LSAT 138 – Section 2 – Question 20

LSAT 138 - Section 2 - Question 20

December 2012

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT138 S2 Q20
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
Link Assumption +LinkA
Kick It Up +KIU
A
1%
154
B
1%
155
C
5%
156
D
78%
166
E
15%
160
140
151
161
 +Medium 147.395 +SubsectionMedium

A study found that when rating the educational value of specific children’s television shows parents tend to base their judgments primarily on how much they themselves enjoyed the shows, and rarely took into account the views of educational psychologists as to the shows’ educational value. Accordingly, if the psychologists’ views are sound, parents have little reason to trust their own ratings of the educational value of children’s television shows.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that parents should not trust their own abilities to rate the educational value of children’s shows if educational psychologists rate them accurately. This is because, in a relevant study, parents largely ignored the views of such psychologists when rating the shows.

Identify and Describe Flaw
The problem with this argument is that it assumes that the parents’ ratings differ from those of the psychologists. If the parents’ ratings of the value of children’s shows are similar to the psychologists’, then the psychologists’ views being sound actually gives parents a reason to trust their own judgment.

A
relies on a sample that is likely to be unrepresentative of the population with which the conclusion is concerned
Both the study and the conclusion are focused on parents, so there’s no reason to believe that the sample in the study is unrepresentative.
B
takes for granted that parents do not enjoy the same sort of children’s television shows that children themselves enjoy
This is irrelevant. The conclusion is just that parents shouldn’t trust their own abilities to rate shows if the psychologists rate them accurately, so it doesn’t matter what children enjoy.
C
takes for granted that the educational value of a television show should be the only consideration for a parent trying to decide whether a child should watch the show
The conclusion is only concerned with parents’ ability to rate the educational value of children’s shows, so reasons why children should or shouldn’t watch a show are irrelevant.
D
fails to rule out the possibility that parents’ ratings of the shows based on their own enjoyment coincide closely with the educational psychologists’ views of the shows’ educational values
This describes how the argument fails to establish that the psychologists give different ratings than the parents do. If they rate shows similarly, then psychologists having accurate ratings would mean that parents do too.
E
takes for granted that educational psychologists are the only people who can judge the educational value of children’s television shows with a high degree of accuracy
The argument doesn’t assume that psychologists can judge children’s shows’ value accurately, let alone that they’re the only ones who can. The conclusion only claims that if psychologists’ ratings are accurate, then parents shouldn’t trust their own ratings.

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LSAT PrepTest 138 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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