LSAT 107 – Section 1 – Question 07

LSAT 107 - Section 1 - Question 07

October 1999

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT107 S1 Q07
+LR
Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw
Eliminating Options +ElimOpt
Lack of Support v. False Conclusion +LSvFC
A
75%
166
B
4%
160
C
1%
161
D
18%
157
E
1%
160
145
154
162
 +Harder 147.515 +SubsectionMedium

In Debbie’s magic act, a volunteer supposedly selects a card in a random fashion, looks at it without showing it to her, and replaces it in the deck. After several shuffles, Debbie cuts the deck and supposedly reveals the same selected card. A skeptic conducted three trials. In the first, Debbie was videotaped, and no sleight of hand was found. In the second, the skeptic instead supplied a standard deck of cards. For the third trial, the skeptic selected the card. Each time, Debbie apparently revealed the selected card. The skeptic concluded that Debbie uses neither sleight of hand, nor a trick deck, nor a planted “volunteer” to achieve her effect.

Summarize Argument
The skeptic concludes that Debbie doesn’t use sleight of hand, a trick deck, or a planted “volunteer” in her magic act. He supports this by conducting three trials to eliminate these tricks. In each trial, Debbie successfully revealed the selected card.

He videotaped Debbie doing the trick and did not find a sleight of hand.
He provided her with a standard deck of cards for the trick.
He selected the card himself.

Identify and Describe Flaw
By testing and eliminating each trick in isolation, the skeptic assumes that Debbie only ever uses one of them. In other words, he assumes that she never switches between them to perform her act.

A
The skeptic failed to consider the possibility that Debbie did not always use the same method to achieve her effect.
This highlights a key flaw in the skeptic’s reasoning. By testing for one trick at a time, he missed the possibility that Debbie could’ve been switching between them to achieve her effect. For example, she could’ve used sleight of hand when he tested for a trick deck, and so on.
B
The skeptic failed to consider the possibility that sleight of hand could also be detected by some means other than videotaping.
As long as videotaping can detect sleight of hand, it doesn’t matter if there are also other ways to detect it.
C
The skeptic failed to consider the possibility that Debbie requires both sleight of hand and a trick deck to achieve her effect.
The skeptic doesn’t over look this; in fact, he tests for both of these tricks. If Debbie requires both sleight of hand and a trick deck, she would’ve failed both of the first two trials.
D
The skeptic failed to consider the possibility that Debbie used something other than sleight of hand, a trick deck, or a planted “volunteer” to achieve her effect.
The skeptic doesn’t conclude that Debbie doesn’t use any trick to achieve her affect, only that she doesn't use sleight of hand, a trick deck, or a planted “volunteer.” Even if she does use some other trick, it wouldn’t affect his conclusion.
E
The skeptic failed to consider the possibility that Debbie’s success in the three trials was something other than a coincidence.
This is irrelevant because the skeptic never claims that her success was due to coincidence. He just claims that it wasn’t due to any of the three tricks that he tested her for.

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LSAT PrepTest 107 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Reading Comprehension

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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