LSAT 135 – Section 2 – Question 16

LSAT 135 - Section 2 - Question 16

December 2011

You need a full course to see this video. Enroll now and get started in less than a minute.

Request new explanation

Target time: 1:07

This is question data from the 7Sage LSAT Scorer. You can score your LSATs, track your results, and analyze your performance with pretty charts and vital statistics - all with a Free Account ← sign up in less than 10 seconds

Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT135 S2 Q16
+LR
+Exp
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
A
16%
157
B
4%
157
C
48%
165
D
29%
162
E
3%
160
150
164
177
 +Hardest 146.729 +SubsectionMedium

Correction: At 0:22 J.Y. mistakenly says that (E) is the right answer choice. (C) is the actual right answer choice.

The average length of stay for patients at Edgewater Hospital is four days, compared to six days at University Hospital. Since studies show that recovery rates at the two hospitals are similar for patients with similar illnesses, University Hospital could decrease its average length of stay without affecting quality of care.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that University Hospital could decrease its average length of stay without affecting its quality of care. This is based on the fact that the average length of stay for patients at University Hospital is higher than that of patients at Edgewater Hospital, and the recovery rates at University and Edgewater are similar for patients who have similar illnesses.

Identify and Describe Flaw
The author overlooks the possibility that the proportion of patients at University Hospital that have illnesses that require longer treatment is higher than the proportion of those patients at Edgewater. This disparity could be the reason University has a higher average length of stay. “Similar recovery rates for patients with similar illnesses” doesn’t tell us that University and Edgewater have similar proportions of patients with each kind of illness.

A
equates the quality of care at a hospital with patients’ average length of stay
The author believes University can decrease average length of stay without changing quality of care. So the author doesn’t treat the two things as equal. The author believes that they are different and changing one does not necessarily change the other.
B
treats a condition that will ensure the preservation of quality of care as a condition that is required to preserve quality of care
The author doesn’t confuse sufficient and necessary conditions. The author doesn’t assert that anything is enough to preserve quality of care, nor does he assert that anything is necessary for preserving quality of care.
C
fails to take into account the possibility that patients at Edgewater Hospital tend to be treated for different illnesses than patients at University Hospital
This possibility shows that the greater average length of stay at University could be due to having a higher proportion of patients with longer-to-treat illnesses. So, University might not be able to bring length of stay down without hurting quality of care.
D
presumes, without providing justification, that the length of time patients stay in the hospital is never relevant to the recovery rates of these patients
The author’s position is that University’s average length of stay could be brought down without impacting recovery rates. This doesn’t mean he thinks the length of stay could be brought down to zero without impacting recovery rates.
E
fails to take into account the possibility that patients at University Hospital generally prefer longer hospital stays
What patients prefer has no impact on the author’s reasoning. Even if some might prefer longer stays, the author has statistics that appear to suggest that University can bring down its length of stay without affecting quality of care.

Take PrepTest

Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 135 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

Get full LSAT course

Leave a Reply