LSAT 145 – Section 2 – Question 10

LSAT 145 - Section 2 - Question 10

December 2015

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT145 S2 Q10
+LR
Evaluate +Eval
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
1%
152
B
2%
156
C
72%
165
D
24%
159
E
2%
153
140
152
163
 +Medium 145.859 +SubsectionMedium

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One year ago, a municipality banned dishwasher detergents containing phosphates. Anecdotal evidence indicates that many residents continued to use detergents containing phosphates; they just purchased them from out-of-town stores. However, it is clear that some residents did switch to phosphate-free detergents, since phosphate pollution from the municipal wastewater treatment plant decreased significantly in the past year.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that some residents switched to phosphate-free detergents. Her evidence is that phosphate pollution from the municipal water plant experienced a major decrease in the past year.

Notable Assumptions
Based on a mere correlation, the author assumes that the decrease in phosphate pollution from the municipal treatment plant was due to some residents switching to phosphate-free detergents. This means the author believes that such a switch can cause a “major decrease,” and that no other, unaccounted-for factor caused the pollution decrease.

A
Why did many residents continue to use detergents containing phosphates?
We don’t care why people continued using phosphate detergents. We need to evaluate the connection between the decrease in phosphate pollution from the treatment plant and some people switching to phosphate-free detergents.
B
What pollutants, if any, are present in phosphate-free dishwashing detergents?
We don’t care what pollutants are present. We’re simply evaluating the connection between the decrease in phosphate pollution from the treatment plant and some people switching to phosphate-free detergents.
C
Were any changes made in the past year to the way the municipality’s wastewater treatment plant treats phosphates?
If the answer to this is “yes,” then there may be some other factor that caused the drop in phosphate pollution from the local treatment plant besides people switching to phosphate-free detergents. If the answer is “no,” then a viable alternative cause is eliminated.
D
Does most of the phosphate pollution in the municipality’s waterways come from treated wastewater from the municipal treatment plant?
Irrelevant. We’re concerned with pollution from the municipal treatment plant. We don’t care where else phosphate pollution comes from.
E
Did municipal officials try to stop people from bringing detergents containing phosphates into the municipality?
We don’t care what official tried to do. We need to know if the decrease in phosphate pollution from the municipal treatment plant means that people switched to phosphate-free detergents.

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LSAT PrepTest 145 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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