any problem. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer (infer in the RC sense, not LR sense) that the composition is not banned at least. This is why making a deduction as stated in (D) would only require a babystep assumption jump.
Instead, however, if we were told, "government regulations ENFORCE 30% blah blah" that would be a problem since the idea of government enforcing something would not be something we can babystep towards given the information we have in hand now. Thankfully, the answer isnt written that way.

[bbirdwell]

Hey guys, here're a few quick thoughts on the discussion here:

Also I do not see the word government anywhere in either passage, I certainly may have missed it, but assuming I am correct, they how could D be wrong.

The whole second passage is about regulation. The actual word "government" does not appear, but the function of the government is to regulate. Thus, D is reasonably and easily inferred.

Therefore, it is reasonable to infer (infer in the RC sense, not LR sense) that the composition is not banned at least.

This is on the right track, but not quite right. Based only on the fact that we know a mixture of 30% exists, we cannot infer that this mixture is not banned by the government. We can infer that this mixture is not banned by the government because we know that the mixtures are "tightly regulated," that the typical mixture is 30%, and that there is a "maximum specified oil content" (last line).

Based on these three facts together, we can reasonably infer that the government allows 30% mixtures.

[hyewonkim89]

The second time I tried to do this question, I picked the same wrong answer..

I was down to (A) and (E) but ended up picking (A).

I see that clay is a constituent of drilling muds, but I don't see where in the passage says it is an "important" constituent.

Please help!

[maryadkins]

Line 12: "Drilling muds are made of Bentonite and other clays."

We can infer from this that they are made largely if not wholly from clays. This makes clay an important ingredient.

(B) is supported by line 41.

(C) is supported by the first and second paragraphs of Passage B.

(D) and (E) are discussed above.