LSAT 140 – Section 3 – Question 21

LSAT 140 - Section 3 - Question 21

December 2013

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT140 S3 Q21
+LR
Except +Exc
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
50%
168
B
20%
163
C
8%
161
D
18%
162
E
5%
158
156
165
175
 +Hardest 149.74 +SubsectionMedium

Video of JY doing this

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Prolonged exposure to sulfur fumes permanently damages one’s sense of smell. In one important study, 100 workers from sulfur-emitting factories and a control group of 100 workers from other occupations were asked to identify a variety of chemically reproduced scents, including those of foods, spices, and flowers. On average, the factory workers successfully identified 10 percent of the scents compared to 50 percent for the control group.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that prolonged exposure to sulfur fumes permanently damages a person’s sense of smell. This is based on a study comparing 100 workers from sulfur-emitting factories and 100 workers who didn’t work in sulfur-emitting factories. On average, the sulfur-emitting factory workers identified fewer chemically-reproduced scents than the other group did.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the only explanation for why the sulfur-emitting factory workers identified fewer scents than the other group did is damage to sense of smell due to sulfur fumes. The author also assumes that the sulfur-emitting factory workers experienced “prolonged” exposure to sulfuar and that any potential damage to sense of smell they suffered is permanent.

A
The chemicals used in the study closely but not perfectly reproduced the corresponding natural scents.
(A) should affect the both groups equally, so it’s not an alternate hypothesis. Also, a close resemblance to the natural scent could strengthen by defending from an objection that the scents were too different to reliably test sense of smell.
B
The subjects in the study were tested in the environments where they usually work.
This shows that the test wasn’t investigating permanent damage. If the sulfur group was tested in the sulfur-emitting factory, whatever effect sulfur had on the group could have been due to the contemporaneous effects of sulfur. We’d want the test to be done outside the factory.
C
Most members of the control group had participated in several earlier studies that involved the identification of scents.
This could provide an alternate explanation for why the control group was able to identify more scents than the sulfur group. Prior experience with studies identifying scents could have improved their ability to identify scents in such tests.
D
Every sulfur-emitting factory with workers participating in the study also emits other noxious fumes.
This could provide an alternate explanation for why the sulfur-emitting factory group identified fewer scents. Maybe any damage to sense of smell was due to a different fume besides sulfur.
E
Because of the factories’ locations, the factory workers were less likely than those in the control group to have been exposed to many of the scents used in the study.
This could provide an alternate explanation for why the sulfur-emitting factory group identified fewer scents. Less familiarity with the natural scents they were supposed to identify could have accounted for their worse performance on the test.

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Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

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