LSAT 132 – Section 4 – Question 05

LSAT 132 - Section 4 - Question 05

December 2010

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT132 S4 Q05
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
1%
151
B
74%
164
C
1%
152
D
4%
155
E
20%
160
132
147
162
 +Medium 146.238 +SubsectionMedium

Researchers announced recently that over the past 25 years the incidence of skin cancer caused by exposure to harmful rays from the sun has continued to grow in spite of the increasingly widespread use of sunscreens. This shows that using sunscreen is unlikely to reduce a person’s risk of developing such skin cancer.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that using sunscreen probably won’t reduce the risk of skin cancer. She bases this on research showing that skin cancer has increased over the same 25-year time frame sunscreen use has increased.

Notable Assumptions
Based on a positive correlation between sunscreen use and skin cancer, the author assumes the former isn’t preventing or mitigating the latter. She evidently doesn’t believe rates of skin cancer would’ve been even higher without sunscreen. The author also believes that the 25-year time frame in question is adequate to draw conclusions about the effects of sunscreen on skin cancer rates. She must believe skin cancer develops fairly quickly, rather than as a latent effect of too much sun exposure.

A
Most people who purchase a sunscreen product will not purchase the most expensive brand available.
The author doesn’t care about how much sunscreens cost.
B
Skin cancer generally develops among the very old as a result of sunburns experienced when very young.
The study doesn’t account for most instances of skin cancer: those that develop over a lifetime. Thus, the increased use of sunscreen in the last 25 years will only show up in skin cancer data much further down the road.
C
The development of sunscreens by pharmaceutical companies was based upon research conducted by dermatologists.
Perhaps dermatologists missed the mark. The study shows skin cancer and sunscreen use increasing over the same time frame.
D
People who know that they are especially susceptible to skin cancer are generally disinclined to spend a large amount of time in the sun.
We need to weaken the connection between sunscreen use and skin cancer that shows up in the study. This simply says a particularly vulnerable group is unlikely to be out in the sun.
E
Those who use sunscreens most regularly are people who believe themselves to be most susceptible to skin cancer.
We don’t know if these people end up getting skin cancer or not. This doesn’t tell us sunscreen is in fact likely to help prevent skin cancer, which is what would weaken the author’s claim.

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LSAT PrepTest 132 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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