LSAT 155 – Section 1 – Question 25

LSAT 155 - Section 1 - Question 25

November 2019

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT155 S1 Q25
+LR
+Exp
Weaken +Weak
Critique or Debate +CritDeb
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
10%
158
B
9%
155
C
58%
164
D
11%
158
E
13%
156
144
157
171
 +Harder 147.037 +SubsectionMedium

The rise of book megastores in the 1990s increased sales of best-sellers, but decreased sales of less commercial, more literary books. In 1986, best-selling hardcover titles accounted for about 7 percent of all hardcover sales. By 1996, that figure had nearly doubled. Megastores can offer deeper discounts than independent stores and offer their biggest discounts on best-selling hardcovers, which discourages sales of other hardcovers.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that the rise of book megastores in the 1990s increased sales of bestsellers while decreasing sales of less well-selling, literary books. This is because the share of sales of bestselling hardcover books nearly doubled between 1986 and 1996, and mega bookstores heavily discounted best-sellers, which discouraged the sale of other hardcover books.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the decline in sales of less commercial, more literary hardcover books equates to a decrease in the *total* number of these books being sold instead of another cause (like a shift from hardcover to paperback). If this were true, the sales of hardcover noncommercial books could decrease, but the total number of less commercial books could increase or stay the same if more paperback versions were sold.

A
Bookstore customers are more likely to purchase a book that they have seen on a best-seller list than one that they have not.
If anything, this supports the argument by reinforcing the idea that best-sellers dominated sales over less commercial books. It does not weaken the claim that megastores caused the decline of less commercial books.
B
In the 1990s, bookstore customers’ most frequent purchases were books written by authors who had already written at least one best-seller.
This does not weaken the argument because it does not address the *cause* of the decline in commercial book sales. If anything, it gives more credence to the claim that customers were more attracted to books written by bestsellers.
C
In the 1990s, less commercial, more literary works increasingly had their initial publication in paperback editions rather than hardback editions.
This undermines one of the author’s key assumptions. If non-commercial books were increasingly printed in paperback, then the decrease in sales of hardcover books could be attributed to a change in format rather than the discounts offered by megastores.
D
By 1996, there were about 20 percent more titles in print than in 1986.
This has nothing to do with the reasoning of the argument. It does address the reasoning for how megastores caused the decline in non-commercial book sales.
E
Books that are not expected to be best-sellers are featured more often in independent bookstores than in book megastores.
This supports the argument because it highlights how megastores prioritize best sellers, which leads to a decrease in sales of noncommercial more literary books.

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LSAT PrepTest 155 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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