LSAT 55 – Section 3 – Question 18

LSAT 55 - Section 3 - Question 18

October 2008

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT55 S3 Q18
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
A
7%
157
B
1%
153
C
5%
154
D
4%
158
E
83%
164
138
147
156
 +Medium 144.364 +SubsectionEasier

The question stem reads: The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on which one of the following grounds? This is a Flaw question.

The author begins by stating how many parents organize their child's playtime in order to enhance their child's cognitive development. The author concludes that the parents' belief is incorrect: Organizing a child's playtime will not enhance cognitive development. To prove their claim, the author says, "To thoroughly structure a child's playtime and expect this to produce a creative and resourceful child would be like expecting a good novel to be produced by someone who was told exactly what the plot and characters must be."

What a minute. Is producing "a creative and resourceful child" the reason parents organize playtime? All we know is that the parents organized play time to enhance cognitive development. Creativity and resourcefulness are a subset of cognitive functions. So there could be cognitive functions the parents want to enhance besides creativity and resourcefulness. Perhaps the parents organize playtime to improve a child's ability to organize. Shocking! So the author has failed to consider that organized playtime might enhance cognitive development in areas besides creativity and resourcefulness.

Answer Choice (A) is incorrect. The author wants to say organized playtime is not conducive to enhancing cognitive development. (A) would look better if it said, "Takes for granted that if something (organized playtime is not conducive to a certain goal (developing creativity and resourcefulness), it also cannot be conducive to some other goal (enhancing cognitive development).

Answer Choice (B) is overlooked by the argument but is also irrelevant. Whether or not children enjoy organized playtime is arbitrary.

Answer Choice (C) is also incorrect. The author never considers organized playtime to be necessary for enhancing a child's creativity and resourcefulness.

Answer Choice (D) has nothing to do with the argument. The author never actually says writing a good novel requires creativity and resourcefulness. The author claims you can't expect a good book to be written by someone who is told what characters and plot to use.

Correct Answer Choice (E) is what we discussed. The author does fail to consider that organized playtime could enhance other aspects of cognitive development (which would improve overall cognitive development) without enhancing creativity and resourcefulness.

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LSAT PrepTest 55 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logic Games

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