PT76.S2.Q20 - Professor: The number of new university students

QQ ILLSAT

Hi, I would appreciate if anyone could explain why E is correct as now I am confused when could we make assumption in the Lsat.

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nye8870

Resolve the apparent paradox. Fact1 The number of 1st year chemistry majors remains unchanged for ten years. Fact2 Jobs outlook is good (better than ever) for graduates. Fact3 Over the course of the last ten years the actual number of students graduating with chem degrees has declined.
The first thing I predicted before hitting the ac’s was that there must be some other factor to consider than the good jobs prospect when students decide whether or not to go all the way from 1st year chem to earning their chem degree (because if the good jobs prospect was the only factor then this outcome would make no sense).
(E) is right because it introduces a new idea as to why people have become disillusioned with this field of study…because the way it has come to be taught (routinely methodical) actually dampens intellectual appeal.
----Remember, we don’t have to manufacture an airtight explanation…we are looking to choose an answer that MOST HELPS to explain the outcome. (E) makes sense. The answer to your assumption concern is Yes LSAT is allowing you to make the assumption that some people with dampened intellectual interest in a subject either drop out or change majors.

QQ ILLSAT

@nye8870 Hi, thank you so much for your response. However, I'm still a lit bit confused. If Lsat allows us to make some assumption in the reconcile question, why A is incorrect? Let's say, since the students lack chemical background so they failed to pass the classes so they did not receive the degree.

nye8870

Well, the problem with (A) is that all it really says is that there are students who enter universities who do not have the prequalifications to go into a chem major. But that just means some university students have backgrounds in Art, Drama, Lit etc. Of course universities have students who don't have chem backgrounds and those are also the students who are not chem majors. This argument specifically questions why some "chem majors" do not follow through and earn that degree.

@"QQ ILLSAT" said:
A is incorrect?

QQ ILLSAT

Thank you so much. @nye8870

pattyesq

The stimulus refers to a change over time (i.e., over the past decade, there has been a decline in the amount of people earning chem degrees). Thus, the answer choice, in order to explain the paradox, must also refer to a change over time. Answer choices A-D refer to situations that, ostensibly, have been the same in the past decade. Thus, they cannot explain the paradox. If students in 2000 have been unsure of their major choice, and students in 2010 have also been unsure of their major choice, how does this explain that there has been a SIGNIFICANT decline in people earning chem degrees?