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

Question 250

Several recent studies establish that most people would want to be informed if they had any serious medical condition. In each study, over 80 percent of the people surveyed indicated that they would want to be told.

Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument EXCEPT:

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In another recent study, most of the people surveyed indicated that they would not want to be told if they had a serious medical condition.
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People often do not indicate their true feelings when responding to surveys.
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Some of the researchers conducting the studies had no background in medicine.
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Some questions asked in the studies suggested that reasonable people would want to be told if they had a serious medical condition.
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The people surveyed in the studies were all young students in introductory psychology courses.

Question 251

Historian: Political regimes that routinely censor various forms of expression on the grounds that they undermine public morality inevitably attempt to expand the categories of proscribed expression to include criticisms that these regimes perceive to threaten their power. Accordingly, many totalitarian regimes classify as blasphemous or pornographic those writings that would, if widely influential, reduce public passivity.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the historian's reasoning depends?

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Unless a piece of writing expresses something that is widely believed, it is unlikely to be very popular.
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Not all political regimes that routinely censor forms of expression on the grounds that they erode public morality are totalitarian regimes.
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A totalitarian regime can perceive loss of public passivity as a threat to its power.
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Widespread public passivity is usually needed fora regime to retain political power.
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Most writings that totalitarian regimes label blasphemous or pornographic would, if widely influential, reduce public passivity.

Question 252

Ethicist: Both ASA and TPA are clot-dissolving agents. Recent studies show that the more expensive agent, TPA, would save at most two more lives than would ASA out of every 50 cardiac patients to whom they are post operatively administered. However, since the relatives of the patients who die simply because they were given the less expensive medicine would be particularly grieved, the financial saving involved in using ASA over TPA must also be weighed against such considerations.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the ethicist's argument?

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ASA should never be given to postoperative cardiac patients in place of TPA.
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TPA is a slightly more effective clot-dissolving agent than ASA.
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The extra expense of TPA cannot be weighed simply against the few additional lives saved.
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SA is a less expensive clot-dissolving agent than TPA.
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Relatives of a patient who has died grieve more if the patient received ASA rather than TPA.

Reference / correct answer:

The extra expense of TPA cannot be weighed simply against the few additional lives saved.

Next we’re asked to figure out the conclusion of the ethicist’s argument, so let’s paraphrase: Of two clot-dissolving agents, the costlier one, TPA, would save at most two more lives out of every 50 cardiac patients than would ASA when given after an operation. But, since relatives of those who don’t survive surgery would feel worse if the less effective, cheaper ASA were given, one shouldn’t base the decision of which drug to use on financial concerns alone. Choices [TPA is a slightly more effective…], [SA is a less expensive…] and [Relatives of a patient who has died grieve…] repeat the facts of the matter; they are the evidence for the conclusion summarized in choice [The extra expense of TPA cannot be…]. We know the last part of the last sentence is the conclusion because it is prescriptive; it says what the author thinks should be done, based on all of the evidence given before. It’s the only choice that passes the Training One Sentence Test; that is, if all the author were allowed was one sentence, choice [The extra expense of TPA cannot be…] is the statement that would best convey his point. Choices [TPA is a slightly more effective…], [SA is a less expensive…] and [Relatives of a patient who has died grieve…] are all too narrow to encapsulate the entire argument; as we saw, each is a piece leading up to the main point.

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