In 1955, legislation in a certain country gave the government increased control over industrial workplace safety conditions. Among the high-risk industries in that country, the likelihood that a worker will suffer a serious injury has decreased since 1955. The legislation, therefore, has increased overall worker safety within high-risk industries.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that legislation giving the government more control over workplace safety conditions increased workplace safety in high-risk industries. Her support is that the risk of serious injuries in high-risk industries has decreased since the legislation was introduced.

Notable Assumptions
From a mere correlation, the author concludes that the new legislation caused the decrease in serious injuries. This means she assumes that there wasn’t some unaccounted for, risk-reducing third factor that occurred around the same time as the legislation. The author also assumes that overall worker safety increased as the risk of serious injury decreased. This means she doesn’t believe less serious injuries increased once the legislation was enacted, or that those injuries don’t affect overall worker safety.

A
Because of technological innovation, most workplaces in the high-risk industries do not require as much unprotected interaction between workers and heavy machinery as they did in 1955.
This suggests that the legislation didn’t cause the decrease in injuries—technological innovation did. Since workers weren’t having as many unprotected interactions with heavy machinery, they weren’t sustaining as many serious injuries as before.
B
Most of the work-related injuries that occurred before 1955 were the result of worker carelessness.
Was that also true of the work-related injuries that occurred after 1955? Perhaps governments regulated in such a way that reduced the chance of carelessness leading to injury.
C
The annual number of work-related injuries has increased since the legislation took effect.
Even if the annual number of injuries has increased, do these injuries outweigh the serious ones that have reduced? We don’t know.
D
The number of work-related injuries occurring within industries not considered high-risk has increased annually since 1955.
We don’t care about non-high-risk industries. That’s not what the author is talking about.
E
Workplace safety conditions in all industries have improved steadily since 1955.
Perhaps the government began regulating across all industries. We need to know specifically about the government’s role in high-risk industries, and weaken the idea that the legislation improved overall worker safety in those industries.

23 comments

Economist: Historically, sunflower seed was one of the largest production crops in Kalotopia, and it continues to be a major source of income for several countries. The renewed growing of sunflowers would provide relief to Kalotopia’s farming industry, which is quite unstable. Further, sunflower oil can provide a variety of products, both industrial and consumer, at little cost to Kalotopia’s already fragile environment.

Summary

Sunflower seed was one of the largest production crops in Kalotopia. Sunflower seed is a major source of income for many countries. Renewing the growth of sunflower seeds in Kalotopia would help its unstable farming industry. Sunflower oil can provide a variety of industrial and consumer products at little cost to the environment. Kalotopia has a fragile environment.

Strongly Supported Conclusions

A former production crop in Kalotopia could help the farming industry if it were grown again.

A
Kalotopia’s farming industry will deteriorate if sunflowers are not grown there.

This is unsupported because we don’t know that the industry will get worse without the sunflowers. We only know that it is currently unstable.

B
Stabilizing Kalotopia’s farming industry would improve the economy without damaging the environment.

This is unsupported because while we know that the cost to the environment would be little, but not necessarily zero.

C
Kalotopia’s farming industry would be better off now if it had never ceased to grow any of the crops that historically were large production crops.

This is unsupported because we don’t know whether Kalotopia had important reasons for ceasing sunflower production in the past that made the country better off than if it had continued sunflower production.

D
A crop that was once a large production crop in Kalotopia would, if it were grown there again, benefit that country’s farmers and general economy.

This is strongly supported because the author states that growing sunflower seed, which used to be a large production crop, would benefit farmers and create new products.

E
Sunflower seed is a better crop for Kalotopia from both the environmental and the economic viewpoints than are most crops that could be grown there.

This is unsupported because the author never compares sunflower seed to other possible crops that may be able to solve the instability just as well.


13 comments

Several major earthquakes have occurred in a certain region over the last ten years. But a new earthquake prediction method promises to aid local civil defense officials in deciding exactly when to evacuate various towns. Detected before each of these major quakes were certain changes in the electric current in the earth’s crust.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that a new earthquake prediction system will help local officials decide which towns to evacuate during earthquakes. This is because electrical current changes were detected before each every earthquake in the region over the last decade.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the new earthquake protection system can accurately gauge these electrical current changes, to the extent that such information can provide local officials with enough information to know which towns to evacuate. This means the author assumes the electrical currents themselves give hints as to which specific geographic areas will be significantly affected by the earthquakes.

A
Scientists do not fully understand what brought about the changes in the electric current in the earth’s crust that preceded each of the major quakes in the region over the last ten years.
Even if scientists don’t understand the natural mechanism behind these currents, they’re still able to detect changes in the currents with the new method. That’s all that matters for the sake of the argument.
B
Most other earthquake prediction methods have been based on a weaker correlation than that found between the changes in the electric current in the earth’s crust and the subsequent earthquakes.
If those methods are weaker than the detection method in question, then that suggests this new detection method may have an advantage over those. We’re trying to weaken the claim that this method will actually help local officials.
C
The frequency of major earthquakes in the region has increased over the last ten years.
It doesn’t matter how frequent earthquakes have been. We need to weaken the claim that the new detection method will help local officials.
D
There is considerable variation in the length of time between the changes in the electric current and the subsequent earthquakes.
The current changes vary from earthquake to earthquake. If those changes occur extremely shortly before an earthquake, this detection method would be of very little use helping local officials decide which towns to evacuate. There wouldn’t be enough time to evacuate.
E
There is presently only one station in the region that is capable of detecting the electric current in the earth’s crust.
Even if there’s only one station capable of using this method, the method could still be employed. Besides, we’re not interested in how hypothetically practical this method is—we care about whether or not it would really help local officials.

