LSAT PrepTest 158 - Section 1 - Passage 1 - Question 3

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A major problem facing industrial societies is their exponentially increasing production of toxic waste. █████████████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████████ ████ █████████ █████████████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███

Main Problem · Toxic waste disposal

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Solution · Deep well injection

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Details of Solution · Details of deep well injection

Waste injected into rock layers, out of reach of underground drinking water (aquifers)

problem · Three problems with deep well injection

Problem 1 · Wells can still leak into aquifers, polluting drinking water

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Problem 2 · Human error can cause wells to fail

Example of human error threatening drinking water supply

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Problem 3 · Very difficult to predict how waste will flow underground

Reiteration of 3 problems · Uncertainty of flow (problem 3), mechanical failure (problem 1), human error (problem 2)

Passage Style

Problem-analysis

Single position

Which one of the following ██████ ██ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ████████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ █████████ ███████

Question Type

WSE (RC)

It’s difficult to make a strong prediction, because most of the passage describes different risks of deep-well injection of wastes. So to answer this question, we should just keep in mind the three risks identified: (1) injection sites might leak, (2) human error can lead to contamination, and (3) it’s difficult to predict how waste flows underground.

Few of the ████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ █████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ ████████████

If anything, this undermines the author’s argument by minimizing the risk posed by deep-well waste injection.

Few of the █████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████████

This doesn’t strengthen, because it’s not clear that the author cares about non-human organisms and how they are affected by waste.

Many of the █████ ██ █████ █████████████████████████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ███ █████ █████████

This doesn’t strengthen, because the distance between the injection sites and the industrial facilities from which the waste is taken has no relationship to the potential threat posed by waste that’s injected into deep wells. What matters is whether the waste might pollute drinking water.

The movement of ███████████ █████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████████

This strengthens the author’s position by providing additional reason to believe that it’s difficult to predict how waste will flow underground. This adds evidence of the third problem.

84%

Methods of predicting ███ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ █████ ████ █████████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ████████ █████

If anything, this undermines the author’s position by minimizing the unpredictability of underground water and waste flow.

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PrepTest 158 - Section 1 - Passage 1 - Question 3

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