PrepTest 123

[lcid:3590] Prep Test 123 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S3 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

Commentator:  In academic scholarship, sources Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

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

Illustration Questions / Principle Questions

Stimulus Summary

Academic scholarship uses citations and clear descriptions to allow others to build off of it. Open-source software is also open to let others build from it. Proprietary software is secret, closed, and charges a fee for us/modification. Open-source software, therefore, matches with the values of academic scholarship, which is central to universities, so they should only use open-source software.

Answer Anticipation

The Commentator is stating what universities should use, based on what matches closest to their values. The correct answer should create a principle that says organizations should use only tools that match their values, connecting the premise to the conclusion.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Whatever software tools are Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. The Commentator believes that matching values is the relevant consideration when determining what software to use, not how advanced and effective they are. This answer choice doesn't apply to the Commentator's argument.
  2. B
    Universities should use the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. While it does appear that open-source software is less expensive than proprietary (since the latter at times charges a fee), that's not the reason given by the Commentator for why universities should use it. Rather, it's because of the matching values.
  3. C
    Universities should choose the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    Correct. This answer choice perfectly reflects the reason behind the Commentator's recommendation that universities should use only open-source software, so it's the correct answer.
  4. D
    The form of software Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. The first half of this answer is spot-on, focusing on using values to make decisions as to what software should be used. However, the end of the answer choice says that the software that matches these values will be the most efficient, which is a concept outside the scope of the argument. The Commentator doesn't argue this software is the most efficient, but rather having matching values is enough to mean universities should use it.
  5. E
    A university should not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. First, the conclusion is about what universities should do, not what they should not do, so this answer choice is a bit of a negation of what we're looking for. Additionally, there's no indication that either open-source or proprietary software would impede the goals of academic scholarship; rather, it would run counter to the values of it. Goals and values are two different things!

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