LSAT 158 – Section 2 – Question 13

LSAT 158 - Section 2 - Question 13

May 2020

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT158 S2 Q13
+LR
Main conclusion or main point +MC
Conditional Reasoning +CondR
A
2%
145
B
84%
162
C
6%
154
D
7%
154
E
0%
148
132
142
152
 +Medium 146.031 +SubsectionMedium

The widespread use of encryption software, which makes electronic documents accessible by password only, will bring the writing of biographical history virtually to an end. Public figures’ private correspondence and diaries are intended to be confidential when written, but they later become biographers’ principal sources. In the future, most such documents are likely to be stored as encrypted text, so the most interesting, revealing material will be unavailable to historians unless they have the necessary passwords.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that widespread use of encryption software will bring the writing of biographical history virtually to an end. This is because private correspondence, which is a central source of material for biographers, will be locked behind a password, and the author assumes that biographers typically will not have these passwords.

Identify Conclusion
The conclusion is the author’s prediction about what will happen to biographical writing: “The widespread use of encryption software, which makes electronic documents accessible by password only, will bring the writing of biographical history virtually to an end.”

A
In the future, most private correspondence and diaries of public figures will be stored as encrypted text.
This is a premise. The author believes this fact will prevent historians from accessing these materials as sources for biographies, which is why biographical writing will virtually come to an end.
B
The widespread use of encryption software will cause the writing of biographical history to decline significantly or cease.
This is a paraphrase of the conclusion.
C
Historians will probably not have access to much of the private correspondence and diaries of public figures in the future.
This is an assumption of the argument. The author believes historians probably won’t have passwords for private correspondence, preventing them from accessing these sources. This is why biographical writing will virtually come to an end.
D
In the future, biographers’ access to the most interesting, revealing material will be determined by their knowledge of the necessary passwords.
This is a premise. The author assumes that biographers won’t have the necessary passwords, which is why biographical writing will virtually come to an end.
E
Public figures’ private correspondence and diaries are the most interesting and revealing sources for the writing of biographical history.
This is something we can infer from the author’s argument. But this isn’t what the author is trying to prove to us.

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LSAT PrepTest 158 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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