PrepTest 119

[lcid:3573] Prep Test 119 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S2 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

Air traffic controllers and Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Strengthen with Necessary Premise Questions

Stimulus Summary

Air traffic controllers (ATCs)/Nuclear power plant operators (NPPOs) - Can’t work long hours because it’d be dangerous
Residents - Work very long hours, but are also engaged in life-or-death work
Conclusion - Residents should have similar restrictions

Answer Anticipation

The argument here very much relies on a comparison between ATCs/NPPOs and physicians in residency. They both work in jobs that are dealing with life-or-death decisions, but only the former pair has restrictions on the number of hours that individuals can work per week.
The similarity here is used to justify changing that difference - bringing physicians in residency in line with the other professions by having working limits on them.
Or, in other words, because these two groups are similar in one way, they should be similar in another way.
That’s a comparison flaw - there could be other key differences that would mean the restrictions shouldn’t apply to residents. In reaching a conclusion that the life-or-death nature of the work - the point of similarity - is enough to justify them having similar working-hour restrictions placed on them, the author of this argument is assuming that there’s no relevant difference between the groups. Let’s find an answer that rules out at least one potential difference.

Answer choices

  1. A
    There is no indispensable Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    This answer doesn’t perfectly fit into our anticipation, but it does establish that residents can have these restrictions put in place without losing something “indispensable” to their training. If there was an indispensable aspect of the training that would be precluded by shorter hours, then the argument would fall apart - you can’t dispense of something that’s indispensable. Circling back to the anticipation, since ATCs and NPPOs are operating under these short hours, then there can’t be anything indispensable about their jobs that requires long hours, so this answer actually does establish a relevant similarity/rule out a relevant difference - it fits into our anticipation, even if that’s not clear at first. Either way, this answer is correct.
  2. B
    Resident physicians have a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    This answer is suspect because it brings up a difference between the groups, and the argument relies on them being similar. The argument can work without residents having a more direct effect on the lives of others than the other professions - it’d work just as well if they had an equivalent effect!
  3. C
    The more hours one Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    This answer can feel correct, but it establishes a very specific relationship - a directly proportional one. However, that relationship doesn’t have to exist here for the argument to work - it’s possible that, instead, these professions “fall off a cliff” and stop performing satisfactorily at, say, 75 hours - but it doesn’t get worse if they work 90 hours.
  4. D
    Those who are not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    The argument is about those who do work in life-or-death circumstances, so those who don’t are out of scope.
  5. E
    Some resident physicians would Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The desires of the residents don't speak to whether allowing shorter hours is a good idea.

What this tests

Discussion

  • Why is E wrong? 3 replies

    Started by frederickliu

  • Answer Choice E 5 replies

    Started by Meredith

  • Why Not A? 6 replies

    Started by aayllajaffery.1@gmail.com

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