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

Question 262

Appliance dealer: Appliance manufacturers commonly modify existing models without giving the modified versions new model names. Some people have complained that this practice makes it impossible for consumers to be certain that the appliance they are about to purchase is identical to the one they may have seen at a neighbor's or read about in a consumer magazine. Yet manufacturers' modifications to existing models are invariably improvements that benefit the buyer. Therefore, consumers have little reason to object to this practice.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the dealer's argument?

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Appliances are generally purchased with the expectation that they will continue to be used for several years.
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Appliances usually carry a model number that provides substantially more detailed information about the product than does the model name.
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Appliance manufacturers frequently sell identical products under several different model names.
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Improved versions of appliances typically become available before vendors have stopped selling the older versions of the appliance with the same model name.
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The high cost of product advertising makes appliance manufacturers generally reluctant to change model names to reflect modifications to their products.

Question 263

In our solar system only one of the nine planets – Earth – qualifies as fit to sustain life. Nonetheless, using this ratio, and considering the astonishingly large number of planetary systems in the universe, we must conclude that the number of planets fit to sustain some form of life is extremely large.

The argument is questionable because it presumes which one of the following without providing justification?

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If a planet is Earth like, then life will arise on it.
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Our solar system is similar to many other planetary systems in the universe.
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The conditions necessary for life to begin are well understood.
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Life similar to Earth's could evolve under conditions very different from those on Earth.
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Most other planetary systems in the universe have nine planets.

Question 264

Sociologist: Suggestions for improved efficiency that derive from employers are unlikely to elicit positive responses from employees, who tend to resent suggestions they did not generate. An employer should therefore engage the employee in a non-threatening dialogue that emphasizes the positive contributions of the employee to the development of such ideas. Then the ideas employers want to try will be implemented more quickly and effectively.

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

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Employees are more likely to accept suggestions for improved efficiency when these suggestions are not obviously directed at them.
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Employees are more likely to carry out ideas for improved efficiency that they believe they have participated in generating.
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Employees are more likely to implement ideas for improved efficiency that derive from a dialogue in which they have participated than from a dialogue in which they have not participated.
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Employees are more likely to generate good ideas for improved efficiency when they do not feel resentment about the process that attempts to formulate such ideas.
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Employees are more likely to resent employers who attempt to implement the employers5rather than the employees' ideas for improved efficiency.

Reference / correct answer:

Employees are more likely to carry out ideas for improved efficiency that they believe they have participated in generating.

Finally, we need to find the principle that helps the argument, which means we’re looking for a strengthener stated in general terms. According to the sociologist, employees don’t like to be told flat-out by their employers how to improve efficiency. Instead, an employer should have a more personable chat with an employee, in which both can contribute to the discussion. This will secure employee buy-in, so to speak, and will result in better implementation of the ideas employers want to try. This is actually a masterpiece of corporate manipulation: The trick is to get employees to believe they’re contributing, essentially in order to get them to work better (read: harder), while implementing “the ideas that employers want to try.” Inherent in this scheme is the notion that employees will implement new ideas more quickly and efficiently if they perceive themselves to be a positive part of the process, instead of just having orders handed down to them. Option [Employees are more likely to carry out…] supports this in every way: Employees are more likely to implement new ideas on improving efficiency that they think they helped to generate.

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