LSAT 155 – Section 4 – Question 18

LSAT 155 - Section 4 - Question 18

November 2019

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT155 S4 Q18
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
3%
154
B
5%
155
C
57%
160
D
16%
159
E
19%
161
120
147
180
 +Medium 147.589 +SubsectionMedium

Certain changes in North American residential architecture after World War II are attributable mainly to the increased availability and affordability of air-conditioning. Soon after World War II, many builders found that air-conditioned houses lacking the high ceilings and thick walls that traditionally kept residents cool during extreme heat generally sold well.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
Certain changes in North American residential architecture after World War II (low ceilings and thin walls) were mainly due to the increased availability and affordability of air conditioning. This is because air-conditioned houses without high ceilings and thick walls sold well after World War II, even though those features typically kept houses cool during times of extreme heat.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the increased prevalence of low ceilings and thin walls was not due to something else like people changing their preferences/tastes about how they wanted their home to look.

A
High ceilings and thick walls enable houses to withstand many types of severe weather that are common in North America.
This is irrelevant because it does not address the main claim that the changes in architecture were due to the increased affordability and availability of air conditioning.
B
Thin-walled, low-ceilinged houses are more costly to heat in winter than thick-walled, high-ceilinged houses.
Although this provides a weakness for the feasibility of thin-walled, low-ceilinged houses, it does not weaken the argument for the main claim that air conditioning caused these architectural changes
C
Houses with low ceilings and thin walls were prevalent in North America even where there was no demand for residential air-conditioning.
This suggests that thin-walled houses with low ceilings were prevalent *before* the widespread availability of AC. Thus, this weakens the claim that AC was the primary driver of these architectural changes
D
Thin walls allow cool, air-conditioned air to escape more readily from houses than do thick walls.
This does not weaken the author’s argument that the increased availability of air conditioning increased the prevalence of houses with thin walls and low ceilings. It just highlights an inefficiency of the new homes.
E
Soon after World War II, new thermal-insulating technology was widely applied in house building.
While this could explain why these houses became more common, it does not weaken the causal link between the increased availability of AC and thin-walled houses with low ceilings.

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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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