Recently, a team of urban archaeologists uncovered a journal kept by a

The archaeologists, impressed by the scientific rigor present in this unprecedented find, concluded that the ghosts must exist.

Bold part is key to reach at conclusion.
Only D goes along with meaning of this statement.
D is correct.

AS you can see, the goal on any verbal question type is to reject sure-shot wrong answers and then think through between the two or three contenders left.
D here is the right answer. Since it mentions everything you expect a conclusion to.

hteenth century. In the volume, the woman expressed her fear that she was being haunted by a ghost. She described in exhaustive detail the nature of the hauntings, systematically recording the time and duration of over 100 encounters with the apparition. The archaeologists, impressed by the scientific rigor present in this unprecedented find, concluded that the ghosts must exist.

Which one of the following represents the conclusion that can be most reasonably drawn from the information in the passage above?

A. The woman who keep the journal most likely suffered from a chronic mental disorder.

B. The woman who keep the journal sincerely believed that she was being haunted by a ghost.

C. A detailed record of times and duration of supposed encounters with an apparition does not provide sufficient evidence to prove the existence of a ghost.

D. The archaeologists had never found a record of hauntings as detailed and careful as the one written by the elderly lady.

E. Since the late 18th century, more sophisticated instruments for tracking the comings and goings of ghosts have been developed.



Close fight between B and D.

But D is accurate based on evidence and concise but B is only woman's experience.
In conclusion we choose which one is must true. Hence D>B ---

Answer is D

Recently, a team of urban archaeologists uncovered a journal kept by an elderly woman who lived in Charleston in the late eighteenth century. In the volume, the woman expressed her fear that she was being haunted by a ghost. She described in exhaustive detail the nature of the hauntings, systematically recording the time and duration of over 100 encounters with the apparition. The archaeologists, impressed by the scientific rigor present in this unprecedented find, concluded that the ghosts must exist.

Which one of the following represents the conclusion that can be most reasonably drawn from the information in the passage above?

A. The woman who keep the journal most likely suffered from a chronic mental disorder.

B. The woman who keep the journal sincerely believed that she was being haunted by a ghost.

C. A detailed record of times and duration of supposed encounters with an apparition does not provide sufficient evidence to prove the existence of a ghost.

D. The archaeologists had never found a record of hauntings as detailed and careful as the one written by the elderly lady.

E. Since the late 18th century, more sophisticated instruments for tracking the comings and goings of ghosts have been developed.

IMO the answer should be B.
D is close , but i want to highlight this part of the sentence... " had never found a record of hauntings as detailed and careful as the one written by the elderly lady
This indicates that the archaelogists had previously found similar journals which shared similar experiences , but which were not detailed and organized enough as the the journal by the old lady.
This might be true or might not be true. But no hint about similar findings. Hence this option cant be seen as a conclusion.

On the other hand option B is what anyone after reading the passage would have naturally concluded. The old lady was really convinced about the apparitions as she has described in detail and the descriptions exhibited real scientific vigour.( Which even impressed the authors and probably convinced them that she really believed what she said).

I could eliminate A,C and E. Can any expert help me understand why D is the right answer. Both options are stated in the passage in one way or another.

B. The woman who keep the journal sincerely believed that she was being haunted by a ghost. --- The passage mentions she expressed fear that she was haunted which does mean shed believe in that, correct ?

D. The archaeologists had never found a record of hauntings as detailed and careful as the one written by the elderly lady. -- the word "unprecedented" in the passage does suggest this.

B is not the conclusion. It is just a fact available in the stimulus.

D is the conclusion as the passage tells us that archaeologists were impressed by the scientific rigor present in this unprecedented find.

Answer: D

How can we choose option D?

There is no existence in the passage between archaeologists current finding and his previous clues related to haunting observed cases

Even conclusion for option is also not very accurate but as per the elimination way OA should be B

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Why are we not considering that the entire event might be unprecedented? Why is it that we are thinking that scientists have never found an account of ghost so detailed, when we can also think that this was the first time scientists found sth related to ghosts and hence, the entire event was unprecedented?

One approach is to apply the NEGATION TEST.
When the correct answer is negated, the passage will be contradicted.

a find = an archaeological discovery.
The opposite of never is AT LEAST ONCE BEFORE.

D, negated:
At least once before, the archaeologists had found a record of hauntings as detailed and careful as the one written by the elderly lady.
This negation contradicts the passage's assertion that the FIND -- the discovery of a journal in which hauntings were described in exhaustive detail -- was UNPRECEDENTED.
Since the negation of D contradicts the passage, D is a valid inference: a statement that MUST BE TRUE, given the information in the passage.



B, negated:
The woman who kept the journal did not sincerely believe that she was being haunted by a ghost.
Nothing in the passage indicates what the woman BELIEVED.
It is entirely possible that the entries in the journal were all fabrications -- stories that the woman made up -- and that the woman did not sincerely believe that she was being haunted by a ghost.
Since the negation of B does not contradict the passage, eliminate B.
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