LSAT 149 – Section 4 – Question 12

LSAT 149 - Section 4 - Question 12

December 2017

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT149 S4 Q12
+LR
+Exp
Strengthen +Streng
Causal Reasoning +CausR
A
5%
158
B
9%
159
C
80%
164
D
5%
157
E
1%
156
128
143
157
 +Medium 147.325 +SubsectionMedium

For years, university administrators, corporations, and government agencies have been predicting an imminent and catastrophic shortage of scientists and engineers. But since there is little noticeable upward pressure on the salaries of scientists and engineers, and unemployment is as high in these fields as any other, these doomsayers are turning out to be wrong.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes administrators, corporations, and agencies were incorrect when they predicted an imminent, catastrophic shortage of scientists and engineers. Why? Because the salaries of scientists and engineers haven’t increased much, and their unemployment rates aren’t especially low.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes any catastrophic shortage of scientists and engineers would have caused upward salary pressure or low unemployment for them. In addition, he assumes the administrators, corporations, and agencies predicted the imminent shortage would be at the present time, not in the past or future.

A
The proportion of all research in science and engineering being carried out by corporations is larger than it was five years ago.
This doesn’t mean there are plenty of scientists and engineers. It’s possible all sorts of institutions would be doing more research if there were more scientists and engineers available.
B
Most students choose fields of study that offer some prospect of financial success.
This doesn’t imply the number of scientists or engineers meets the demand for them—nor even that lots of students choose to study science and engineering. The author doesn’t say science and engineering offer a prospect of financial success that other fields don’t.
C
The number of students in university programs in science and engineering has increased significantly in the last five years.
This makes the author’s key claim—that there’s no shortage of scientists and engineers—more likely. It suggests circumstances have changed to allow for more scientists and engineers to enter the workforce since the predictions were made.
D
Certain specializations in science and engineering have an oversupply of labor and others have shortages.
If anything, this weakens the argument. It implies there are shortages of at least some types of scientists and engineers, making the author’s key claim—that there’s no widespread shortage—less likely.
E
The knowledge and skills acquired during university programs in science and engineering need to be kept current through periodic retraining and professional experience.
This requirement could help explain a shortage—it doesn’t make a shortage less likely. If anything, this extra requirement for scientists and engineers to remain proficient makes a shortage slightly more probable.

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LSAT PrepTest 149 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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