Preptest 52, Section 1, Questions 15, 16 and 19 Forum

[HiLine]

I actually missed 3 questions in a row: from 14 to 16, plus question 19. I found a thread related to question 14, so 3 questions remain:
For 15, I don't understand why A is wrong.
For 16, I don't understand why A is right and why D is wrong.
For 19, I couldn't even come up with a possible answer while taking the test. Could someone please guide me through the process of finding the correct answer choice?

Any help would be really appreciated.

[zworykin]

I'll give it a shot here, I got all three of them right on my PT.

15:
Three groups worked at different levels. The group that did the easiest workout felt less depressed, the next group didn't notice a difference, and the group that worked hardest actually felt worse afterward.

A) This is actually not a bad answer, but...
B) There is literally no way to dispute this answer. This is why it's better than A. Remember, the question asks about which answer is "most strongly supported." More than one answer can be supported, but one has to be the best.
C, D, E) You already knew these weren't the answer.

16:
If one believes in extraterrestrials, one believes in UFOs. But there are definitely no UFOs. Therefore there are no extraterrestrials.

Rephrasing the answers...
A) If one believes in unicorns, one believes in centaurs. But there are definitely no centaurs. Therefore there are no unicorns. (You can see this is directly parallel to the prompt.)
D) If one believes in unicorns, one believes in centaurs. But there is no good reason to believe in centaurs. Therefore there is no good reason to believe in unicorns. (The prompt, and A, talk about existence. D talks about reasons to believe.)

19:
It has been argued that important decisions should be determined by direct voting rather than by electing officers to choose for the group. This would be a bad idea because an individual has more power to influence policy by choosing an officer than by voting on a single topic. (Basically, you can choose an officer who tends to agree with you often, thus influencing many future decisions instead of just the one decision currently at issue. So, to simplify the argument... "Electing officers allows one vote to influence many decisions; therefore, electing officers is the best plan.")

A) Talks about everyone's vote holding equal weight, which is irrelevant.
B) Talks about judging the outcomes of the votes, which is irrelevant.
C) Talks about how it's better to let people who devote more time to the issue make the decisions. This implies letting officers decide rather than taking a general poll, which goes directly against the argument.
D) Talks about how an officer should make his/her decisions, which is irrelevant.
E) Is all that's left... but really, it says that procedures for decision-making should maximize individuals' power to influence the decisions being made. The argument was clearly in favor of this idea, as it argued that choosing officers was the best plan since it would allow people to influence more than one decision using their vote.

[matt@atlaslsat]

15. B
The information tells us that we have three groups of cyclists: groups A, B, and C.

Group A experienced pulse rates 60% maximum and were less depressed and angry.
Group B experienced pulse rates 70% maximum and did not report benefits.
Group C experienced pulse rates 85% maximum and reported feeling worse with regard these benefits.

The question asks us to find the answer choice that is most supported. Treat this as MUST BE TRUE for all practical matters.

(A) does not have to be true. It seems very likely but does not have to be true. It could be that exercising at pulse rates 95% maximum leads to the benefits described in the stimulus. Likewise, it could be the case that exercising at pulse rates 35% of maximum could lead to no benefits. Think of the information as giving you three discrete points on an x/y axis. The curve of the line could be convex.
(B) must be true. The answer choice is really weak. The best part about the answer is when it says "at least in part". It is easily supported that the effects are somewhat dependent on the level of exercise attained.
(C) need not be true. The best exercise could actually be at 95% of maximum. The information does not let us know for sure.
(D) need not be true. We are not given information that would inform us of the degree of contribution of various factors.
(E) is out of scope. The information is about psychological benefits, while answer choice (E) is about physical benefits.


16. A
This is a tough Match the Flaw question.

Stimulus
Anyone who believes in X believes in Y. Y has been demonstrated false, therefore X is false is well.

(A) Anyone who believes in unicorns believes in centaurs. It has been demonstrated that there are no centaurs, so there are no unicorns as well. This seems to match fairly well.
(B) says that "you do not believe in centaurs" when it should have said that "the existence of centaurs has been demonstrated to be false."
(C) says that "you do not believe in centaurs" when it should have said that "the existence of centaurs has been demonstrated to be false."
(D) is really close and if you're looking mostly at the conclusion (D) appears to be a better answer than (A). However, the evidence says "there is no good reason to believe in centaurs" when it should have said that "the existence of centaurs has been demonstrated to be false."
(E) does not have the relationship order reversed as happens in the stimulus. So answer choice (E) is more like Anyone who believes in X believes in Y. X has been demonstrated false, therefore Y is false is well. Compare to above and it's different.


19. E
In this principle question we need to justify the argument contained in the stimulus with a general rule in the answer choices that will bridge a gap between the evidence and the conclusion in the argument.

The evidence is that the vote of any individual is much more likely to determine organizational policy by influencing the election of an officer than by influencing the result of a direct vote.

The conclusion that is reached is that the organization should make decisions about important issues by the election of an officer rather than direct vote.

A principle that says that an organization should make decisions in a way that will maximize an individual's influence would work - best expressed in answer choice (E).

(A) is out of scope. The issue is not about one person's vote weighing more than any other.
(B) is out of scope. The issue is not evaluating outcomes, but rather selecting the mode of making decisions.
(C) supports the conclusion but does not rely on the evidence and so cannot be said to be a principle that could be applicable.
(D) is out of scope. Again the issue is not which decisions are right or wrong, but rather how should those decisions be made.
(E) bridges the gap between the evidence and the conclusion and is the correct answer. If maximizing the individual's power is the goal, and we know that the individual is more likely to have an impact on the election of an officer, then the conclusion follows that the organization should make decisions by election of an officer.

[hameeds2]

This may sound silly but I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a couple questions.

I've just started my LSAT prep and I was wondering where you all are getting your prep tests? I'm assuming from the LSAC.org website? I have one book from there, it comes with the first ten prep tests I believe.

Also, how many prep tests and if any in particular do you recommend I order? By the way, I have about 4 months to prepare.

Thanks!

[HiLine]

Thanks for the responses guys.

15: I failed to recognize that a belief being false means that what is believed in does not exist. I guess that is the most important point that I missed.
16: for some reason I just couldn't convince myself that an exercise that maintains a higher pulse rate is also more intense. Now that I am convinced after some careful thought, B can't be refuted. The point about an out-of-range pulse rate possibly producing the opposite effect is a great one and can help eliminate answer choice A.
19: failure to identify the conclusion and premises on my part.