LSAT 127 – Section 1 – Question 09

LSAT 127 - Section 1 - Question 09

December 2003

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT127 S1 Q09
+LR
+Exp
Except +Exc
Strengthen +Streng
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
2%
155
B
84%
164
C
9%
157
D
4%
155
E
1%
156
138
147
156
 +Medium 147.168 +SubsectionMedium

In a recent study, each member of two groups of people, Group A (composed of persons sixty-five to seventy-five years old) and Group B (composed of college students), was required to make a telephone call to a certain number at a specified time. The time when each call was initiated was recorded electronically. Group A proved far better at remembering to make a telephone call precisely at a specified time than did Group B. There were fourteen lapses in Group B but only one lapse in Group A. Clearly, at least one type of memory does not suffer as a person ages.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that one type of memory doesn’t decline with age. This is because older people remembered to make calls at a specific time in a study, while college students generally had much more trouble.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the results of the study can be explained by the two groups’ memories. However, if the group of older people wrote down a reminder for themselves, whereas the college group didn’t, then the study would in fact reveal a difference in effort between the two groups.

A
There was the same number of people in each group.
This helps explain that the number of lapses signifies a relative rate. If the group comprised of students had far more people than the group comprised of older people, then we would expect the student group to have far more lapses.
B
The same group of researchers answered the calls made by the callers in both study groups.
This is incredibly unhelpful. We don’t care if anyone answered the calls. We only care if the participants remembered to make the calls.
C
Among the college students there were no persons more than forty years old.
The college students didn’t include older people. Thus, the study isn’t compromised by overlap.
D
Both groups had unrestricted access to telephones for making the required calls.
This defends against a potential weakener—that the two groups had unequal access to phones. The students were able to make calls, but didn’t.
E
The members of the two groups received their instructions approximately the same amount of time before they were to make their telephone calls.
Let’s say the college students had received their instructions three days before having to make the call, while the older people had received their instructions three minutes before having to make the call. That wouldn’t be a very good study.

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LSAT PrepTest 127 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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