LSAC LSAC Certifications LSAT-TEST Questions & Answers

• Question 371:

  Editorialist: Some people argue that ramps and other accommodations for people using wheelchairs are unnecessary in certain business areas because those areas are not frequented by wheelchair users. What happens, however, is that once ramps and other accommodations are installed in these business areas, people who use wheelchairs come there to shop and work.

  Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the editorialist's statements?

  A. Owners of business areas not frequented by wheelchair users generally are reluctant to make modifications.

  B. Businesses that install proper accommodations for wheelchair users have greater profits than those that do not.

  C. Many businesses fail to make a profit because they do not accommodate wheelchair users.

  D. Most businesses are not modified to accommodate wheelchair users.

  E. Some business areas are not frequented by wheelchair users because the areas lack proper accommodations.

  Correct Answer: E

  The editorial boils down to two straightforward ideas: (1) It's alleged that some business areas don't need wheelchair accommodations because no one in wheelchairs goes there. (2) People in wheelchairs would go there if accommodations were provided. Put them together and you get [Some business areas are not frequented by...]. It must be true that the reason why at least the business areas of which the editorial speaks are devoid of folks in wheelchairs, is the lack of accommodations.

• Question 372:

  Some people claim that the reason herbs are not prescribed as drugs by licensed physicians is that the medical effectiveness of herbs is seriously in doubt. No drug can be offered for sale, however, unless it has regulatory-agency approval for medicinal use in specific illnesses or conditions. It costs about $200 million to get regulatory-agency approval for a drug, and only the holder of a patent can expect to recover such large expenses. Although methods of extracting particular substances from herbs can be patented, herbs themselves and their medicinal uses cannot be. Therefore, under the current system licensed physicians cannot recommend the medicinal use of herbs.

  Which one of the following most accurately describes the argumentative technique used in the argument?

  A. questioning a claim about why something is the case by supplying an alternative explanation

  B. attacking the validity of the data on which a competing claim is based

  C. revealing an inconsistency in the reasoning used to develop an opposing position

  D. identifying all plausible explanations for why something is the case and arguing that all but one of them can be eliminated

  E. testing a theory by determining the degree to which a specific situation conforms to the predictions of that theory

  Correct Answer: A

  The author's sheer purpose is to counter the claim made in the first sentence by providing another reasonor "an alternative explanation," in option [questioning a claim about...] is words -- why physicians don't prescribe herbs.

• Question 373:

  Some people claim that the reason herbs are not prescribed as drugs by licensed physicians is that the medical effectiveness of herbs is seriously in doubt. No drug can be offered for sale, however, unless it has regulatory-agency approval for medicinal use in specific illnesses or conditions. It costs about $200 million to get regulatory-agency approval for a drug, and only the holder of a patent can expect to recover such large expenses. Although methods of extracting particular substances from herbs can be patented, herbs themselves and their medicinal uses cannot be. Therefore, under the current system licensed physicians cannot recommend the medicinal use of herbs.

  The argument depends on the assumption that

  A. the medical ineffectiveness of many herbs a streatments for specific illnesses or conditions is well established

  B. the only time a substance is properly used as a drug is when it is prescribed as a drug by a licensed physician

  C. a licensed physician cannot recommend the medicinal use of an herb unless that herb is offered for sale as a drug

  D. some other substances, besides herbs, are not available as drugs because the illnesses they could effectively treat are too uncommon to allow those substances to be marketed profitably as drugs

  E. the cost of medical care would be substantially reduced if faster ways of obtaining regulatory-agency approval for new drugs could be found

  Correct Answer: C

  The author commits a bit of a scope shift early on, one that needs to be repaired by the central assumption. She reports that people are questioning the reason why physicians don't prescribe herbs; they think it's because physicians doubt herbs' effectiveness. Next she says "No drug can be offered for sale, however, unless..." -- emphasis ours, to highlight the scope shift -- and the rest of the argument details the seemingly insuperable problems obstructing the offering of drugs for sale. But the issue was sheer prescription, or the word the author later uses, "recommendation." What about, one might ask in response, physicians prescribing free herbs? Couldn't they do so? Not to the author, they couldn't. So she must be assuming that a necessary condition of a physician's prescription be that the herb be offered as a "drug for sale." If option [a licensed physician cannot recommend...] is false -- if a physician can recommend an herb that's not a drug for sale -- then the argument falls apart.

