LSAT 138 – Section 4 – Question 05

LSAT 138 - Section 4 - Question 05

December 2012

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT138 S4 Q05
+LR
+Exp
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
1%
153
B
2%
153
C
93%
164
D
0%
155
E
4%
157
128
137
147
 +Easier 146.393 +SubsectionMedium

Recent epidemiological studies report that Country X has the lowest incidence of disease P of any country. Nevertheless, residents of Country X who are reported to have contracted disease P are much more likely to die from it than are residents of any other country.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why are residents of X who are reported to have disease P more likely to die from it than are residents of any other country, even though X has the lowest rate of disease P out of all countries?

Objective
The correct answer should help explain why the fatality rate for those reported to have disease P is higher in country X despite the lower rate of disease P in that country.

A
There are several forms of disease P, some of which are more contagious than others.
But are residents of country X more likely to contract the more contagious forms of disease P? In any case, degree of contagiousness doesn’t indicate the deadliness of a disease. It indicates instead the likelihood of spreading to others.
B
Most of the fatal cases of disease P found in Country X involve people who do not reside in Country X.
The statistic in the stimulus concerns residents of country X. So, deaths from people who don’t reside in country X are irrelevant, because they aren’t counted in the statistic.
C
In Country X, diagnosis of disease P seldom occurs except in the most severe cases of the disease.
This could explain both the lower rate of disease P in country X (mild cases go unreported) as well as the higher likelihood of death for those reported to have disease P. The reported cases would be more severe, on average, than cases in other countries.
D
The number of cases of disease P that occur in any country fluctuates widely from year to year.
Varying levels of disease P from year to year doesn’t help explain a lower rate of the disease in country X or why the reported cases are more deadly. We would already expect the number of cases not to be exactly the same every year.
E
Because of its climate, more potentially fatal illnesses occur in Country X than in many other countries.
We’re trying to explain the higher fatality rate of disease P in country X. Other illnesses don’t affect the fatality rate of disease P.

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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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