PrepTest 157

[lcid:3725] Prep Test 157 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S2 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

Wounds become infected because 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

Facts

Strategy Overview

Argument or facts? Always a set of facts Identify what is strange, discrepant, surprising, or paradoxical in the passage Anticipate additional facts that could be added that could make the passage make more sense Use anticipation to find the answer choice that, if added to the set of facts in the passage, would make the discrepancy/paradox make more sense

Answer Anticipation

We want to find the answer choice on Paradox questions that would make the discrepant, surprising, or paradoxical situation make more sense. To that end, it helps to clarify why the situation is discrepant, surprising, or paradoxical in the first place. For this passage, it's surprising that honey helps wounds heal faster, given that honey contains bacteria that could infect the wound and slow the healing process. On many Paradox questions, the set of facts seems paradoxical because we get a one-sided description of the pros or cons of something. Many Paradoxical questions essentially reduce to, "This thing has this benefit, but, surprisingly, we don't see positive results!" or "This thing has this downside, but, surprisingly, we see positive results!" This answer choice presents the latter case. We know honey has a downside — it contains bacteria that could infect the wound and slow healing — but, surprisingly, we see a positive result. To resolve such paradoxes, we simply have to counterbalance the benefit or downside with its opposite. So, in the case of the bacteria in honey, we'll look for an answer choice that describes why honey isn't as harmful as we'd expect or why antibiotic ointment isn't as helpful as we'd expect. It should describe how the honey speeds up the healing process or how antibiotic ointment slows down the healing process. Ideally, the correct answer will describe both. It would not be a wise use of time to try to formulate a more exact prediction, but we can move on to the answer choices now that we at least know the shape of what we're looking for.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Wounds that have simply Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    This is irrelevant to the paradox. We're not trying to explain why wounds cleaned but not treated heal faster than wounds cleaned and treated with antibiotic ointment. We're trying to explain why wounds treated with honey heal faster than wounds cleaned but not treated and wounds cleaned and treated with antibiotic ointment. This answer choice doesn't suggest why honey would heal faster than either method described, so we can cross off (A).

  2. B
    The bacteria found in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    This doesn't resolve the paradox. This just says the amount of bacteria in honey is low and that applying antibiotic ointment doesn't kill all the bacteria in a wound. Even with this information, honey still adds bacteria to the wound, while the antibiotic ointment reduces the bacteria in the wound. If we know that bacteria slows the healing process, it would still seem strange that honey heals wounds faster than ointment.

  3. C
    Honey has properties that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    This shows how honey helps wounds heal faster, even if that honey contains bacteria that could infect the wound and slow the healing process. As expected, this answer choice describes a benefit of honey that helps speed up the healing process. What's more, it further tips the scales in favor of honey by showing the downside of antibiotic ointments. If we know that honey slows the growth of bacteria while antibiotic ointments damage wound tissue and slow healing, it makes sense that wounds treated with honey heal faster than wounds treated with antibiotic ointments and wounds not treated with anything. Honey helps remove bacteria, while the other two methods either further damage the wound or have no effect on the bacteria in the wound.

    Because this answer choice resolves this paradox exactly as we expected, we'd be justified in selecting (C) and giving the remaining answer choices an at-most cursory reading.

  4. D
    The high concentration of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    This answer choice is very tempting! Like (C), this answer choice describes why the bacteria in honey may not be as harmful as we expected. However, unlike (C), this answer choice does not explain how honey can heal wounds faster than antibiotic ointment. Honey might inhibit the growth of bacteria, but it still adds bacteria to the wound. If antibiotic ointment subtracts the bacteria from the wound, we'd still expect antibiotic ointment to heal the wound faster. While (D) isn't a bad answer choice in a vacuum, it resolves the paradox much less than (C).

  5. E
    The antibiotic ointment used Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    This is another tempting answer choice! It describes why antibiotic ointment can slow the healing process. However, unlike (C), this answer choice does not definitely explain why honey can heal wounds faster than antibiotic ointment. Even if antibiotic ointment damages tissue and slows healing, it's still subtracting the amount of bacteria in a wound. Because honey adds bacteria to the wound, we'd still expect antibiotic ointment to heal wounds about as fast or faster than honey. While (E) isn't a bad answer choice in a vacuum, it resolves the paradox much less than (C).

Discussion

No threads yet—be the first to ask a question or share an approach.

View all discussions Start a discussion