• Question 374:

  The importance of the ozone layer to terrestrial animals is that it entirely filters out some wavelengths of light but lets others through. Holes in the ozone layer and the dangers associated with these holes are well documented. However, one danger that has not been given sufficient attention is that these holes could lead to severe eye damage for animals of many species.

  Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the statements above, if they are true?

  A. All wavelengths of sunlight that can cause eye damage are filtered out by the ozone layer, where it is intact.

  B. Few species of animals live on a part of the earth's surface that is not threatened by holes in the ozone layer.

  C. Some species of animals have eyes that will not suffer any damage when exposed to unfiltered sunlight.

  D. A single wavelength of sunlight can cause severe damage to the eyes of most species of animals.

  E. Some wavelengths of sunlight that cause eye damage are more likely to reach the earth's surface where there are holes in the ozone layer than where there are not.

  Correct Answer: E

  Another Inference question in which the sentences don't add up to an argument. The right answer is perhaps most easily recognized once you see why the other four are wrong. A. is unwarranted because we have no information that all of the sunlight that might potentially damage the eyes is filtered out. The stimulus leaves room for a lot of other waves of sunlight that may harm the eyes. B. is way too comprehensive; the stimulus doesn't deal explicitly with the density of species distribution across the earth. The issue of immunity to eye damage through sunlight [Some species of animals have...] never comes up; and if nothing else, the word "most" kills option [A single wavelength of sunlight...] -- nothing in the stimulus refers to the majority of anything.

• Question 375:

  At some point in any discussion of societal justice, the only possible doctrinal defense seems to be "That is the way we do things here." Different communities that each recognize the dignity and equality of all citizens - will, for example, nevertheless settle on somewhat different provisions for the elderly. So we can see that general principles of justice are never sufficient to determine the details of social policies fixed within a particular state.

  Which one of the following statements, if true, most strengthens the argument concerning the general principles of justice?

  A. Although two socialist states each adhered to the same electoral principles, one had a different type of machine for counting ballots in public elections than the other did.

  B. Two democratic industrial states, both subscribing to capitalistic economic principles, differed markedly in the respective proportions of land they devoted to forestry.

  C. Although each adhered to its own principles, a democracy and a monarchy each had the same distribution of wealth in its population.

  D. Two states founded on and adhering to similar principles of justice had different requirements that had to be met in order to be eligible for government-subsidized daycare.

  E. Two societies based on different principles of justice, each adhering to its own principles, had the same unemployment benefits.

  Correct Answer: D

  This stimulus cuts a little deeper than most, philosophically speaking. The idea introduced in the first sentence and reinforced at the end is that any given state will have its own conception of "social justice" that goes beyond any universal set of principles about that which is just. The example they provide -- that two states may have different ideas about the just way to treat the elderly, even though both states operate under the same general ideals -- helps to clarify matters and also may help to identify [Two states founded on and adhering to...] as correct. In the same way as the stimulus example, it is revealing that two different states have different ideas about the just way to qualify for day care, even though their general principles of justice are the same.

• Question 376:

  Most people invest in the stock market without doing any research of their own. Some of these people rely solely on their broker's advice, whereas some others make decisions based merely on hunches. Other people do some research of their own, but just as often rely only on their broker or on hunches. Only a few always do their own research before investing. Nonetheless, a majority of investors in the stock market make a profit.

  If the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following must also be true?

  A. Some people who make a profit on their investments in the stock market do so without doing any research of their own.

  B. Most people who invest in the stock market either rely solely on their broker or make decisions based merely on hunches.

  C. Some people who do investment research on their own, while just as often relying on their broker or on hunches, make a profit in the stock market.

  D. Most people who invest in the stock market without doing any research of their own make a profit.

  E. Most people who rely solely on their broker rather than on hunches make a profit in the stock market.

  Correct Answer: A

  As usual in an inference question, the stimulus is not an argument but a mere set of statements, these dealing with the different ways in which people make their investment decisions. Also as usual, not every statement is needed to lead to the correct answer, and here correct choice [Some people who make a profit on...] comes out of the first and last sentences only. Most investors don't do their own research (that's sentence 1) but most investors make a profit (that's sentence 5). Put them together, and it must be true that at least one investor who doesn't do his own research must make a profit; there's got to be some overlap between the two groups.

• Question 377:

  Unlike newspapers in the old days, today's newspapers and televised news programs are full of stories about murders and assaults in our city. One can only conclude from this change that violent crime is now out of control, and, to be safe from personal attack, one should not leave one's home except for absolute necessities.

