LSAT 124 – Section 3 – Question 11

LSAT 124 - Section 3 - Question 11

December 2007

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT124 S3 Q11
+LR
Strengthen +Streng
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
6%
159
B
1%
154
C
73%
166
D
2%
157
E
18%
158
145
154
163
 +Harder 145.896 +SubsectionMedium

A recent epidemiological study found that businesspeople who travel internationally on business are much more likely to suffer from chronic insomnia than are businesspeople who do not travel on business. International travelers experience the stresses of dramatic changes in climate, frequent disruption of daily routines, and immersion in cultures other than their own, stresses not commonly felt by those who do not travel. Thus, it is likely that these stresses cause the insomnia.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The author hypothesizes that increased stress causes more insomnia in businesspeople who travel relative to those who don’t. This is because travelling exposes you to stressors that you wouldn’t have at home.

Notable Assumptions

The author assumes that there isn’t some other factor that makes travelling businesspeople more likely to have insomnia. In other words, the author assumes that stress is the important factor here, and not something else—maybe people who travel for business have more demanding jobs, which makes them more prone to insomnia.

A
Most international travel for the sake of business occurs between countries with contiguous borders.

This does not affect the argument. Most business travel occurring between countries with contiguous borders doesn’t tell us about how similar those countries are culturally and climate-wise. We would have to make several assumptions for this to have any impact.

B
Some businesspeople who travel internationally greatly enjoy the changes in climate and immersion in another culture.

This does not affect the argument. It could be that people enjoy the experience but still feel the stresses described. Also, the argument claims travelling businesspeople are more likely to have insomnia—the author isn’t arguing that all of them do.

C
Businesspeople who already suffer from chronic insomnia are no more likely than businesspeople who do not to accept assignments from their employers that require international travel.

This strengthens the argument by addressing a potential alternative explanation for the phenomenon: that businesspeople who already have insomnia are more likely to travel than businesspeople who don’t have insomnia. This would mean the stress has nothing to do with it.

D
Experiencing dramatic changes in climate and disruption of daily routines through international travel can be beneficial to some people who suffer from chronic insomnia.

This does not affect the argument. (D) says people who already have insomnia may benefit from the stresses described. This is outside the scope of the causal mechanism described in the stimulus, which is that the stresses cause insomnia in the first place.

E
Some businesspeople who once traveled internationally but no longer do so complain of various sleep-related ailments.

This does not affect the argument. We don’t know if these ailments include insomnia, which is what we’re concerned with. Also, the stimulus only discusses stress as the cause of insomnia for travelling businesspeople—other people can have insomnia for other reasons.

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LSAT PrepTest 124 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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