PrepTest 112

[lcid:3547] Prep Test 112 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S4 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

Sales manager: The highest 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/Facts

Valid or Flawed

Flawed/NA

Question Type

Methods of Reasoning Questions

Stimulus Summary

Sales: The company fails without sales, so sales needs should be the highest priority.
Shipping: Other departments can say the same thing, and we can’t give highest priority to them all.

Answer Anticipation

Whenever a Methods of Reasoning question features a rebuttal, we should start with a couple considerations:
Does the second speaker agree or disagree with the first speaker’s conclusion? If she disagrees, does she think it’s wrong or unsupported? Does the second speaker agree or disagree with the first speaker’s premises? Logic/assumptions? Does she bring up a new consideration?
Here, the Shipping Manager doesn’t have an explicit conclusion, but she’s clearly bringing up information that undercuts what the Sales Manager is saying. How does she do so? By showing that using the logic of the Sales Manager leads to an “impossible” outcome.
The Sales Manager claims that a department that is required for the company to succeed should have their needs given highest priority. The Shipping Manager points out that, by that logic, there are “several departments” that should be given highest priority - an impossibility.
Let’s find an answer pointing out that the Shipping Manager shows that the Sales Manager’s argument leads to an impossible outcome.

Answer choices

  1. A
    that the sales department Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    While the Shipping Manager does highlight other departments that are also necessary to the company’s success, she doesn’t claim that they’re all interdependent - she treats them each as individually necessary to the company’s success.
  2. B
    the ambiguity of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    “Highest priority” isn’t an ambiguous term, and the Shipping Manager doesn’t try to argue that it is. Her argument, in fact, relies on the term meaning what it says - that there is one department that receives more priority than any other. (Which she shows to be impossible, if using the Sales Manager’s criteria for determining.)
  3. C
    that departments other than Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The Shipping Manager doesn’t bring up that other departments are more critical to the company, just that there are others that are “also” critical.
  4. D
    an absurd consequence of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    This answer reflects the method of reasoning brought up by the Shipping Manager. The Sales Manager uses the necessity of the Sales Department to justify it receiving highest priority. The Shipping Manager shows that, using that criteria, several departments would receive highest priority - a logical impossibility, and thus something that’s absurd to argue for.
  5. E
    that the sales manager Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The Sales Manager discusses only the Sales Department, so there’s no generalization there. He may rely on a generalization as an assumption, but that’s different than making a generalization. Also, the Shipping Manager points out that the Sales Department isn’t atypical - it’s similar to other departments in that they are all necessary for the company to function.

What this tests

Discussion

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