LSAT-Section-1-Logical-Reasoning Section One : Logical Reasoning - Practice Questions

Question 343

A recent national study of the trash discarded in several representative areas confirmed that plastics constitute a smaller proportion of all trash than paper products do, whether the trash is measured by weight or by volume. The damage that a given weight or volume of trash does to the environment is roughly the same whether the trash consists of plastics or paper products. Contrary to popular opinion, therefore, the current use of plastics actually does less harm to the environment nationwide than that of paper products.

The main conclusion of the argument is that

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plastics constitute a smaller proportion of the nation's total trash than do paper products
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the ratio of weight to volume is the same for plastic trash as it is for paper trash
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popular opinion regards the use of paper products as less harmful to the environment than the use of products made from plastic
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contrary to popular opinion, a shift away from the use of paper products to the use of plastics would benefit the environment nationwide
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at this time more harm is being done to the environment nationwide by the use of paper than by the use of plastics

Question 344

A recent national study of the trash discarded in several representative areas confirmed that plastics constitute a smaller proportion of all trash than paper products do, whether the trash is measured by weight or by volume. The damage that a given weight or volume of trash does to the environment is roughly the same whether the trash consists of plastics or paper products. Contrary to popular opinion, therefore, the current use of plastics actually does less harm to the environment nationwide than that of paper products.

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

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A given weight of paper product may increase in volume after manufacture and before being discarded as trash.
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According to popular opinion, volume is a more important consideration than weight in predicting the impact of a given quantity of trash on the environment.
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The sum of damage caused to the environment by paper trash and by plastic trash is greater than that caused by any other sort of trash that was studied.
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The production of any paper product is more harmful to the environment than is the production of an equal weight or volume of any plastic.
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The proportion of plastic trash to paper trash varies from one part of the country to another.

Question 345

Consultant: Most workers do not have every item they produce judged for quality, but each piece a freelance writer authors is evaluated. That is why freelance writers produce such high-quality work.

The consultant's statements, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

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A piece authored by a freelance writer is generally evaluated more strictly than the majority of items most workers produce.
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By having every piece of their work evaluated, some workers are caused to produce high-quality work.
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No other workers produce higher quality work than do freelance writers.
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Only freelance writers have every item they produce evaluated for quality.
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Some workers produce high-quality work in spite of the fact that not every item they produce is judged for quality.

Reference / correct answer:

By having every piece of their work evaluated, some workers are caused to produce high-quality work.

Rather than predict anything, we can simply check each choice against the stimulus and look for that which must be true. Option [A piece authored by…] need not, since the strictness of evaluation is never mentioned and hence need not be the reason for freelancers’ high-quality work. But option [By having every piece of…] echoes the author’s overall point. The workers in this option is talking about are the freelance writers. They, at least, are always evaluated and “that is why” they produce (they “are caused to produce”) high-quality work.

The wise student gives at least a cursory glance at those that remain. Option [No other workers produce higher…] makes an irrelevant and unwarranted distinction between freelancers and others; for all we know, other types of workers may produce even better work than do freelance writers. And option [Only freelance writers have…] is a flagrant misreading of sentence 1’s second clause. The statement “All freelance writers are evaluated” cannot be read to mean “Only freelance writers are evaluated,” as option [Only freelance writers have…] would have it. Finally, the author takes no position on the quality of workers other than freelance writers; notwithstanding that most workers don’t enjoy quality control, they still might produce plenty of high-quality work.

LSAT-Section-1-Logical-Reasoning – Section One : Logical Reasoning