  Which one of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the conclusion?

  A. Newspapers and televised news programs have more comprehensive coverage of violent crime than newspapers did in the old days.

  B. National data show that violent crime is out of control everywhere, not just in the author's city.

  C. Police records show that people experience more violent crimes in their own neighborhoods than they do outside their neighborhoods.

  D. Murder comprised a larger proportion of violent crimes in the old days than it does today.

  E. News magazines play a more important role today in informing the public about crime than they did in the old days.

  Correct Answer: A

  The conclusion here is rather hysterical given the relatively straightforward evidence. Simply on the grounds that the media are full of violent stories, the author concludes that there's an epidemic of violent crime going on that should keep all of us behind locked doors as much as possible. But if the increase in media crime coverage is actually due to some factor of taste or readership, then the link between the media coverage and the incidence of crime is severed. Option [Newspapers and televised news...] defines the greater crime coverage as a media policy rather than a reflection of daily reality on the street.

• Question 378:

  The recent cleaning of frescoes in the Sistine Chapel has raised important aesthetic issues. Art historians are now acutely aware that the colors of the works they study may differ from the works' original colors. Art historians have concluded from this that interpretations of the frescoes that seemed appropriate before the frescoes' restoration may no longer be appropriate.

  Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the art historians' reasoning?

  A. The appropriateness of an interpretation of an artwork is relative to the general history of the period in which the interpretation is made.

  B. The restoration of an artwork may alter it such that it will have colors that the artist did not intend for it to have.

  C. The colors of an artwork are relevant to an appropriate interpretation of that work.

  D. Art historians are the best judges of the value of an artwork.

  E. Interpretations of an artwork are appropriate if they originated during the period when the work was created.

  Correct Answer: C

  The art historians feel that in light of the cleaned and hence differently-colored Sistine Chapel frescoes, previous interpretations may no longer be valid. To justify such a position, it would have to be true that the colors within those frescoes have some pertinence to the frescoes' interpretation. Correct choice [The colors of an artwork are...] generalizes from that specific case to a general principle to which the art historians' argument is perfectly applicable.

• Question 379:

  Limited research indicates that therapeutic intervention before the onset of mental disorders can mitigate factors identified as major contributors to them. But a much more comprehensive research program is needed to verify these results and allow for the design of specific health care measures. Thus, in order to explore a potential means of cost-effectively helping people prone to mental disorders, we should increase funding for intervention research.

  Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

  A. Most minor mental disorders are more expensive to treat than other minor health problems.

  B. Prevention research can be coordinated by drawing together geneticists, neurologists, and behavioral scientists.

  C. Reducing known risk factors for mental disorders is relatively inexpensive compared to the long-term treatment required

  D. Current funding for intervention research is now higher than it has ever been before.

  E. Once a mental disorder disappears, there is a fair chance that it will recur, given that complete cures are rare.

  Correct Answer: C

  The author believes that more funding for intervention research is needed to see whether those with mental disorders can be cost-effectively helped. The key is that phrase "cost-effectively," because the cost issue is raised only in the conclusion and not in the evidence. All we get as evidence is the statement that early identification of risk factors through intervention can "mitigate" those factors. The argument, therefore, lacks support that such mitigation will be more cost- effective, which is what option [Reducing known risk factors for...] provides -- evidence that the author's recommended course of action may end up cheaper than the alternative.

• Question 380:

  The radiation absorbed by someone during an ordinary commercial airline flight is no more dangerous than that received during an ordinary dental X-ray. Since a dental X-ray does negligible harm to a person, we can conclude that the radiation absorbed by members of commercial airline flight crews will also do them negligible harm.

  A flaw in the argument is its failure to consider that

  A. there may be many forms of dangerous radiation other than X-rays and the kinds of radiation absorbed by members of commercial airline flight crews

  B. receiving a dental X-ray may mitigate other health risks, whereas flying does not

  C. exposure to X-rays of higher intensity than dentalX-rays may be harmful

  D. the longer and the more often one is exposed to radiation, the more radiation one absorbs and the more seriously one is harmed

  E. flying at high altitude involves risks in addition to exposure to minor radiation

  Correct Answer: D

  The comparison between airline flight and dental X-rays should seem fairly familiar, so perhaps the flaw in the conclusion will be fairly easily spotted. A dental X-ray is a one time thing, but airline employees fly for sustained periods. The equivalence of radiation dosages about which the author speaks so confidently may be wiped out, in the airplanes, over extended time.