LSAT 109 – Section 1 – Question 22

LSAT 109 - Section 1 - Question 22

December 2000

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Target time: 1:08

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT109 S1 Q22
+LR
Except +Exc
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
A
10%
163
B
60%
169
C
9%
164
D
16%
163
E
5%
160
153
163
173
 +Hardest 148.877 +SubsectionMedium

J.Y.’s explanation

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Lawyer: Did Congleton assign the best available graphic artist to the project?

Witness: Yes.

Lawyer: And the best writer?

Witness: Yes.

Lawyer: In fact everyone she assigned to work on the project was top notch?

Witness: That’s true.

Lawyer: So, you lied to the court when you said, earlier, that Congleton wanted the project to fail?

Summarize Argument
The lawyer’s implicit conclusion is that the witness lied when he said that Congleton wanted the project to fail. This is based on the fact that everyone Congleton assigned to the project was excellent.

Identify and Describe Flaw
The author overlooks the possibility that Congleton did not know that the people assigned were excellent.

The author overlooks the possibility that Congleton may have wanted the project to fail despite assigning only excellent people to it.

The author assumes that Congleton had the ability to choose other people for the project.

The author assumes that the witness believed Congleton did not want the project to fail when the witness said that Congleton did want the project to fail.

A
It takes for granted that Congleton was not forced to assign the people she did to the project.
If Congleton had been forced to assign those people to the project, that shows we cannot infer anything about Congleton’s state of mind or purpose from that assignment. So, (A) must be assumed.
B
It takes for granted that the project could fail only if Congleton wanted it to fail.
Whether the project actually can or will fail is irrelevant. The argument concerns only whether Congleton wanted the project to fail and whether her hiring decisions indicate that desire.
C
It ignores the possibility that Congleton knew that the people assigned to the project would not work well together.
If Congleton knew that the people assigned wouldn’t work well together, that could show how she could have thought her assignments would not produce good results, despite the individual excellence of each employee.
D
It ignores the possibility that the witness failed to infer from known facts what should have been inferred and therefore was not lying.
If this possibility were true, then the witness was not necessarily lying when he said what he said about Congleton. So, this possibility would undermine the argument.
E
It ignores the possibility that Congleton failed to allot enough time or resources to the project team.
If this possibility were true, this shows how she could have thought her assignments would not produce good results, despite the individual excellence of each employee.

(D) points out that there is a distinction between being stupid and being deceitful.

For example, say we know that "X is a banana" and we know that "all bananas are fruits". Does it follow that X is a fruit? Of course it does. Simple logic. But, does it follow that we should know that X is a fruit? Well, that depends on a lot of circumstances. Are we 15 months old? If that's the case, then probably not. Are we 15 years old with normal brain function? If so, then probably yes.

(D) is simply saying that when the witness said that "X is not a fruit" it could be that he's lying or it could be that he's stupid (or that he's a 15 month old baby, but now I'm being redundant).

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LSAT PrepTest 109 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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