LSAT 103 – Section 3 – Question 14

LSAT 103 - Section 3 - Question 14

September 1998

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT103 S3 Q14
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
66%
169
B
2%
156
C
13%
162
D
14%
163
E
5%
162
152
161
169
 +Hardest 148.537 +SubsectionMedium

A commercial insect trap consists of a small box containing pesticide mixed with glucose, a sweet substance known to attract insect pests. Yet in households where this type of trap has been used regularly for the past several years, recently installed traps are far less effective in eliminating insect pests than were traps of that type installed several years ago. Research scientists have hypothesized that traps in those households decreased in effectiveness because successive generations of the pests developed a resistance to the pesticide in the traps.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
In households that regularly used for the past several years an insect trap consisting of pesticide mixed with glucose, the trap is much less effective today. The author hypothesizes that this is because successive generations of insects developed a resistance to the pesticide in the traps.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes there isn’t another cause for the decreased effectiveness of the traps.

A
In households where the traps have been used regularly, the proportion of insect pests that have a natural aversion to eating glucose has increased with each successive generation.
This provides an alternate explanation for the decreased effectiveness of the traps. The glucose in the trap is not as attractive anymore, which means fewer insects enter the traps. This results in decreased effectiveness, even if the insects aren’t resistant to the pesticide.
B
Even when only a few individuals out of an entire generation of insects survive the effects of a pesticide, the offspring of those individuals are usually resistant to that pesticide.
If anything, this answer supports the author’s theory by showing resistance can develop in offspring even if one generation is almost entirely wiped out.
C
After eating glucose mixed with the pesticide, insects that live in households that do not use the trap tend to die in greater numbers than do insects from households where the traps have been used regularly.
If anything, this could support the author’s theory by showing that in households where insects haven’t had the chance to build up resistance, the trap is more effective than in households that have used the trap for several years.
D
After the manufacturer of the traps increased the concentration of the pesticide used in the traps, the traps were no more effective in eliminating household insect pests than were the original traps.
This is consistent with the author’s hypothesis. Increased concentration of the pesticide should make the trap more effective. Just because the traps didn’t become more effective than the original doesn’t mean they didn’t become more effective.
E
The kind of glucose used to bait the traps is one of several different kinds of glucose that occur naturally.
The fact the glucose occurs naturally doesn’t have any impact. Does natural glucose have anything to do with the traps’ decreased effectiveness? We have no reason to think so.

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LSAT PrepTest 103 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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