LSAT 142 – Section 1 – Question 06

LSAT 142 - Section 1 - Question 06

December 2014

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT142 S1 Q06
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Rule-Application +RuleApp
A
90%
164
B
0%
148
C
2%
155
D
4%
159
E
3%
156
128
139
150
 +Easier 145.991 +SubsectionMedium

While grapefruit juice is a healthy drink, it has been discovered that a chemical in the juice affects how certain medicines are absorbed, with the result that normal medicinal doses act like higher doses. Getting the wrong dose is dangerous. Since it is always desirable to take the lowest effective dose, the best medical approach would be to take lower doses of these medicines along with prescribed amounts of grapefruit juice.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that lower dosages of certain medicines should be taken with grapefruit juice. This is because it’s best to take low dosages of medicine when possible, and grapefruit juice intensifies dosages. Thus, a lower dosage taken with grapefruit juice would act like a normal dosage.

Notable Assumptions
For this to be the “best medical approach,” the author must believe that grapefruit juice is consistent in its chemical composition. If one glass were to have even slightly more of the chemical than another glass, then the approach would be seriously, dangerously flawed.

A
The amount of the chemical in grapefruit juice is highly unpredictable from glass to glass.
Each glass of grapefruit juice isn’t equal. If the concentration of the chemical was significantly higher in one glass, then the medicine would be elevated to a dangerous dosage. This wouldn’t be “the best medical approach” by any standard.
B
Grapefruit juice is less expensive than most of the medicines with which it interacts.
We don’t care about how much grapefruit juice costs.
C
When scientists removed the chemical from grapefruit juice, the juice no longer affected how certain medicines were absorbed.
The author knows this. It’s integral to their argument about how grapefruit juice should be used with low dosages of medicine.
D
The chemical in grapefruit juice works by inhibiting an enzyme in the body that affects how certain medicines are metabolized.
This explains how grapefruit juice interacts with medicines. The author’s argument relies on this mechanism working.
E
Long before the chemical in grapefruit juice was identified, doctors were advising patients who took certain medicines to avoid grapefruit juice.
We don’t care that doctors probably knew that grapefruit juice intensifies medicines. We’re trying to weaken the author’s recommendation.

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LSAT PrepTest 142 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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