Past LSAT Explained/PrepTest 42

October 2001 Form 1LSS51

Question 08
Disagree (point at issue) Larew concludes that over the past ten years the poorest increased their economic prosperity increased and Mendota does not believe that this increase in economic prosperity occurred; he cites average income in absolute numbers as evidence.

A) Correct, Larews agrees that differential percentage is an accurate measure of economic prosperity and Mendota thinks this is not an accurate measure. B) Both compare bottom and top quintiles, so this is irrelevant. C) Both Larew and Mendota compare the bottom and top quintiles. D) Larews agrees that there were improvements, but Mendota does not disagree that there were any improvements. E) Can both agree with this

Question 14
In 1963, a young macaque monkey was observed venturing into a hot spring to retrieve food which had fallen in. Soon other macaques began to enter the spring, and over a few years this behavior was adopted by the entire troop. Prior to 1963, no macaques had ever been observed in the hot spring; by 1990, the troop was regularly spending time there during the winters. Thus, these macaques are able to adopt and pass on new patterns of social behavior, and are not complete captives of their genetic heritage.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument above?

A) Mutations in the genetic heritage of a certain variety of macaques can occur over a time span as short as a few years or decades

B) New patterns of behavior that emerge in macaque populations over the course of a few years or decades are not necessarily genetically predetermined.

C) only when behaviors become typical among an animal population can we conclude that a genetic alteration has occurred in that variety or species

D) The social behaviors of macaques are completely independent of their genetic heritage

E) The macaques' new pattern of behavior will persist over several generations.

Question 16
MBT - Two kinds of horror story (1) Monsters (2) Mad Scientist's Experiments - Monsters sometimes symbolize the protagonist's psychological issues. - Stories about mad science experiments usually express author's feelings. - Both describe violations of laws of nature and are intended make readers feel dread.

A) Some descriptions of monsters describe the laws of nature, not all B) Not MBT C) Only stories about monsters. D) Out-of-scope E) (Correct) Yes, some stories about monsters describe violations of the laws of nature

Question 01
IDENTIFY

This is a Weaken question.

READ

Conclusion: Carl is incompetent. Premise: Lowest rate of solving cases- a statistic- among the detectives.

ANALYZE

The logic hinges on the job performance statistic for Carl. How shall we attack this statistic? We need to find a way to discredit this statistic or make it irrelevant.

CHOOSE

(A) Correct. This fact makes the statistic loses its force. He was assigned to the toughest cases because he was the best. A similar example- because there are fewer A grades given at MIT than at LSAC Community College does not mean the MIT students are worsen than those of the LSAC College.

(B) Incorrect. This is not relevant. Carl’s performance after he became a detective is the issue here and he being respected by the resident isn’t outside the scope. We can use this fact to strengthen the argument, saying that he is incompetent because he is unwilling to risk his reputation among the residents and always plays Mr. Nice guy to everyone.

For Choice B to be correct, the passage should look something like this:

(C) Incorrect. Since Carl and other detectives are provided with the same kind of resources, it does not weaken the conclusion (and thus defending Carl’s position within the police force) necessarily. Carl performed miserably despite having all the same resources as the others.
 * Carl is clearly the most competent detective. Though he has been a detective for less than a year, he is by far the most respected detective on the police force, which includes many who have been detective for more than ten years.  Since people generally show the greatest respect to the most capable detectives, Carl’s excellent reputation can only have come from the display of his extraordinary ability in such a short period of time.


 * Detectives on the police force must be clairvoyant. They seem to know everything about the suspects and all the relevant information that can potentially lead to the solution.  A normal person is incapable of remembering and keeping track of all the information that detectives handle daily and this can only be possible if the detectives have some supernatural powers.

(D) Incorrect. This fact only shows that he improved but does not show that he is not incompetent. We can actually use this fact to argue that Carl is truly helpless. You can say his rate of improvement is so low and performance so dismal for someone with 4 years of prior detective experience.


 * Carl is clearly an extremely competent detective. No other detective on the police force has solved a greater percentage of the cases assigned than Carl- 1 out of 25- despite that he has been on the police force only for three years.  His impressive performance despite of his relative inexperience now rivals those of detectives who have worked for more than 7 years.

(E) Incorrect. Promotion is totally out of scope. We can concerned with competence here. Moreover, promotion is not always based on merit- in many government organizations, it is based on seniority.


 * This yellow page, only six years old, has so many typographical errors. I’ve called dozens of people on the police department using the number on the page and they were all wrong.  Carl who is a detective on the police department said that the department always submits the correct and up to date contact information to the publisher.

Question 02
IDENTIFY

This is a Method of Argument question.
 * linguistics
 * diction
 * psychology

READ

The passage presents a hypothesis.

ANALYZE The structure of the passage is: Premise 1. Old fact (established) Premise 2. New fact (newly revealed) Conclusion. A hypothesis which incorporates the old fact and new fact.

An example of an argument parallel this structure is:

It is well documented that people who take an intensive LSAT coaching course have a strong aversion to the analytical reasoning section. Recently, the LSAC research data have revealed that people who self-study without any outside help also dislike the analytical reasoning section very much. This shows that people's preferences for a certain LSAT section are conditioned not only by some LSAT prep courses but also by independent study.

CHOOSE

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

Question 03
IDENTIFY

This is a Weaken question.
 * high blood presure
 * hypertensive personality

READ

A typical medical topic question.

ANALYZE

A correlation is shown on the first sentence and the second sentence establishes a causal relationship. An LSAT favorite- correlation and causation aren't the same!

CHOOSE

(A) Incorrect. The passage does define the term "hypertensive personality" to be the personality combination of nervousness and anxiousness. Moreover, even if the passage doesn't define the term, it is still incorrect because the flaw is not in the absence of adequate definition. Imagine having to define every single term in any argument if failing to do so would make the argument vulnerable to criticism.

(B) Incorrect. Nowhere in the argument you see the world "permanent". The passage does not presuppose it at all so it is a completely groundless criticism so you can safely ignore it.

(C) Incorrect. The argument goes further than simply restating the claim that hypertensive personality exists. It links it to development of high blood pressure. A nice try but it tackles a flaw that does not exist.

(D) Correct. Exactly what we are looking for.

(E) Incorrect. This is an attractive choice but it does not address the critical flaw of the argument. Moreover, the argument does not preclude other personality traits from causing high blood pressure. The argument did not say "is the only cause of high blood pressure".

Section III Reading Comprehension
Passage I Law Thurgood Marshall Supreme Court justice NAACP civil rights movement public interest law expert testimony public interest litigation

Question 08
Passage 2 Humanity Roy Lichtenstein expressionism Pop Art

Question 01
IDENTIFY This is a Strengthen question.
 * bilirubin

READ

ANALYZE

CHOOSE

Question 02

 * capitalism

READ

An economist makes an argument in favor of capitalism.

ANALYZE

The argument proceeds like this. The communal ties are weakened. The large corporations come in. The communal ties are promoted. The assumption required is that the large corporations somehow have the effect of reversing the effect of weakening the communal ties.

CHOOSE

(A) Incorrect.

(B) Incorrect.

(C) Incorrect.

’’’(D) Correct.’’’

(E) Incorrect.

Question 03
IDENTIFY

This is a Method of Argument question.

READ

ANALYZE

CHOOSE (A) Correct. (B) Incorrect. (C) Incorrect. (D) Incorrect. (E) Incorrect.

Question 26
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