LSAT 141 – Section 4 – Question 01

LSAT 141 - Section 4 - Question 01

September 2014

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT141 S4 Q01
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
3%
155
B
0%
158
C
1%
152
D
94%
163
E
2%
154
126
135
145
 +Easier 147.542 +SubsectionMedium

In an experiment, ten people were asked to taste samples of coffee and rank them. Five of the people were given chocolate with the coffee, and this group subsequently reported that all the coffee samples tasted pretty much the same as one another. Five others tasted coffee only, and they were able to detect differences. Clearly, then, chocolate interferes with one’s ability to taste coffee.

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that chocolate interferes with one’s ability to taste coffee. Her evidence is an experiment showing that the group who ate chocolate wasn’t able to taste the differences between coffee samples, whereas the group that didn’t eat chocolate were able to taste the differences.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that there was no relevant difference between the two groups in the experiment besides the fact that one group had eaten chocolate. Any relevant difference between the two groups would call into question the author’s hypothesis. The author also assumes that a single experiment with ten people is sufficient to draw conclusions about how chocolate affects one’s ability to taste coffee.

A
The ten people were randomly assigned to either the group that tasted only coffee or the group that was also given chocolate, although some people had asked to be in the group that received chocolate.
Well, those people who wanted to be in the chocolate group were nevertheless randomly assigned. The experiment remains intact.
B
Similar results were achieved when the experiment was repeated with a different, larger group of people.
This strengthens the author’s argument by shoring up the sample size issue.
C
Chocolate is normally consumed as a solid, whereas coffee is normally consumed as a liquid.
This is true. But how does this affect the author’s argument? We need to weaken the connection between eating chocolate and not being able to taste the differences between coffee samples.
D
The five people who were originally given chocolate were asked a week later to taste coffee samples without chocolate, and they still detected no differences between the coffee samples.
The five people in the chocolate group simply have no ability to taste the differences between coffee samples. Once chocolate was removed as a variable, the results of the experiment remained exactly the same.
E
Some subjects who tasted just coffee reported only subtle differences between the coffee samples, while others thought the differences were considerable.
Regardless of the strength of the differences, these people all noted differences. People in the chocolate group didn’t note any differences.

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LSAT PrepTest 141 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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