LSAT 135 – Section 4 – Question 11

LSAT 135 - Section 4 - Question 11

December 2011

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT135 S4 Q11
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
Rule-Application +RuleApp
Value Judgment +ValJudg
A
0%
151
B
1%
153
C
6%
159
D
90%
165
E
3%
156
129
140
150
 +Easier 147.853 +SubsectionMedium

Rolanda: The house on Oak Avenue has a larger yard than any other house we’ve looked at in Prairieview, so that’s the best one to rent.

Tom: No, it isn’t. Its yard isn’t really as big as it looks. Property lines in Prairieview actually start 20 feet from the street. So what looks like part of the yard is really city property.

Rolanda: But that’s true of all the other properties we’ve looked at too!

Summarize Argument
Rolanda starts by concluding that the house on Oak Avenue is the best one to rent. This is because it has a larger yard than any other house they’ve looked at in Prairieview.

Tom concludes that the house on Oak Avenue isn’t the best one to rent. This is based on Tom’s belief that the yard of that house isn’t as big as it looks. Tom’s support for this belief is that property lines in Prairieview start 20 feet from the street; that means what looks like part of the house’s yard is actually part of the city’s property.

Rolanda responds by pointing out that every other property also has its property line start 20 feet from the street.

Identify and Describe Flaw
Tom’s flaw is that he doesn’t realize his point about the property line applies to every property. So he hasn’t shown that the Oak Avenue house isn’t the largest they’ve seen.

A
He fails to take into account the possibility that there are advantages to having a small yard.
Tom doesn’t make any comment about small yards; there’s no indication that his thoughts about small yards have anything to do with why his reasoning is flawed.
B
He presumes, without providing justification, that property that belongs to the city is available for private use.
Tom doesn’t make any claims concerning private use. There’s no indication he has any belief about whether property belonging to the city can be used privately.
C
He improperly applies a generalization to an instance that it was not intended to cover.
There’s no indication that the generalization (the rule about property lines) isn’t supposed to cover the house on Oak Avenue.
D
He fails to apply a general rule to all relevant instances.
Tom fails to apply the general rule (about property lines) to all relevant instances (other houses in Prairieview). Tom’s point is less persuasive because other houses would also have a smaller yard, making the Oak Avenue house still have a larger yard than other houses.
E
He presumes, without providing justification, that whatever is true of a part of a thing is also true of the whole.
Tom doesn’t argue that something true of a part is true of a whole. He applies a rule about measuring property lines to the house on Oak Avenue.

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LSAT PrepTest 135 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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