LSAT 139 – Section 1 – Question 03

LSAT 139 - Section 1 - Question 03

June 2013

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT139 S1 Q03
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
9%
160
B
0%
147
C
4%
157
D
87%
165
E
1%
152
131
142
154
 +Medium 142.273 +SubsectionEasier

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A study of the dietary habits of a group of people who had recently developed cancer and a group without cancer found that during the previous five years the diets of the two groups’ members closely matched each other in the amount of yogurt they contained. Yogurt contains galactose, which is processed in the body by an enzyme. In the people with cancer the levels of this enzyme were too low to process the galactose in the yogurt they were consuming. It can be concluded that galactose in amounts exceeding the body’s ability to process it is carcinogenic.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The author hypothesizes that too much galactose in the body causes cancer. She supports this by referring to a study comparing the diets of people with and without cancer. The study found that both groups ate similar amounts of yogurt, which contains galactose. However, people with cancer had low levels of the enzyme needed to process the galactose in the yogurt.

Notable Assumptions

The author assumes that galactose can cause cancer just because people with cancer had low levels of the enzyme needed to process it. She overlooks the possibility that another factor could cause both the cancer and low enzyme levels, or that cancer might lead to low enzyme levels.

In order to conclude that galactose can cause cancer, she also assumes that the study is representative and that all other factors or differences between the two groups are controlled for.

A
The argument fails to consider whether the dietary habits of everyone in the two groups were the same in all other respects.

The study should control for other factors and differences between the groups, but it doesn’t need to prove that the dietary habits of everyone in the two groups were the same in all other respects. (A) is too strongly worded to successfully weaken the author’s argument.

B
The argument neglects to recommend that people with low levels of the enzyme avoid eating yogurt.

The author’s conclusion only addresses a potential cause of cancer. She isn’t giving a recommendation for what people should or should not eat. Because (B) doesn’t address causation, it’s not relevant to the author’s argument.

C
The argument focuses on only one substance that can increase the risk of cancer, when it is well known that there are many such substances.

There are certainly other substances that increase the risk of cancer, but the author is only drawing a conclusion about the presence of galactose and the enzyme needed to process it. She does not need to address every possible carcinogenic substance.

D
The argument overlooks the possibility that cancer causes low levels of the enzyme.

Just because there’s a correlation between cancer and low levels of the enzyme, doesn’t mean that low levels of the enzyme cause cancer, as the author concludes. It’s possible that cancer causes low levels of the enzyme instead.

E
The argument does not specify whether any member of either group lacked the enzyme entirely.

This is true, but it doesn't weaken the argument. The study found that one group had enzyme levels too low to process the galactose they were eating. Even if they still had some amount of the enzyme, the key point is that it wasn’t enough to process the galactose.

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LSAT PrepTest 139 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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