LSAT 124 – Section 3 – Question 04

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PT124 S3 Q04
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Sampling +Smpl
A
88%
164
B
5%
160
C
0%
156
D
6%
157
E
1%
157
127
139
151
+Easier 145.896 +SubsectionMedium

A recent test of an electric insect control device discovered that, of the more than 300 insects killed during one 24-hour period, only 12 were mosquitoes. Thus this type of device may kill many insects, but will not significantly aid in controlling the potentially dangerous mosquito population.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that an insect control device will not help to control the mosquito population. This is because a recent test showed that only a small fraction of the total insects the control device killed were mosquitos.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there were mosquitos in proximity to the control device that weren’t killed during the test. If the 12 mosquitos the controlled device killed were the only 12 mosquitos nearby, then the author couldn’t draw his conclusion about how useful the control device will be in controlling mosquito populations.

A
A careful search discovered no live mosquitoes in the vicinity of the device after the test.
While the control device only killed 12 mosquitos during the test, it appears to have killed all 12 mosquitos that flew by. Thus, the control device does in fact seem to be helpful in controlling mosquito populations.
B
A very large proportion of the insects that were attracted to the device were not mosquitoes.
Even if this were true, we need to know more about the mosquitos. What percentage of those nearby did the control device kill?
C
The device is more likely to kill beneficial insects than it is to kill harmful insects.
We don’t care about how generally beneficial the control device is. We’re interested in its usefulness for controlling mosquito populations.
D
Many of the insects that were killed by the device are mosquito-eating insects.
If anything, this suggests the control device certainly wasn’t killing many mosquitos. The mosquitos predators were dead so the mosquitos would’ve had more opportunity to be killed by he control device.
E
The device does not succeed in killing all of the insects that it attracts.
We don’t care about all the insects attracted to the device. We need to know about the mosquitos.

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