LSAT 152 – Section 4 – Question 09

LSAT 152 - Section 4 - Question 09

November 2018

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT152 S4 Q09
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Net Effect +NetEff
A
6%
157
B
1%
154
C
3%
152
D
16%
161
E
74%
163
126
144
162
 +Medium 147.181 +SubsectionMedium

Office manager: Every vacation an office worker takes significantly reduces the psychological exhaustion experienced on the job. Therefore, to reduce the amount of psychological exhaustion as much as possible over the course of a year, office workers should divide their vacation time into several short vacations spaced throughout the year, rather than into one or two long vacations.

Summarize Argument

The manager concludes that workers should take several short vacations throughout the year instead of one or two long ones to reduce psychological exhaustion as much as possible. She supports this by saying that each vacation a worker takes significantly reduces the psychological exhaustion experienced on the job.

Identify and Describe Flaw

Just because each vacation "significantly reduces" exhaustion doesn't mean they’re equally effective. If long vacations reduce exhaustion more than short ones, then one or two long vacations might actually be more effective than several short ones. In that case, the manager can't conclude that workers should take several short vacations to reduce exhaustion as much as possible.

A
It takes for granted that each short vacation taken by an office worker during a year reduces the psychological exhaustion experienced on the job by an equal amount.

Even if the manager did assume this, it wouldn’t affect her conclusion. Instead, her argument is vulnerable to criticism because she assumes that short vacations are equally as effective as long vacations at reducing exhaustion.

B
It overlooks the possibility that there are methods office workers can employ to reduce the amount of psychological exhaustion experienced on the job that are as effective as taking vacations.

The manager never assumes that vacations are the only methods that effectively reduce workers’ exhaustion. She just argues that workers should take several short vacations instead of one or two long ones to reduce exhaustion as much as possible.

C
It overlooks the possibility that individual office workers may differ substantially in the extent to which taking vacations reduces the amount of psychological exhaustion they experience on the job.

Even if vacations reduce exhaustion differently for each worker, it doesn’t change the manager’s argument that several short vacations are better than one or two long ones for reducing exhaustion. It doesn't matter if some workers experience more or less reduction.

D
It fails to consider that for office workers the total amount of vacation time taken over the course of a year may have a much greater effect on the amount of psychological exhaustion experienced on the job than does the number of vacations taken during the year.

The manager focuses on how vacation time is divided, not the total amount. More vacation time probably is better, but this doesn’t impact the argument that workers— regardless of their total vacation time— should take several short vacations instead of one or two long ones.

E
It fails to consider that a long vacation may reduce the psychological exhaustion an office worker experiences on the job much more than a short vacation does.

The manager fails to consider that long vacations might reduce exhaustion much more than short ones. If this is the case, then one or two long vacations might actually reduce exhaustion more than several short ones.

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LSAT PrepTest 152 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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