LSAT 137 – Section 2 – Question 17

LSAT 137 - Section 2 - Question 17

October 2012

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT137 S2 Q17
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
Value Judgment +ValJudg
A
1%
151
B
89%
164
C
0%
146
D
1%
155
E
10%
156
135
144
152
 +Medium 146.731 +SubsectionMedium

Educator: Some experimental educational programs, based on the principle that children’s first education should take place at home, instruct parents in how to be their child’s “first teacher.” The school performance of the children in these programs is better than average. This shows that these programs are successful and should be expanded.

Summarize Argument
The educator concludes that the educational programs teaching parents to be their child's "first teacher" are successful and should be expanded. He supports this by pointing out that children in these programs perform better than average in school.

Notable Assumptions
The educator assumes that the educational program directly causes the better school performance, without considering other possible reasons for it, like the natural abilities of the children or parents, or parental involvement outside the program.
He also assumes that better than average school performance is the primary marker of the program’s successfulness, without considering any other outcomes or effects among the children in the program.

A
Not all small children enjoy being taught by their parents.
The school performance of children in the program is better than average, whether they enjoy the program or not, and (A) doesn’t account for this difference. So (A) doesn’t weaken the conclusion that the program is successful and should therefore be expanded.
B
Most of the parents participating in the programs have prior experience as educators.
This weakens the conclusion by showing that one of the educator’s assumptions is false. He assumes that the program itself causes the children’s good performance, but (B) explains that their performance could actually be due to most of the parents having experience as educators.
C
Surveys show that most parents would approve expanding the programs.
The school performance of children in the program is better than average, whether parents approve of the program or not, and (C) doesn’t account for this difference. So (C) doesn’t weaken the conclusion that the program is successful and should therefore be expanded.
D
The cost of expanding the programs has not been precisely determined.
First, we don’t know that this means that the program will be expensive. Perhaps the cost hasn’t been determined but it will be quite low. But either way, (D) doesn’t account for the children’s school performance and thus doesn’t weaken the conclusion.
E
Some children who did not participate in the programs performed exceptionally well in school.
Just because some children who didn’t participate in the program performed well in school doesn’t mean that the program is unsuccessful. The children in the program still performed better than average. So (E) doesn’t weaken the educator’s conclusion.

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LSAT PrepTest 137 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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