PrepTest 112
[lcid:3546] Prep Test 112 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S3
Logical reasoning
Question prompt
Medical doctor: Sleep deprivation
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
Argument
Valid or Flawed
Flawed
Question Type
Strengthen Questions
Stimulus Summary
Problem - Most people are sleep-deprived, which causes a lot of problems
Solution - Give people flexibility with their work schedules
Answer Anticipation
This argument falls into a common pattern - a problem/solution argument. The Doctor presents a problem - sleep deprivation and the concurrent effects of it - and then proposes a solution.
When an argument falls into the basic problem/solution pattern (a problem is presented, and the author argues for a single solution), the flaw is frequently that the solution presented isn’t established as addressing the problem, or is established as being, at most, a partial solution. We should always start analyzing these arguments along that front.
Here, the problem is sleep deprivation. Does allowing people a flexible work schedule address that? Not directly. Just because you can work around your own schedule doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to get enough sleep! Maybe it just means that you’ll spend your days with family or friends and then work through the night, making sleep deprivation worse.
To strengthen this argument, then, we need to find an answer that suggests such flexibility would, in fact, lead to more sleep for the average person.
Answer choices
-
AThe primary cause of Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice A is not credited
Scheduling flexibility wouldn’t help with the amount of work one needs to do, so this answer cuts against the argument. -
BEmployees would get more Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice B matches the stem
This answer directly connects scheduling flexibility to getting more sleep, thus establishing that the proposed solution would, at least partially, address the problem. This answer therefore strengthens the argument. -
CIndividuals vary widely in Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice C is not credited
The stimulus establishes that most people suffer from sleep deprivation, regardless of how much sleep they require, so this answer doesn’t really affect the argument at all. -
DMore people would suffer Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice D is not credited
This answer ties sleep deprivation to the number of hours worked, not how flexible one’s schedule is. If anything, this suggests that the proposed solution might not address the cause of the sleep deprivation problem. -
EThe extent of one's Remaining source text redacted.
Why choice E is not credited
Similar to (D), this answer ties sleep deprivation to something other than scheduling flexibility - the number of hours per day worked. If that’s the case, then the proposed solution won’t address the cause of sleep deprivation, suggesting that the proposed solution might not work.