LSAT 139 – Section 1 – Question 22

LSAT 139 - Section 1 - Question 22

June 2013

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT139 S1 Q22
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
19%
161
B
45%
168
C
4%
158
D
7%
160
E
26%
163
159
166
174
 +Hardest 142.273 +SubsectionEasier

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Company president: Most of our best sales representatives came to the job with a degree in engineering but little or no sales experience. Thus, when we hire sales representatives, we should favor applicants who have engineering degrees but little or no sales experience over applicants with extensive sales experience but no engineering degrees.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that, when hiring sales reps, we should favor applicants who have engineering degrees but little/no sales experience over applicants with lots of sales experiences but no engineering degrees. This is based on the fact that most of the company’s best sales representatives had an engineering degree but little/no sales experience when joining the company.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the explanation for why most of the best sales representatives have an engineering degree and little/no sales experience is that this background contributes to success. But this overlooks the possibility that there are other explanations. For example, what if most people hired for a position as a sales representative have the background described? Then we’d expect most of the best reps to have that background.

A
Some of the company’s sales representatives completed a degree in engineering while working for the company.
The argument is just about what kind of background we want at the time of hiring. Whether reps who started without an engineering degree later got a degree doesn’t alter the support provided by the fact that most of the best reps started without an engineering degree.
B
Most of the people hired by the company as sales representatives have had a degree in engineering but no sales experience.
This provides an alternate explanation for the statistic about the best reps. Maybe the reason most of the best have that background is that most sales reps have that background. So, we’d expect most of the best to have that background even if it doesn’t contribute to success.
C
Most of the customers that the company’s sales representatives work with have a degree in engineering.
The background of customers is irrelevant. The argument is based on the background of the best sales reps.
D
Most of the people who apply for a sales representative position with the company do not have a degree in engineering.
If anything, this strengthens the argument by eliminating the potential alternate explanation that most applicants for a sales rep position have an engineering degree and little/no sales experience.
E
Some of the people who the company has hired as sales representatives and who were subsequently not very good at the job did not have extensive previous sales experience.
The author already acknowledges that “most” of the best have a particular background. This doesn’t mean the author thinks all of the best have that background.

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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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