LSAT 146 – Section 2 – Question 16

LSAT 146 - Section 2 - Question 16

June 2016

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT146 S2 Q16
+LR
+Exp
Evaluate +Eval
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Net Effect +NetEff
A
50%
164
B
28%
160
C
2%
155
D
13%
160
E
6%
154
150
162
174
 +Hardest 148.55 +SubsectionMedium

The caffeine in coffee stimulates the production of irritating acid in the stomach. But darker roasts of coffee, produced by roasting the coffee beans longer, contain more N-methylpyridinium (NMP) than lighter roasts, and NMP tends to suppress production of acid in the stomach. Therefore if you drink caffeinated coffee, darker roasts will irritate your stomach less than lighter roasts.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that darker coffee roasts irritate the stomach less than lighter roasts. This is because darker roasts contain more NMP, which suppresses production of irritating stomach acid.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that darker roasts don’t stimulate greater production of irritating stomach acid (i.e. through more caffeine) than lighter roasts. Alternately, the author assumes that the NMP in darker roasts outweighs this additional acid production, if such additional acid production in fact occurs.

A
Does extending the roasting time of coffee beans increase the amount of caffeine present in the brewed coffee?
If the answer is “yes,” then the NMP in darker roasts might not be enough to counteract the additional caffeine and subsequent stomach acid production. If the answer is “no,” then darker roasts likely would be less irritating—more NMP means less irritating stomach acid.
B
Does a reduction in acid production in the stomach have an adverse effect on stomach function?
We’re evaluating whether darker roasts really do decrease acid production in the stomach. This concedes that point in advance, which means it has little to no bearing on the author’s argument.
C
Would coffee drinkers who drink caffeinated coffee increase their coffee consumption if the coffee they drank contained less caffeine?
Irrelevant. We don’t know if lighter or darker roasts have more caffeine.
D
Do some coffee drinkers who switch from lighter to darker roasts of coffee increase their daily coffee consumption?
Irrelevant. We have no idea what the effects of switching from lighter roast to darker roast coffee would be in regards to stomach irritation, which is what the author’s argument is about.
E
Do lighter roasts of coffee have any important health benefits that darker roasts of coffee lack?
We don’t care about other health benefits. The author’s argument is about stomach irritation, so we need to evaluate if darker roasts really would cause less stomach irritation than lighter roasts for the reason the author cites.

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LSAT PrepTest 146 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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