LSAT 138 – Section 3 – Question 07

LSAT 138 - Section 3 - Question 07

December 2012

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

Ask a tutor

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
PT138 S3 Q07
+LR
Strengthen +Streng
Link Assumption +LinkA
A
1%
154
B
3%
159
C
1%
156
D
3%
157
E
93%
165
126
137
147
 +Easier 147.528 +SubsectionMedium

Researcher: Accurate readings of air pollution are expensive to obtain. Lichens are complex plantlike organisms that absorb airborne pollutants and so may offer a cheaper way to monitor air quality. To investigate this, I harvested lichens at sites plagued by airborne copper pollution, determined the lichens’ copper concentration, and compared the results with those acquired using mechanical monitoring devices. The lichens were as accurate as the best equipment available. Thus, lichens can effectively replace expensive pollution-monitoring devices without loss of information.

Summarize Argument
The researcher concludes that lichens can replace expensive pollution monitors without losing accuracy. As evidence, he describes an experiment in which he collected lichens from areas with copper pollution, measured their copper concentration, and compared the results with mechanical monitors. He found that the lichens were as accurate as the best equipment.

Notable Assumptions
The researcher assumes that the lichens he tested are representative of all lichens. He also assumes that lichens can be used to accurately measure overall air pollution simply because they can be used to accurately measure copper pollution. He assumes that lichens absorb other pollutants, not just copper.

A
Mechanical monitoring devices have not already been installed in areas where air pollution is a serious problem.
Irrelevant. It doesn't matter where mechanical monitors have already been installed. This fails to address whether lichens can be used to accurately measure all air pollution or just copper pollution.
B
Copper particles are a component of air pollution in several locales.
Even if lichens can accurately measure one component of air pollution, we still need to know whether they can accurately measure the other components of air pollution.
C
Experiments have shown that lichens thrive in areas where air pollution is minimal.
This fails to address whether lichens can accurately measure overall air pollution.
D
Lichens can easily be grown in laboratories.
Lichens may be easy to grow, but we still don’t know whether they can accurately measure overall air pollution.
E
Lichens absorb all other significant air pollutants in a manner similar to their absorption of copper.
This suggests that lichens may indeed be an effective replacement for expensive pollution monitors. If lichens absorb all other major air pollutants like they do copper, then one can track the concentration of all the pollutants to measure overall air pollution.

Take PrepTest

Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 138 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

Get full LSAT course

Leave a Reply