LSAT 93 - Section 3 - Question 02

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the argument?

This is a Main Conclusion question.

Banking industry visionaries foresee a bright day in the near future when customers will be able to transact all their financial business by means of computers or telephones from the comfort of their own homes.

We start off with other people’s position: banking industry visionaries predict that customers will be able to do all their banking from home.

What should we expect to see right after getting other people’s position? The author’s view. And that’s exactly what we get here:

But that may be more of a paradise for banks than for their customers.

Once we translate the referential language, “that,” as well as the word “paradise,” (which I’ll loosely translate as “good thing”), the full idea is this: “Customers doing all their banking from home may be more of a good thing for banks than for customers.”

Note that this isn’t a rejection of the banking industry visionaries’ view — the author isn’t saying that people won’t be able to do their banking at home. So in that sense, the author’s response isn’t the one I was most expecting. Usually right after someone’s viewpoint, the author criticizes it or rejects it. Here, the author just comments on the view: a world where banking is done at home might be better for banks than for customers.

That’s an interesting take – why might banking from home not be so great for customers?

Here’s the reason:

As banks eliminate their branch offices and customer-service employees, customers will have to serve as their own tellers—and pay more transaction fees for their efforts.

In other words, when you bank at home, you have to be the teller, and you pay more transaction fees. (I’ve never thought about it that way before…banks should be paying me when I open their apps on my phone, because I’m actually working as a teller for them.) Those sound like reasons banking from home wouldn’t be so great. That confirms that the line starting with “But…” is the conclusion.

Let’s look for something along the lines of “Doing all your banking business at home is better for banks than for customers.”

Answer Choice (A) In the near future, bank customers will be able to transact all their financial business by means of computers or telephones from their own homes.

This matches up with the banking industry visionaries’ view in the first sentence. But that’s not the conclusion – the conclusion is the author’s comment on that view.

Correct Answer Choice (B) Enabling bank customers to transact all their financial business by means of computers or telephones from their own homes may be more beneficial to banks than to their customers.

This is a great restatement of the conclusion. To get to this answer quickly, we have to recognize that calling something “more of a paradise” means that it’s better, or in (B)’s language, “more beneficial.” And, we also have to unpack the referential language “that” in the second sentence.

Answer Choice (C) As banks eliminate branch offices and customer-service employees, bank customers will have to serve as their own tellers and pay more fees.

This is the last sentence of the stimulus, which was a premise. The author did not offer any other statement to prove that this would happen.

Answer Choice (D) Eliminating branch offices and customer-service employees would benefit the banking industry.

This is almost there, but doesn’t capture the author’s claim that banking from home will be worse for customers. Also, the argument was about the effect of banking from home. The elimination of branch offices and customer-service employees are a by-product of a world where people can bank from home. But that by-product is not the thing the author was calling more of a paradise for banks than for customers.

Answer Choice (E) Enabling customers to transact all their financial business by means of computers or telephones from their own homes would allow banks to eliminate branch offices and customer-service employees.

This is supported by the argument, but it’s not the conclusion. (E) is an assumption made by the author. She does believe that banking from home will lead to elimination of branch offices and customer-service employees, but her conclusion is a judgment about the effects of banking from home on banks and customers. An answer that simply describes some of the effects of banking from home doesn’t contain the author’s judgment.