LSAT 101 – Section 2 – Question 19

LSAT 101 - Section 2 - Question 19

December 1997

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT101 S2 Q19
+LR
Except +Exc
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Math +Math
A
2%
166
B
12%
165
C
3%
166
D
40%
166
E
44%
170
156
172
180
 +Hardest 150.088 +SubsectionMedium

J.Y.’s explanation

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In Australia the population that is of driving age has grown larger over the last five years, but the annual number of traffic fatalities has declined. This leads to the conclusion that, overall, the driving-age population of Australia consists of more skillful drivers now than five years ago.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that the overall driving-age population of Australia must have more skillful drivers now compared to five years ago. This is based on the fact that, even though the driving age population has grown over the last five years, the annual number of traffic deaths has gone down over that time.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there’s no other causal explanation for the decrease in annual traffic deaths other than an increase in the skill of drivers.

A
Three years ago, a mandatory seat-belt law went into effect throughout Australia.
This is a potential alternate explanation for the decrease in traffic deaths. Maybe the law caused more people to wear seat belts, which saved more lives.
B
Five years ago, Australia began a major road repair project.
This is a potential alternate explanation for the decrease in traffic deaths. Maybe repairs improved road quality, which allowed for safer driving.
C
Because of increases in the price of fuel, Australians on average drive less each year than in the preceding year.
This is a potential alternate explanation for the decrease in traffic deaths. Maybe average time spent driving went down, which we’d expect to result in fewer deaths from driving.
D
The number of hospital emergency facilities in Australia has doubled in the last five years.
This is a potential alternate explanation for the decrease in traffic deaths. Maybe the increase in emergency facilities made it easier to get to the hospital after an accident, which we’d expect to reduce the number of deaths from those accidents.
E
In response to an increase in traffic fatalities, Australia instituted a program of mandatory driver education five years ago.
We can interpret this as supporting the author’s hypothesis. The driver education program could have contributed to more skillful drivers in the population. Since we can read this as supporting the author’s hypothesis, it’s the correct answer to this Weaken-EXCEPT question.

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LSAT PrepTest 101 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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