PT83.S1.Q18 - If the standards committee has a quorum

TrustingGod

I'm having a hard time understanding this question at all. I've found very little help online for this question. Can anyone please explain.

"If the standards committee has a quorum...."

Admin note: edited title
https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-83-section-1-question-18/

drbrown2

The question talks about 2 distinct committees, and if one committee has a quorum that is sufficient to guarantee the general assembly will start at a specific time (6 for 1, 7 for the other). The incorrect answer choices include 2 fake contrapositives that try to link failing the necessary condition for one committee having a quorum to the other committee, almost like an "either the GA starts at 6 or the GA starts at 7 rule" (ACs A and D). That is not what the stimulus states. It does not say the GA has to start at a specific time, or at all. AC B is also hoping that the reader will assume that either one committee or the other will have a quorum. AC C is a simple sufficiency/necessity confusion (just because the GA starts at 6 doesn't guarantee the committee had a forum.

Finally, E is the correct answer because it acknowledges that the GA cannot begin at 2 different times. One way they could have phrased the correct answer choice is by running the contrapositive of one of the if/then statements given in the stimulus (something like if the GA starts at 5:59, the standards committee did not have a quorum). They choose to say that both sufficient conditions cannot be satisfied because the resulting necessary conditions contradict each other. Hence, if one committee has a quorum, the other does not.

akistotle

[Stimulus]
・Standards Committee Quorum → General Assembly 6PM
・Awards Committee Quorum → General Assembly 7PM

Common sense assumption:
General Assembly starting at 6PM means that it can’t start at 7pm.

Standards Committee Quorum → General Assembly 6PM → /(General Assembly 7PM) → /(Awards Committee Quorum)
(E): Standards Committee Quorum → /(Awards Committee Quorum)

msk12345

A - D are all pretty cookie cutter flawed argument types.

E:

If the SC has a quorum, then the party is at 6.

By the laws of time (and based on every sci-fi movie, you can't mess with the laws of time) [If the party is at 6, then the party is not at 7.]

Contrapositive of 2nd sentence: If the part is not at 7, then the AC doesn't have a quorum.

Push those together: If the SC has a quorum, the AC doesn't have a quorum.

TheDeterminedC

I think the key to really understand this question lies in the wording "the general assembly." This implies that there is one general assembly.

TrustingGod

Thank you everyone for the help. That definitely clarifies a lot.