Logical reasoning PrepTest 156 · Section 4 · Question 15

Question prompt

Historian: Scholars writing histories Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Strategy Overview

Argument or facts? Always argument, so identify premises and conclusions of argument Anticipate why the premises are not enough to show that the conclusion is true
Causal argument? Look for answer choice that:
Rules out possible alternate cause Shows same cause, same effect Shows no cause, no effect Shows the cause and effect are not reversed
If not causal argument, anticipate ways to fix problem with argument Use anticipations to select the answer choice that, if true, would strengthen argument

Answer Anticipation

On Strengthen questions, the correct answer usually helps fix a flaw in the argument. This is why experienced LSATers try to identify the problems with the argument first. Once they identify the problem, they're better prepared to find the answer choice that fixes that problem and strengthens the argument. Causation flaws are the most common issue on these questions, so experienced test-takers look for that problem first. This particular argument doesn't appear to be causal, so we should look for a different problem. To do so, we can focus on the conclusion. Notice that it introduces a new idea — "overestimat[ing] the successes of past businesses." None of the historian's premises establish that business historians will overestimate old businesses' success. Instead, the historian's premise says that business historians probably study successful firms more often than unsuccessful ones. But this won't necessarily cause business historians to overestimate past businesses' success. Perhaps business historians supplement their analysis of successful businesses' practices and strategies with objective data that shows just how successful businesses in this era were. Or, perhaps business historians only have to study a few unsuccessful businesses to develop accurate insights into how many unsuccessful businesses there were. So, to fix this problem, we need more evidence that studying successful businesses will lead business historians to overestimate past businesses' success. The correct answer could show that there isn't objective data that helps business historians contextualize past business successes. Or, perhaps the correct answer will show that there are certain unsuccessful businesses that business historians do not study at all. We probably shouldn't spend too much time devising more precise anticipations. Instead, let's look for the answer choice that presents more evidence that primarily studying successful businesses will lead business historians to overestimate past businesses' success.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The specific factors that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    This doesn't strengthen the argument. Even if business historians can't infer the specific reasons that cause businesses to do poorly, they can still understand that these businesses didn't succeed. As long as these historians can develop accurate insights into how many successful and unsuccessful businesses there were, the historians will not necessarily overestimate the successes of past businesses.

  2. B
    Those who study past Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    This doesn't strengthen the argument. First, we don't know if the business historians the argument describes rely on "first-person accounts of business strategies." So, this answer choice may be irrelevant to the argument. Moreover, even if business historians use first-person accounts, we don't know that their "present-day cultural assumptions" would lead them to overestimate past businesses' successes. If, for instance, these historians assume that "past businesses were less knowledgeable and innovative than current businesses," the historians would probably underestimate past businesses' successes.

  3. C
    The many public legal Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    This weakens the historian's argument. If public legal documents provide an objective record of past businesses, business historians could use these records to contextualize their study of successful businesses' practices and strategies. This objective data could show just how successful past businesses were. Moreover, if these documents are public, business historians can probably access these records relatively easily. Therefore, this answer choice suggests that business historians have tools that can help them form an accurate understanding of past businesses' success.

  4. D
    The records of businesses Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    This choice strengthens the historian's argument. This answer choice shows that there are some unsuccessful businesses that business historians can't study at all — the businesses that went bankrupt. If these bankrupt businesses often destroy their records, business historians can only focus on businesses that survived their era. So, by not representing bankrupt businesses in their studies, business historians will likely overestimate the successes of past businesses.

    Because (D) strengthens the argument in a way that conforms to our anticipation, we can select it and either advance immediately to the next question or after giving the remaining answer choice a quick glance.

  5. E
    Scholars who study businesses Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    This is irrelevant to the argument. It doesn't matter whether business historians are trained in business administration. The historian's argument didn't conclude that business historians can successfully run their own businesses. We're only concerned with whether business historians overestimate past businesses' successes, and this answer choice doesn't address that issue.

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 24%
  2. B 7%
  3. C 5%
  4. D Credited 59%
  5. E 4%

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