PT38.S1.Q06 - Every year, new reports appear concerning the health

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  Sami Live Member Sage ⭐ 7Sage Tutor

  May 2017 10789 karma

  If I say that taking practice test for LSAT helps you prepare for LSAT. But I also tell you that taking practice test can also be detrimental to your LSAT prep. Would you say my advice is useless?

  Probably. lol But what if I add taking practice test is helpful when you have done the core-curriculum and its detrimental when you havn't finished it. Now my advice is not looking contradictory. So one thing "taking PT" can in some instances be helpful and in others be harmful but it doesn't mean its contradictory.

  Similarly,
  Coffee can be dangerous to health and also have "some benefits". But doesn't mean that these facts are useless about making a decision about one's health. Just like the facts above are still helpful in deciding when to take PT's even though they lead to contradictory conclusions. That's what answer choice "E" is getting at. It's okay to have contradictory conclusions as long as we are aware in what respect it leads them to have contradictory conclusions.

  I think it's the same with a lot of prescribed medications. They are good for health when you need them but can be harmful and bad for you if you do it for "other" reasons.

  I hoped the two examples above helped you see why answer choice E is correct. In our first example about LSAT PT had I concluded the advice is useless I would have failed to consider that taking PT's in some ways can be beneficial and in other ways be harmful. Similarly with this stimulus our speaker when he concluded the experts are useless he failed to consider that coffee despite being bad for health can still have some good qualities.

  Now lets consider why answer choice "D" is wrong.

  In our stimulus we had two contradictory expert opinion about coffee and because they were contradictory he concluded that they are useless. So its the contradiction that matters. Even if I am charitable to this answer choice and say that our speaker considers both opinions trustworthy, I can't say that's the flaw that occurs in this stimulus.

  For this answer choice to be true my stimulus would have to look something like this:
  This article from a reputable health expert states that coffee is bad for health and in another article the expert concludes that African water crisis can be alleviated by digging wells. Therefore we should dig wells in Africa to help with their water problems.
  I went from saying expert opinion is trustworthy in one case to saying trust worthy in another case. My conclusion relied upon the expert being trustworthy in one case because if he wasn't I really don't have any other reason to believe why digging wells is a good solution for the water crisis in Africa.

  But in question #6 the problem is that of contradiction between two premises which the conclusion relies upon to support it by saying that its useless because its contradictory. Not that its useless because its trustworthy. Answer choice D fails to accurately describe the flaw occurring in question #6.
• rogersalexandra7 Alum Member

  May 2017 213 karma

  oh ok thank you!!!!