LSAT 118 – Section 4 – Question 09

LSAT 118 - Section 4 - Question 09

December 2004

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT118 S4 Q09
+LR
Main conclusion or main point +MC
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
6%
157
B
3%
159
C
82%
166
D
3%
153
E
7%
159
142
151
159
 +Medium 147.106 +SubsectionMedium

Public health expert: Until recently people believed that applications of biochemical research would eventually achieve complete victory over the microorganisms that cause human disease. However, current medical research shows that those microorganisms reproduce so rapidly that medicines developed for killing one variety will only spur the evolution of other varieties that are immune to those medicines. The most rational public health strategy, therefore, would place much more emphasis than at present on fully informing people about the transmission of diseases caused by microorganisms, with a view to minimizing the incidence of such diseases.

Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
This argument concludes that public health should focus on reducing the spread of disease, rather than eradicating microorganisms that cause disease. The public health expert supports this conclusion with the claim that microorganisms reproduce so rapidly that microorganism evolution will outpace the development of medicines. This means that the previous belief that medical research would eradicate disease-causing microorganisms is no longer an ideal plan.

Identify Conclusion
The argument concludes by shifting the focus of public health towards a different method of fighting disease: “The most rational public health strategy, therefore, would place much more emphasis than at present on fully informing people about the transmission of diseases caused by microorganisms, with a view to minimizing the incidence of such diseases.”

A
A medicine that kills one variety of disease-causing microorganism can cause the evolution of a drug-resistant variety.
This is a premise that shows why the previous belief, that medical research would eradicate disease-causing microorganisms, is incorrect.
B
A patient who contracts a disease caused by microorganisms cannot be effectively cured by present methods.
This claim is not supported by the information in the argument, so it cannot be the main conclusion.
C
There is good reason to make a particular change to public health policy.
This is the conclusion. The argument shows that we should move from the goal of eradicating microorganisms towards a focus on minimizing disease spread. This answer is a generalization of this claim and it reflects the idea of changing focus that is mentioned in the conclusion.
D
No one who is fully informed about the diseases caused by microorganisms will ever fall victim to those diseases.
This claim is not supported by the information in the argument, so it cannot be the main conclusion. The argument only says that informing the public, combined with other methods, may reduce the spread of diseases. The language in this answer is too strong.
E
Some previous approaches to public health policy ignored the fact that disease-causing microorganisms reproduce at a rapid rate.
We don’t know for sure that previous approaches ignored the rapid reproduction; we just know that they thought that medical research would achieve victory over the microorganisms. Either way, the conclusion concerns the future of public health, so this is not the conclusion.

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LSAT PrepTest 118 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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