7 comments

Unlike many machines that are perfectly useful in isolation from others, fax machines must work with other fax machines. Thus, in the fax industry, the proliferation of incompatible formats, which resulted from the large number of competing manufacturers, severely limited the usefulness—and hence the commercial viability—of fax technology until the manufacturers agreed to adopt a common format for their machines.

Summary
Fax machines are only useful with other fax machines. The proliferation of incompatible formats from manufacturer to manufacturer severely limits the usefulness of fax machines. This occurred until manufacturers standardized a common format for their fax machines.

Strongly Supported Conclusions
In some industries it is better for competitors to cooperate with each other in some circumstances.

A
Whenever machines are dependent on other machines of the same type, competition among manufacturers is damaging to the industry.
This answer is unsupported. The stimulus is limited to fax machines as an example. We don’t know anything about machines in any other industry.
B
In some industries it is in the interest of competitors to cooperate to some extent with one another.
This answer is strongly supported. If fax machines must work with other fax machines, then it is in the interest of different fax machine manufacturers to cooperate to some extent.
C
The more competitors there are in a high-tech industry, the more they will have to cooperate in determining the basic design of their product.
This answer is unsupported. The stimulus is limited to the fax industry, and we have no information in the stimulus whether this is a high-tech industry.
D
Some cooperation among manufacturers in the same industry is more beneficial than is pure competition.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus what the benefits are, if any, of a scenario of pure competition to make this comparison.
E
Cooperation is beneficial only in industries whose products depend on other products of the same type.
This answer is unsupported. Saying cooperation is only beneficial in these types of industries is too strong.

11 comments

People aged 46 to 55 spend more money per capita than people of any other age group. So it is puzzling that when companies advertise consumer products on television, they focus almost exclusively on people aged 25 and under. Indeed, those who make decisions about television advertising think that the value of a television advertising slot depends entirely on the number of people aged 25 and under who can be expected to be watching at that time.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
People aged 46-55 spend the most money of any age group, but advertisements are aimed almost exclusively at the 25-under group.

Objective
Advertisers have to have some rationale behind their seemingly irrational advertising strategies. The right answer will likely be a hypothesis that explains a difference in consumer behavior between the 25-under and 46-55 age groups that suggests advertising to the 25-under group is more effective.

A
The expense of television advertising slots makes it crucial for companies to target people who are most likely to purchase their products.
If the 46-55 age group spends more money than any other group, aren’t they the most likely to purchase any given product? We would need to know that the products being advertised are intended for the 25-under group, but the stimulus doesn’t tell us that.
B
Advertising slots during news programs almost always cost far less than advertising slots during popular sitcoms whose leading characters are young adults.
Presumably the sitcom slots are more expensive because they appeal to a younger audience. But why do advertisers see an advertising slot as valuable because 25-unders are likely to see it, anyway? This answer doesn’t tell us.
C
When television executives decide which shows to renew, they do so primarily in terms of the shows’ ratings among people aged 25 and under.
The advertisers don’t care which shows are renewed. They care how old the audience who sees their advertisement is, but this answer choice doesn’t explain why that is.
D
Those who make decisions about television advertising believe that people older than 25 almost never change their buying habits.
Advertisements are only effective for audiences 25 and younger, hence why advertisers target them in ads. This perfectly explains the surprise in the stimulus.
E
When companies advertise consumer products in print media, they focus primarily on people aged 26 and over.
We don’t care about print media. We need to know why advertisers almost exclusively target a group that isn’t statistically the most likely to spend money.

26 comments

Note: The usage of "almost every Wednesday" here is ambiguous. It's unclear whether it's meant to include or exclude every Wednesday. I can see a reasonable disagreement. But the point is that it doesn't matter. The LSAT does not trade on the kind of ambiguity that gives rise to reasonable disagreements. See, if you want to interpret inclusive, then that's how the video lesson does it too and you get to the right answer choice. By default, you are taught in the Core Curriculum to interpret "most" inclusively.

Now what if you want to interpret exclusive? Okay, let's do it. You'll see that this won't change anything about the right or wrong answers.

Exclusive interpretation of "almost every Wednesday is a free poetry reading day" means that it does NOT include every Wednesday. In other words, on some Wednesdays there are no free poetry readings. Okay, so let's translate this to:
W -(e)m-> free poetry reading -> 1/2$ coffee

"-(e)m->" means "exclusive most" as opposed to
our standard "-m->" which means "inclusive most"

Therefore, what's the relationship between Wednesday and 1/2$ coffee?
W -(e)m-> 1/2$ coffee or
W -m-> 1/2$ coffee

I mean, we know most Wednesdays are 1/2$ coffee days. Really the question is whether we can say for sure that there are Wednesdays on which Zack's does not offer 1/2$ coffee. You might say, well, we do have some Wednesdays where there are no free poetry readings. Okay. And on those days... what's the price of coffee?

We don't know. They could well be 1/2$ coffee for some other reason. Because it could well be that Zack's is just crazy about offering 1/2$ coffee all day every day. Because Zack is just a great guy.

Even under the exclusive most interpretation, what (D) says still Must Be True. Zack's offers 1/2$ coffee all day on most Wednesdays, possibly all Wednesdays. Indeed it must be true that it's possible. Answer (E) is still at best a Could Be True. We just don't know that there are some Wednesdays on which coffee is more than 1/2$.


32 comments