LSAT 131 – Section 1 – Question 18

LSAT 131 - Section 1 - Question 18

December 2009

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT131 S1 Q18	+LR +Exp	Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw Sampling +Smpl Math +Math	A 2% 153 B 3% 157 C 7% 159 D 17% 161 E 71% 167	148 156 165	+Harder	147.383 +SubsectionMedium

In a poll of a representative sample of a province’s residents, the provincial capital was the city most often selected as the best place to live in that province. Since the capital is also the largest of that province’s many cities, the poll shows that most residents of that province generally prefer life in large cities to life in small cities.

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that most residents in the province prefer large cities to small cities. As support, he notes that the capital is the largest city in the province and was most often selected as the best place to live in a poll of the province’s residents.

Identify and Describe Flaw

(1) The author assumes that people chose the capital as the best city because it’s large. But if they chose it for other reasons, like its job opportunities or food scene, he can’t assume that these residents prefer large cities.

(2) The author confuses plurality and majority. He assumes that the option with more votes than any other (plurality) is also the option with the majority of the votes (>50%). But maybe 40% of people chose the capital, while 30% chose City A and 30% chose City B. If so, it’s not true that most residents prefer the capital.

overlooks the possibility that what is true of the residents of the province may not be true of other people

Like (B), the author’s conclusion is only about the preferences of the residents of the province. It doesn’t matter if other people share these preferences.

does not indicate whether most residents of other provinces also prefer life in large cities to life in small cities

Like (A), the author’s conclusion is only about the preferences of the residents of this province. The preferences of the residents of other provinces are irrelevant.

takes for granted that when people are polled for their preferences among cities, they tend to vote for the city that they think is the best place to live

The author may assume this, but it doesn’t explain why his argument is vulnerable to criticism. The poll is seeking to measure what city the residents think is the best place to live.

overlooks the possibility that the people who preferred small cities over the provincial capital did so not because of their general feelings about the sizes of cities, but because of their general feelings about capital cities

The author overlooks the possibility that people who preferred the capital city didn’t do so because of their general feelings about the sizes of cities, but because of their general feelings about capital cities.

overlooks the possibility that most people may have voted for small cities even though a large city received more votes than any other single city

The author confuses plurality and majority. Just because the capital city received more votes than any other city doesn’t mean that most residents chose the capital. Maybe most people voted for small cities, even though the capital had more votes than any of the small cities.

LSAT 131 – Section 1 – Question 18

LSAT 131 - Section 1 - Question 18

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LSAT PrepTest 131 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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