LSAT 140 – Section 1 – Question 09

LSAT 140 - Section 1 - Question 09

December 2013

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT140 S1 Q09
+LR
Method of reasoning or descriptive +Method
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
65%
167
B
12%
159
C
12%
163
D
7%
158
E
4%
159
148
158
169
 +Harder 148.137 +SubsectionMedium

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Records from 1850 to 1900 show that in a certain region, babies’ birth weights each year varied with the success of the previous year’s crops: the more successful the crops, the higher the birth weights. This indicates that the health of a newborn depends to a large extent on the amount of food available to the mother during her pregnancy.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that a newborn’s health largely depends on the amount of food available to the mother during pregnancy. He supports this by pointing out that records from 1850 to 1900 show that birth weights in a certain region were higher in years following successful crop harvests.

Describe Method of Reasoning
The author presents two sets of phenomena: birth weights and crop success, and newborns' health and food availability during pregnancy. He shows a correlation between the first two—higher birth weights in a certain region in years after successful crop harvests—and uses this to draw a conclusion about the second two, arguing that a newborn's health largely depends on the amount of food available to the mother during pregnancy.

A
inferring from a claimed correlation between two phenomena that two other phenomena are causally connected to one another
The author presents a correlation between two phenomena: birth weight and crop success in a region from 1850 to 1900. He then uses this to infer a causal connection between two other phenomena: a newborn’s health and the amount of food available to the mother during pregnancy.
B
inferring from the claim that two phenomena have fluctuated together that one of those phenomena must be the sole cause of the other
The author doesn't make this argument. Instead, he infers that because one set of phenomena fluctuated together, another set of phenomena is causally linked.
C
inferring from records concerning a past correlation between two phenomena that that correlation still exists
The author does present records from 1850 to 1900 concerning a correlation between two phenomena— birth weights and crop success. However, he uses this to infer a causal link between a different set of phenomena, not a current correlation between the same set.
D
inferring from records concerning two phenomena the existence of a common cause of the phenomena and then presenting a hypothesis about that common cause
The author doesn't discuss a common cause of the two sets of phenomena, nor does he present a hypothesis about a common cause. Instead, he uses a correlation between one set to draw a conclusion about the second set.
E
inferring the existence of one causal connection from that of another and then providing an explanation for the existence of the two causal connections
The author does infer the existence of a causal connection— that a newborn's health largely depends on the amount of food available to the mother during pregnancy— but he doesn’t infer it from another causal connection, nor does he provide an explanation for the connections.

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LSAT PrepTest 140 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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