Preptest 7 Section 1 # 25 Forum

[crysmissmichelle]

I am having a lot of trouble figuring out why #25 is D. It is a resolve the paradox question with assertons that

1. antitheft devices reduce car theft risk and
2. cars with antitheft devices are more likely to be stolen than cars without.

I really thought the answer was B, but it is supposed to be D and I cannot figure out why.

[d34d9823]

I am having a lot of trouble figuring out why #25 is D. It is a resolve the paradox question with assertons that

1. antitheft devices reduce car theft risk and
2. cars with antitheft devices are more likely to be stolen than cars without.

I really thought the answer was B, but it is supposed to be D and I cannot figure out why.

This question is asking you to distinguish between amount of risk and change in the amount of risk. The statement that best resolves the paradox is something along the lines of: "people who are at high risk to start with are more likely to purchase such devices. Thus, although the devices do reduce risk, their risk is still higher than someone who was at low risk to start with."

[Atlas LSAT Teacher]

(B) doesn't resolve the paradox. When you dig in, it's irrelevant whether most cars stolen have no device -- the devices could still increase or reduce risk of theft (there simply may not be that many cars out there with the device). Similarly, just because most cars with the device are not stolen, doesn't mean that the device increases or decreases the risk, maybe 20% are stolen, which is still pretty bad! In essence, (B) just tells us some general statistics, but doesn't explain anything.

(D) gives a reason for why cars that have this theft-reducing device might actually get stolen more often.

An analogy: it's shown that replacement heart valves reduce the risk of death by heart attacks, but, paradoxically, folks with those valves are more likely to have heart attacks than those without them.

(D) would say "the people who tend to get valve replacements are those people who are at a high risk of having a heart attack"

Does that clear it up?

[crysmissmichelle]

That really does clear it up! Thank you guys so much. I was totally having a mental block to the question.