LSAT 142 – Section 2 – Question 25

LSAT 142 - Section 2 - Question 25

December 2014

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT142 S2 Q25
+LR
+Exp
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Sampling +Smpl
Fact v. Belief v. Knowledge +FvBvK
A
2%
157
B
2%
158
C
5%
158
D
87%
165
E
3%
156
136
146
156
 +Medium 146.338 +SubsectionMedium

A recent poll revealed that most students at our university prefer that the university, which is searching for a new president, hire someone who has extensive experience as a university president. However, in the very same poll, the person most students chose from among a list of leading candidates as the one they would most like to see hired was someone who has never served as a university president.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why did surveyed students, when given a list of candidates, choose a university president candidate with no experience, even though they also said that they would prefer a university president with extensive experience?

Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains the students' contradictory responses, either by showing that none of the candidates had extensive experience, that the students didn’t know the candidates’ experience levels, or that the students had another preference that was more important than their preference for a candidate with extensive experience.

A
Because several of the candidates listed in the poll had extensive experience as university presidents, not all of the candidates could be differentiated on this basis alone.
This furthers the discrepancy. We know that the students preferred a candidate with extensive experience. So, if several of the candidates had extensive experience, why did the students choose a candidate with no experience?
B
Most of the candidates listed in the poll had extensive experience as university presidents.
Like (A), this furthers the discrepancy. We know that the students preferred a candidate with extensive experience. So, if most of the candidates had extensive experience, why did the students still choose a candidate with no experience?
C
Students taking the poll had fewer candidates to choose from than were currently being considered for the position.
We don’t know if this subset of candidates was composed of all inexperienced candidates or if it included many experienced candidates. If it included many experienced candidates, the question remains: why did the students choose a candidate with no experience?
D
Most of the students taking the poll did not know whether any of the leading candidates listed in the poll had ever served as a university president.
This helps explain the discrepancy in the students’ answers. Students indicated that they preferred a candidate with extensive experience. However, if most students didn’t know whether the candidates had experience, they were unable to choose a candidate based on this preference.
E
Often a person can be well suited to a position even though they have relatively little experience in such a position.
Even if the students’ preferred candidate seemed well-suited despite lacking experience, this doesn't explain the contradiction in their answers. The students said they preferred a candidate with extensive experience, so why did they choose someone without any experience?

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LSAT PrepTest 142 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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