LSAT 151 – Section 3 – Question 09

LSAT 151 - Section 3 - Question 09

September 2018

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT151 S3 Q09
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
A
4%
153
B
16%
155
C
73%
163
D
6%
156
E
1%
152
144
152
160
 +Medium 146.292 +SubsectionMedium

Until recently it was widely believed that only a limited number of species could reproduce through parthenogenesis, reproduction by a female alone. But lately, as interest in the topic has increased, parthenogenesis has been found in a variety of unexpected cases, including sharks and Komodo dragons. So the number of species that can reproduce through parthenogenesis must be increasing.

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that the number of species that can reproduce through parthenogenesis must be increasing. She supports this by noting that, as interest in the topic has grown, parthenogenesis has been discovered in more unexpected species.

Identify and Describe Flaw

The author assumes that parthenogenesis is on the rise just because more cases have been discovered. She overlooks the possibility that these species may have always reproduced this way, and humans are just now aware of it. In other words, the lack of interest and knowledge about parthenogenesis in the past doesn't mean that it didn't occur before.

A
equates mere interest in a subject with real understanding of that subject

The author never assumes that people’s increased interest in parthenogenesis means that they really understand it. She just claims that more cases of parthenogenesis have been found since interest in it has increased.

B
takes for granted that because one thing follows another, the one must have been caused by the other

This is the cookie-cutter flaw of assuming that correlation proves causation. The author doesn’t draw a causal conclusion at all. She concludes that the number of species that use parthenogenesis is increasing, but she doesn’t say that increased interest caused this increase.

C
takes ignorance of the occurrence of something as conclusive evidence that it did not occur

The author assumes that humans’ ignorance of certain species’ ability to reproduce through parthenogenesis is evidence that they could not reproduce this way before. But it’s more likely that these species always reproduced this way, and humans are just now aware of it.

D
overlooks a crucial difference between two situations that the argument presents as being similar

This is describing a flawed analogy. The author doesn’t make this mistake. She doesn’t present two situations as being similar in the first place. Instead, she assumes that parthenogenesis is on the rise just because more cases have been discovered.

E
presumes that because research is new it is, on that basis alone, better than older research

The author never assumes that new research is better than old research. She points out that humans are aware of more cases of parthenogenesis than they were in the past. But her flaw is in the assumption that this increased knowledge means that parthenogenesis is on the rise.

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LSAT PrepTest 151 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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