Self-study
Environmentalist: It takes less energy to make molten glass from recycled glass than from raw materials. ████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ████ ████████ █████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ████████ ███ ████ █ █████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ ███████████ ██████ ████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ███ █████ █████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ █████
Common Reasoning Pattern: Net Effect
This stimulus exhibits net effect reasoning, a pattern common enough on the LSAT that you can reasonably aspire to recognize it by name when it appears. Doing so makes answering this question a lot easier. Here’s the distilled argument through a net effect lens:
Premise: Recycled glass haslower energy costs than raw mats glass.
________
Conclusion: Recycled glass haslower overall costs than raw mats glass.
When an argument gives a premise about one factor and draws a conclusion about how all the factors balance out, it overlooks the possibility that other factors might outweigh the one in the premise. In our stimulus, that means:
The argument assumes other costs associated with recycled glass don’t outweigh the energy savings.
Broader Anticipations
It so happens that net effect reasoning is an excellent way to understand (D), but there’s no up front guarantee the right answer will point out net effect in particular.
So another high-value lens you could take on the argument is that the conclusion introduces a few novel concepts – “lower their costs” and “benefit the environment.” These give rise to anticipations along the following lines:
The argument assumes that [the stuff in the premises] means bottlers will [lower their costs / benefit the environment].
(D) works through this lens as well. But it’s good to note that an answer choice like “Recycled glass isn’t worse for the environment.” would have been another correct-answer option for the testwriters.
25.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ███████
a
The process of ██████ ███████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████ █████████
b
The amount of █████ ████ ██ █████████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ █████ ████ █████ ████████ ████ █████████ ███ █ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ █████
c
Most consumers are ███ ████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████
d
Purchasing and transport █████ ███ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ██████
e
The process of ██████ ██████ █████ ████ ████████ █████ ████████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████ █████ ████ ███ ██████████