LSAT 121 – Section 1 – Question 05

LSAT 121 - Section 1 - Question 05

December 2005

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT121 S1 Q05
+LR
Main conclusion or main point +MC
Net Effect +NetEff
A
91%
164
B
0%
159
C
0%
155
D
7%
158
E
1%
154
126
137
148
 +Easier 145.604 +SubsectionMedium

Compact discs (CDs) offer an improvement in artistic freedom over vinyl records. As the record needle moves in toward a vinyl record’s center, it must fight centrifugal force. Wide, shallow, or jagged grooves will cause the needle to jump; consequently, the song nearest the center—the last song on the side—cannot have especially loud, high-pitched, or low-pitched passages. The CD suffers no such limitations, leaving artists free to end recordings with any song.

Summarize Argument
The author argues that CDs are superior in artistic freedom when compared with vinyl records. The support for this conclusion is that vinyl records have some technical constraints that CDs do not have. These technical constraints mean that vinyl records cannot have loud, high-pitched, or low-pitched parts on the last song of each side of the record, because these sounds are associated with grooves that can cause the record needle to jump; CDs do not have these limitations, so artists using CDs can end their recordings however they would like.

Identify Conclusion
The conclusion is that CDs provide more artistic freedom than vinyl records: “Compact discs (CDs) offer an improvement in artistic freedom over vinyl records.”

A
CDs provide greater artistic latitude than do vinyl records.
This is a paraphrase of the first sentence of the argument, which is the argument’s conclusion. The rest of the argument acts as support for this claim.
B
On vinyl records, the song farthest from the center can have loud, high-pitched, or low-pitched passages.
The argument does not discuss songs farthest from the center on vinyl records, so this is not the main conclusion.
C
As the record needle moves in toward the vinyl record’s center, the centrifugal force on the needle becomes stronger.
This answer may be supported by the argument, but this relationship is not directly specified in the argument. Further, this answer is not a paraphrase of the first sentence of the argument, so it is not the main conclusion.
D
CDs represent a considerable technological advance over vinyl records.
The argument’s conclusion is about artistic freedom. The idea of technological advancement is distinct from artistic freedom, so this is not the main conclusion. Also, the modifier “considerable” is not supported from the information given.
E
CDs can have louder passages, as well as both higher- and lower-pitched passages, than can vinyl records.
We know that the last songs on vinyl records cannot have especially loud, high-, or low- pitched sounds; we do not have information to compare generalized sound ranges for CDs with those of vinyl records. E makes unsupported generalized comparisons.

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LSAT PrepTest 121 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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