PrepTest 117

[lcid:3567] Prep Test 117 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S4 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

Coffee and tea contain 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

Question Type

Must Be True Questions

Stimulus Summary

Causality - Coffee/tea/MX causes temporary increase in VP, which causes clumping of blood cells
Comparison 1 - Women face more clumping than men
Comparison 2 - Women have a 10x risk of complications after having their arteries cleared
Conclusion - The MX and higher clumping in women explains (i.e., causes) the higher rate of complications following angioplasty

Answer Anticipation

As with all Must be True questions that feature an argument, we should forget that it’s an argument and instead treat each statement as true!
Here, we have two types of statements that tend to lead to correct answers in this question type - a causal chain, and then a comparison.
It’s unclear what exactly the correct answer will do with this information, but with it framed in this way, we should be able to identify it when we see one that’s in scope of the statements.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Men, but not women, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    MX causes problems for patients after angioplasty - the rate of complications is higher for women, but that doesn’t mean that men are in the clear. Even if the effects for men were neutral, that wouldn’t argue for giving MX to men - for that, there’d need to be evidence of a benefit. As such, this answer is at best unsupported, and at worst contradicted.
  2. B
    In spite of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Angioplasty is established as a technique for treating clogged arteries, but there’s no statement supporting the conclusion that it’s the only treatment for it.
  3. C
    Women probably drink more Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    A higher volume of coffee/tea, and thus more MX, could explain the more pronounced effect in women compared to men, but it’s not the only explanation. Since there could be other reasons for that pronounced effect, this answer is unsupported.
  4. D
    Prior to undergoing angioplasty, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    Coffee and tea have MX, which the author concludes is “probably the explanation” for some of the complications faced by women after angioplasty. That establishes it as a cause of those complications (it can’t explain them if it doesn’t cause them), and thus it supports a recommendation against the thing that probably causes complications. While we normally can’t support a should statement without another should statement, there are a few exceptions - and one exception is that you should avoid things that will negatively affect your health!
  5. E
    Angioplasty should not be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    At most, the stimulus suggests that women should take some precautions before and after undergoing angioplasty. However, there’s no statement strong enough to recommend against angioplasty - especially since the statement about complications is relative - while the rate is up to 10x higher in women, that could be the difference between .1% of men seeing complications and 1% of women. If that’s the case, taking the 1% risk might be worth the benefits of clearing out the arteries.

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