PT40.S3.Q14 - the only clue I have

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• 1 Like

  BinghamtonDave Alum Member ⭐ 🍌🍌

  February 2017 8716 karma

  I should start by saying that I don't think this was a really solid question that the LSAC gave us here. I think you have a valid point that when studying for this exam, we are so attuned to specific language and the scope of specific language that an answer choice that seems to be out of left field is usually a red flag for a wrong answer choice. I commend your close reading of the stimulus and I assure you that approaching future stimuli in that manner will pay dividends.

  Nevertheless, lets take a deeper look at what is going on here with this flaw. Let's remember what a flaw is on this exam: it is when the conclusion given does not follow from the premise(s) provided. At bottom, that is what a flaw is. So in this argument we have:

  On the basis that the handwriting is not Millers, the author concludes that Miller cannot be the practical joker.

  Mind you, we don't really know what the practical joke was: was it contained in the note? Did the note simply draw someone to a location and that is where the actual joke was? This is left ambiguous. All we know is that the only clue Franklin has is the handwriting on the note. This is a little odd, it seems that Franklin's mind is entirely made up. Franklin ultimately completely absolves someone on the basis of the only clue Franklin has. The way Franklin has presented this line of thinking, Franklin's whole argument might be rotten. Does the lack of a plural "s" at the end of "joker" really mean that Franklin knows there is one single joker? Are we to presume that on the basis of the only clue Franklin has, Franklin is able to ascertain the number of jokers? I don't know.

  But what I do know is that there is a huge gap in the argument's logic: because it is left so nebulous, Franklin's logic is less than convincing. Given the fact that we don't know anything about the joke, couldn't Miller have someone write the note, or write the note right handed and Miller is left handed? Is that the way handwriting analysis works? I don't know.

  Here is where the question stem is important: "Which of the following provides the strongest grounds for criticizing Franklin's reasoning?" What we are getting with an answer choice here is the "strongest grounds" out of the 5 choices. If I wanted to sum up the previous 2 paragraphs, I could do so by saying that Franklin ignores that there could be 2 jokers. Doing this forces us to ask what strength does the note really hold to the identity of the joker, it forces us to as whether or not Miller has been adequately absolved. Ultimately it forces us to question Franklin's (baseless) assumption that the word joker is not plural.

  I hope this breakdown helps, you bring up an excellent point.
  David
• 1 Like

  BinghamtonDave Alum Member ⭐ 🍌🍌

  February 2017 8716 karma

  Now, there is a second layer to this question in my estimation. I have only been able to identify what I think might be going on here 2 other times on the LSAT. I think what we have here is a question where the informality we have all spent hours and hours drilling out of our approach to LR actually pay dividends. I really struggled with this question. Ultimately, like you, POE was the best way to get where I needed to be. Yet, when I showed this question to my father (a retired garbage man with zero training in logical fallacies or logic) he without hesitation chose (A). It took like 35 seconds. My wife: a nursing major who has only done a few games also go this question quickly. The question has an almost “common sense” appeal to it that applied across a wide spectrum of questions, will lose us tons of potential points.

  I’ve run into 3 questions before where I can get (and be unhappy with) the correct answer through a pretty arduous process of POE, but a sort of holistic approach could yield someone the correct answer easily. A holistic approach that will hurt your score if one applies it broadly. Maybe this is the LSAC telling us to not think too rigidly, maybe these questions are warnings not to approach things too mechanically. Maybe, in the spirit of Kipling, these questions are assurances to “never lose the common touch.” lol!

  Anyways, take a look at these:
  -PT C2 Section 3 Question 15
  -PT 78 Section 3 Question 7

  Take a look at these questions in your free time, let me know what you think. These questions seem to be rare, but a few months ago Josh made a post about “relative support.” I will try to find it, bump it and tag you in it if you are interested. Ultimately, POE is the best for these three questions in my estimation.

  David
• dcdcdcdcdc Alum Member

  February 2017 382 karma

  Thanks for the thorough replies. Just seems that my Pts are showing up errors in LR that are either a careless mistake or, as in this case, one where explanations seem to fall back on a "most" question stem (E.g., pt39 point st issue question about ice research). Hoping that as I move into more modern tests this becomes less of a feature.

  When we move into questions where we can't actually rely on the stimulus to be consistently true that makes it very difficult to prove out an answer choice. That's what makes me unhappy here: seems very unfair for test writers to state unambiguously that there is a single joker yet credit a response related to two or more persons...