PrepTest 155

[lcid:3719] Prep Test 155 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S4 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

Candidate: In each election 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.

Question Type

Errors in Reasoning Questions

Answer choices

  1. A
    would not attempt to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. The argument is about what a candidate supports, not what a politician enacts. This answer is out of scope.
  2. B
    draws opposite conclusions about Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. Drawing opposite conclusions for different groups isn't inherently a flaw. It's only a flaw if the opposite conclusions are drawn based on the same information—that would be contradictory logic.
  3. C
    draws a general conclusion Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. The conclusion is about a very specific subset of voters; it's not a general conclusion about patterns of voting. Additionally, 10 years of election data could very well be a sufficient sample.
  4. D
    surmises from the fact Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    Correct. Argument or Facts:
    Argument

    Valid or Flawed:
    Flawed

    Question Type:
    Errors in Reasoning

    Stimulus Summary:
    A certain policy is correlated with a higher vote share in one part of the district, but there's no pattern of impact in any other part of the district. Therefore, adopting that policy proposal will result in a candidate getting more votes.

    Answer Anticipation:
    The causal language in the conclusion "in order to" should have led you to immediately thinking this could be a correlation vs. causation flaw. The premises are correlative—a group has two characteristics (lives in an area and voted for a candidate with a certain policy). The correct answer here should reflect the causal error in reasoning.
    Answer Explanation:
    This answer is the generic causal flaw language, and it's the correct answer.
    Key Takeaway:
    If you're tackling a question that has an error in reasoning and a causal conclusion, odds are good it's a causal flaw.
  5. E
    draws a conclusion based Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. The data was collected over ten years, but only one data point is ten years old. Additionally, drawing a conclusion based on data from a period of time ago isn't inherently erroneous—generally, the LSAT will give you a reason to believe something significant changed in that time period if an answer like this one is correct. For instance, if this answer ended with, " . . . ten years old, before the gentrification of the northeastern part of the district."

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