New evidence suggests that the collapse of Egypt’s old kingdom some

New evidence suggests that the collapse of Egypt’s old kingdom some 4,000 years ago was caused by environmental catastrophe rather than internal social upheaval. Ocean sediments reveal a period of global cooling at the time, a condition generally associated with extended droughts. There were, no doubt, serious social problems in Egypt at the time, but they resulted from a severe dry spell.

Type-strengthen
Boil it down- the collapse of Egypt’s old kingdom was caused by environmental catastrophe rather than internal social upheaval

(A) Historically, most civilizations have succumbed to internal strife rather than external factors.- incorrect - mild weakener
(B) The social problems in Egypt’s old kingdom at the time of its collapse were serious enough to have caused the collapse. - weakens
(C) At the time of the collapse of the old kingdom, several isolated but well-established civilizations near Egypt underwent sudden declines. - Correct - this strengthens the correlation stated in the premise.
We initially knew that these environmental issues were occurring at the same time as the collapse, as were the social issues, but now we know that other isolated places declined during the same time.
(D) Egyptian records recovered from the time of the collapse explicitly refer to the deteriorating conditions of the society. - irrelevant- this restates what already has been stated
(E) Shortly after the collapse of the old kingdom, Egypt was thrust into a civil war that lasted most of the next two centuries. - incorrect - mild weakener

Answer C

Our Goal is to Strengthen the highlighted part of the stimulus , all of the options (Highlighted part in Red) discusses anything other than the Environmental Factors, hence Correct Answer must be (C)

New evidence suggests that the collapse of Egypt’s old kingdom some 4,000 years ago was caused by environmental catastrophe rather than internal social upheaval. Ocean sediments reveal a period of global cooling at the time, a condition generally associated with extended droughts. There were, no doubt, serious social problems in Egypt at the time, but they resulted from a severe dry spell.

Which one of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument?

(A) Historically, most civilizations have succumbed to internal strife rather than external factors.
(B) The social problems in Egypt’s old kingdom at the time of its collapse were serious enough to have caused the collapse.
(C) At the time of the collapse of the old kingdom, several isolated but well-established civilizations near Egypt underwent sudden declines.
(D) Egyptian records recovered from the time of the collapse explicitly refer to the deteriorating conditions of the society.
(E) Shortly after the collapse of the old kingdom, Egypt was thrust into a civil war that lasted most of the next two centuries.

There's a scientific reasoning given in the 2nd sentence behind the claim made in 1st sentence. In the highlighted text the two reasons are sequenced such that claim made in the 1st sentence is supported. So, that makes the last sentence the important part of the passage.
There can be a number of ways this argument can be strengthened:
1. Dry spell precede social problems and is the real reason behind those problems.
2. Any other factor that may have led to collapse of kingdoms of such scale.
3. No other kingdom attacked old kingdom to end its rule.
4. ...

A is a generic statement that is useless.
B and D are weakener.
E is irrelevant as time period discussed is not at all concerned.

Answer C.

GMATNinja KarishmaB AndrewN please explain why C is the answer. It said 'Several'.

Yes, AbhiR3, that is just the point. Take a look at answer choice (C) again, in full:


Note that to strengthen the argument, we need to have a solid understanding of that argument. The last line of the passage states that serious social problems in Egypt... resulted from a severe dry spell, and for further context, the first line of the passage tells us that the collapse of Egypt’s old kingdom some 4,000 years ago was caused by environmental catastrophe rather than internal social upheaval. To strengthen the argument, then, we want to look for an answer that points to the environment as the catalyst for the societal collapse.

Answer choice (C) provides a solid reason to believe that the environment did, indeed, lead to the downfall of the old kingdom. Why? Because at the same time, not just one, but several other civilizations near Egypt also underwent sudden declines. It is more of a stretch to suggest that each of these isolated civilizations suffered from internal strife at the same time than to get behind the notion that perhaps some environmental factor affected all of them and produced a similar outcome.

Finally, no other answer choice provides a modicum of support for the argument. Look again at the other options:


Answer choice (A) would give us reason to doubt the argument, not that historical precedent can always be brought to bear in a given case. But it does mention both internal and external factors, and it implicates the former as the cause of societal change, the opposite of what the argument puts forth.

Answer choices (B) and (D) run in the same vein, the former placing social problems front and center, the latter the deteriorating conditions of the society, which may reasonably be interpreted as social problems. I would not go so far as to call either a weakener, though, just a non-strengthener, because the argument in the passage does not rule out internal problems as a cause of the collapse of the old kingdom, conceding in the final line that there were, no doubt, serious social problems in Egypt at the time. It is merely that the argument is centered on an environmental cause that led to these social problems. Such a distinction is not crucial to make in this particular question, since you only have to appreciate that neither (B) nor (D) strengthens the argument, but I feel compelled to offer a bit more insight into how I would assess them.

Finally, answer choice (E) presents factual information that follows the collapse of the old kingdom and thus offers no insight into what may have caused that collapse. This, in my view, is the easiest elimination.

Perhaps the question and answer choices make more sense now. Thank you for thinking to ask me about this one. Contrary to the anti-LSAT stance I adopt in some of my posts, I enjoy LSAT questions themselves—I just do not believe that most students who are preparing for the GMAT™ need to weed through LSAT questions on their own to prepare for the matter at hand.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

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