LSAT 114 – Section 1 – Question 10

LSAT 114 - Section 1 - Question 10

October 2002

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT114 S1 Q10
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
49%
165
B
32%
160
C
10%
157
D
3%
156
E
5%
156
150
162
174
 +Hardest 144.005 +SubsectionEasier

Bernard: For which language, and thus which frequency distribution of letters and letter sequences, was the standard typewriter keyboard designed?

Cora: To ask this question, you must be making a mistaken assumption: that typing speed was to be maximized. The real danger with early typewriters was that operators would hit successive keys too quickly, thereby crashing typebars into each other, bending connecting wires, and so on. So the idea was to slow the operator down by making the most common letter sequences awkward to type.

Bernard: This is surely not right! These technological limitations have long since vanished, yet the keyboard is still as it was then.

Summarize Argument
Bernard concludes that the standard typewriter keyboard could not have been designed to slow the typer down. This is because the technological limitations that could lead to problems from fast typing are no longer around, but the keyboard design is still the same.

Notable Assumptions
Bernard assumes that the standard keyboard would be changed to allow for faster typing once the technological limitations around when the keyboard was originally designed are no longer present. (Maybe there are strong reasons that the keyboard wouldn’t be changed, even if we don’t need to slow people down anymore.)

A
Typewriters and word-processing equipment are typically sold to people who have learned to use the standard keyboard and who, therefore, demand it in equipment they buy.
This is a reason the keyboard design wouldn’t change, even when the technological limits are no longer present. People grew up with the slower-typing design and still want it today. This is why the fact people still use the design today doesn’t undermine Cora’s explanation.
B
Typewriters have been superseded in most offices by word-processing equipment, which has inherited the standard keyboard from typewriters.
Bernard believes the fact people still use the same design shows that the design couldn’t have been intended to slow people down. (B) simply affirms that the same design is used today, which we already knew. But it doesn’t suggest why the same design is used today, unlike (A).
C
The standard keyboard allows skilled operators to achieve considerable typing speeds, though it makes acquiring such skills relatively difficult.
Pointing out that the design still allows fast typing doesn’t engage with Bernard’s reasoning. We want to show how the design could have been intended to slow people down, despite the fact we still use the design today.
D
A person who has learned one keyboard layout can readily learn to use a second one in place of the first, but only with difficulty learn to use a second one alongside the first.
This supports Bernard’s reasoning. After all, why aren’t people changing to a faster layout if we don’t need to slow people down anymore? Bernard’s suggestion is that the lack of change implies slowing people down couldn’t be the original purpose of the design.
E
It is now possible to construct typewriters and word-processing equipment in which a single keyboard can accommodate two or even more different keyboard layouts, each accessible to the operator at will.
This supports Bernard’s reasoning. If the keyboard can be changed to accommodate a different layout, then why hasn’t the keyboard changed if it was originally intended to slow people down? To Bernard, the lack of change implies the original purpose wasn’t to slow down typing.

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LSAT PrepTest 114 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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