LSAT 156 – Section 4 – Question 23

LSAT 156 - Section 4 - Question 23

July 2020

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT156 S4 Q23
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
A
37%
164
B
28%
154
C
5%
153
D
20%
153
E
10%
149
155
163
171
 +Hardest 147.09 +SubsectionMedium

The computer software industry is rapidly growing and has been for some time. For a company to grow rapidly, it must be innovative, which means it must have creative employees or a management that is open to new ideas. Logichut is a software company that is said to have no creative employees. If so, its management is evidently open to new ideas.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that if Logichut doesn’t have any creative employees, then its management must be open to new ideas. This is based on the fact that in order for a company to grow rapidly, it must be innovative, which requires that it have creative employees or a management open to new ideas. In addition, the computer software industry — of which Logichut is a part — is rapidly growing.

Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that because the software industry is rapidly growing, that Logichut, as an individual company within that industry, must also be rapidly growing. This overlooks the possibility that what is true of the whole industry does not have to be true of the individual companies that make up that industry. Logichut might be stagnant or shrinking, even if the industry generally is growing.

A
illicitly presumes that because a set of things has a certain property, each member of that set has the property
The author assumes that since a set of things (the software industry) is rapidly growing, each member of that set (companies in the industry) must also be rapidly growing. This overlooks the possibility that some companies might not be growing, despite overall industry growth.
B
confuses a necessary condition for a company’s being innovative with a sufficient condition for a company’s being innovative
The author doesn’t infer that Logichut is innovative on the basis of having creative employees or management open to new ideas. The author infers that Logichut is innovative on the basis of an assumption that Logichut is rapidly growing, which we know requires innovation.
C
illicitly concludes that because many people believe something, it must be true
By using “if so,” author expressly conditions the conclusion on the truth of the claim that Logichut has no creative employees. This acknowledges that the claim might not be true, so it’s wrong to say the author concludes that what people say/believe about Logichut must be true.
D
confuses a necessary condition for a company to grow rapidly with a sufficient condition for a company to grow rapidly
The author does not infer that Logichut is growing rapidly on the basis of the necessary condition for growing rapidly (innovation). Rather, the author assumes that Logichut is growing rapidly on the basis of the industry as a whole growing rapidly.
E
overlooks the possibility that a software company could have both creative employees and a management that is open to new ideas
It may be possible for a company to have both. The author’s position is merely that if Logichut does not have creative employees, then it must have management open to new ideas. This doesn’t assume that Logichut can’t have both.

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LSAT PrepTest 156 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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