Self-study
Some credit card companies allow cardholders to skip payments for up to six months under certain circumstances, but Conclusion it is almost never in a cardholder's interest to do so. ███████ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███████████████ ███████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████
Objective: Parallel Questions
Although the stem is pretty unconventional, this is a Parallel question: the stimulus features an argument that illustrates a principle, and the answer choices are also arguments that (presumably) illustrate principles.
So our job is to read the stimulus and extract the abstract principle behind the argument, then look for the answer choice in which the argument relies on that same abstract principle.
In this particular question, many of the answer choices (including the correct one) state the conclusion first, whereas the stimulus states the conclusion in the middle. That’s fine! Order doesn’t matter when evaluating whether two arguments have the same logical structure.
Extracting The Principle
The argument first introduces the context that skipping payments is an option people have, then concludes that option is a bad one. It then supports this conclusion by noting that skipping payments leads to a greater long-term cost.
The abstract principle? If an option features downsides in the long-run, it’s bad (even if there are short-term benefits). Incidentally, this is an excellent example of cost-benefit analysis, a common form of reasoning on the LSAT.
18.
Which one of the following █████████ ███████████ █ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██████
a
Although insecticides are █████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██ ██████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ █████ █████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██████
(A)’s conclusion is off – it argues that we should find a different course of action, whereas the stimulus simply argues against taking a particular course of action.
(A) also lacks the long-term / short-term dynamic. This on its own doesn’t suffice to tank the answer choice (there’s a world where a right answer would also drop that dynamic and just focus on upsides and downsides in general), but it’s enough to move on during your initial run through the answer choices.
b
Increasing the base ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ █ ████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████
(B) weighs an upside (easier recruiting) of an option against a downside (payroll increases) of that option and concludes the option is good. This is the inverse of our principle, which (among other things) involves a downside outweighing an upside, making the option bad.
c
It is unwise ██ ███ ███████ ███████████ █████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ █████ █████ ███ ███ ████ ███ ████████████ ███ █████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████
Here’s our match. We’ve got an option (using maintenance funds for construction) that’s bad (unwise) despite short-term upsides (immediate benefit) because of the long-term downsides (greater cost in the long run).
Note that the order of these ideas doesn’t match the order of ideas in the stimulus. That’s completely fine.
d
It is better ██ ██████ ██ █ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ████████ █ ███ ████ ████████ ████ █████████ ████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██████ █ ███ ███████ ████████ █ ███ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████
(D) comes out in favor of an option with long-term downsides because of its short-term upsides. That's no good – our stimulus hates long-term downsides.
e
Sports cars are ███████████ ███ ████ ████████ █████ █████ ██ ███████████ █ ███████ ██████ ██████████ ████ ███████ █████ █████ █████ █████ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ██ ████████████ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████
(E) lacks the long-term / short-term dynamic, which on its own doesn’t suffice to tank the answer choice (there’s a world where a right answer would also drop that dynamic and just focus on upsides and downsides in general), but should be enough to move on during your initial run through the answer choices.
A deeper reason for (E)’s wrongness is its narrow focus on practicality. Our stimulus offers a short-term upside, a long-term downside, and concludes the option is bad. (E) offers an upside that isn’t about practicality (getting a certain thrill), a downside that is about practicality (can’t carry cargo), and concludes the option is impractical.