PrepTest 157

[lcid:3726] Prep Test 157 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S3 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

Future overall demand for Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

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 facts Determine which general idea the passage provides an example of Use anticipations to select the answer choice that describes the general idea the passage illustrates
Generally, the correct idea will need to be expressed in weak language

Answer Anticipation

Even though this question stem uses the phrase "following principles," we shouldn't treat this like a Principle (Strengthen) question. Those questions feature an argument in the passage, while this passage is clearly a set of facts. So, it's better to approach this like an Illustration question. This passage shows that, although we can accurately predict the demand for professors from current birth rates, our accuracy goes down the more specific our prediction becomes. We're less accurate with the more specific "music professor" and the least accurate with the most specific "jazz studies professor." Apparently, we're good at predicting how many little tykes will go to college, but not so good at predicting what they'll study once there. From this example, we can make a generalization. We'll just replace some of the specific nouns, like "professors," with more generic terms. We can say something like, "Our predictions become less accurate the more specific they are." To be safe, we should probably soften the language a bit. After all, we only have one example to make this generalization from. We can't say what always or even usually happens. So, let's go with, "Our predictions sometimes become less accurate the more specific they are."

Answer choices

  1. A
    The more detailed and Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    This doesn't match our anticipation, so we can quickly eliminate it. After all, the passage doesn't tell us our predictions become more precise or accurate when we use "more detailed and complete" evidence. The evidence doesn't change — it's always based on the current birth rates.

  2. B
    The more general the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    This is the glass-half-full version of our anticipation, but it works! We said the correct answer should say something like, "Our predictions sometimes become less accurate the more specific they are." This gives us the other side of that idea — that our predictions become more accurate the more general they are. That's totally supported by the passage since the most accurate prediction was the most general one.

    This answer choice would certainly be better if it was stated in weaker, easier-to-support language. So, it's a good idea to see if any remaining options match our anticipation but use softer, more justifiable language. If none match our anticipation, we'll put aside our reservations and select this option.

  3. C
    Predicting future trends becomes Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    This doesn't conform to our anticipation, so we'll toss it out. After all, the passage doesn't describe predicting the demand for professors at different, "more temporally remote" points in the future. The passage didn't make predictions for the demand 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 50 years from now, and so on. So, this statement isn't illustrated by the passage.

  4. D
    The more detailed and Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    This doesn't match our anticipation, so we can eliminate it. The passage doesn't tell us we can make more confident predictions when we use "more detailed and complete" evidence. The evidence the passage references doesn't change — it's always based on the current birth rates.

  5. E
    Predictions based only on Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    This doesn't match our anticipation, so we can eliminate it. After all, the passage illustrates that some predictions based on general trends can be accurate: we can predict the demand for professors based on current birth rate trends.

Discussion

  • Why not A? 1 reply

    Started by MelissaEngelking

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