LSAT 153 – Section 3 – Question 17

LSAT 153 - Section 3 - Question 17

June 2019

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT153 S3 Q17
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
82%
162
B
2%
155
C
4%
154
D
7%
159
E
4%
155
128
141
155
 +Easier 146.755 +SubsectionMedium

After monitoring blood levels of lycopene (a nutrient found in some fruits and vegetables) in 1,000 middle-aged study participants over a 12-year period, researchers found that participants with low levels of lycopene were more than twice as likely as those with high levels to have a stroke during that period. Clearly, lycopene reduces the risk of stroke.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that lycopene reduces the risk of stroke. This is based on a study of 1,000 middle-aged people over a 12 year period, which found that participants with low levels of lycopene were more likely to have a stroke than participants higher levels of lycopene.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes there’s no other explanation for the correlation between lycopene and reduced risk of stroke.

A
Most fruits and vegetables that are rich in lycopene also contain high levels of several other nutrients that are thought likely to reduce the risk of stroke.
This suggests a potential alternate explanation for the correlation observed in the study. Maybe what reduced risk of stroke was not higher levels of lycopene, but other nutrients found in fruits/veggies that contain lycopene.
B
Countries in which people consume substantial quantities of lycopene-rich fruits and vegetables generally have lower rates of stroke than other countries.
This strengthens the argument by providing evidence that shows the correlation observed in the study is found more broadly, too.
C
Middle-aged people typically have lower lycopene levels than young adults.
This doesn’t have any impact, since we don’t know whether middle-aged people are more or less likely to have strokes than young adults. Even if we did, this might strengthen, because middle-aged people probably have more strokes.
D
Study participants with high levels of lycopene consumed, on average, twice the quantity of fruits and vegetables as those with low levels of lycopene.
This might explain how the participants with high levels of lycopene got their high levels of lycopene. But it doesn’t suggest there are alternate explanations for the lower risk of stroke.
E
There was wide variation in lycopene levels among study participants.
We know there was a correlation between higher lycopene and lower risk of stroke. This doesn’t mean everyone had similar levels of lycopene. So, (E) is consistent with the author’s reasoning.

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LSAT PrepTest 153 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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