PT52.S1.Q14 - for one academic year

sabaker5-1

This resolve the paradox... just not understanding it in the least. Any help will be much appreciated.
https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-52-section-1-question-14/

Accounts Playable

This is a pretty tricky question because A is a very attractive trap answer. Always remember what your task is as that will help you focus on what is needed to answer the question. Here, we must explain why the researchers drew their conclusion. What's their conclusion? Studying more increases a student's chances of earning a higher grade.

Here are the facts: Some researchers tested 100% of the population at some random high school. The researchers think that studying more increases the likelihood of earning a higher grade, so they are going to test that. Oddly enough, those that studied the most didn't always earn the highest grade. Nevertheless, the overall correlation that the researchers thought would exist was supported by the study.

What I'm looking for: Lot's of things to note about this. One study about one high school? I wouldn't put too much validity in that, but we aren't trying to weaken the argument/study. But, we don't care about that; we want to figure out how the researchers still came to their conclusion despite their "exception."

Think about this "exception," though. Does it really matter? I don't think it does. The researchers are trying to figure out if studying more increases that student's chances of earning a higher grade. Comparison of students is entirely irrelevant. To put it another way, the researchers don't care about the chances of increasing class rank, only about increasing the chances of getting a better grade. Here's an illustration of this point:

Say there are two versions of me, X and Y. X me doesn't study and earns a failing grade. Y me studies and earns a passing grade. The study is trying to quantify the likelihood of X me earning that passing grade had X me studied. The researchers think that the more I study, the likelihood of becoming Y me increases.

Why the "exception" doesn't matter: This is comparing different students; the study doesn't care about me vs another student. It's entirely OK for me to study the most of my classmates and still earn a bad grade; the point is that studying increased my chances of not earning an even worse grade!

Answer A: Entirely irrelevant. We don't care about student vs student comparisons.

Answer B: Who cares what happens over time?

Answer C: Perfect. If we say that what the researchers hypothesized actually happened in EVERY SINGLE CLASS; namely, the more a student studied, the better his or her grade [implicitly, vs had that student not studied], then this entirely explains why the researchers still concluded their point.

Answer Who cares if the students play sports and stuff?

Answer E: This doesn't even talk about grades. Skip.