LSAT 140 – Section 3 – Question 11

LSAT 140 - Section 3 - Question 11

December 2013

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Target time: 1:47

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT140 S3 Q11
+LR
Sufficient assumption +SA
Conditional Reasoning +CondR
Link Assumption +LinkA
A
59%
167
B
13%
160
C
14%
161
D
1%
159
E
13%
163
146
160
174
 +Hardest 149.74 +SubsectionMedium

J.Y.’s explanation

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Video of JY doing this

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Secondary school students achieve broad mastery of the curriculum if they are taught with methods appropriate to their learning styles and they devote significant effort to their studies. Thus, if such broad mastery is not achieved by the students in a particular secondary school, those students are not being taught with methods appropriate to their learning styles.

Summary
The conclusion is that if broad mastery isn’t achieved, it must be that the students aren’t taught with appropriate methods. As support, the author gives a conditional premise: appropriate methods, combined with significant effort, lead to broad mastery. (Contrapositive: if broad mastery isn’t achieved, there either weren’t appropriate methods or there wasn’t significant effort.)

Missing Connection
The premise says that a lack of broad mastery means one of two things: a lack of appropriate methods or a lack of significant effort. But the conclusion is that broad mastery means one thing only: a lack of appropriate methods.
The conclusion would follow if we assumed that when there’s a lack of significant effort, there must also be a lack of appropriate methods. In that case, no matter what, a lack of broad mastery always means a lack of appropriate methods.

A
As long as secondary school students are taught with methods appropriate to their learning styles, they will devote significant effort to their studies.
Contrapositive: if students don’t devote significant effort, it must be that they’re not taught with appropriate methods. This means that no matter what, a lack of broad mastery means that student’s aren’t being taught with appropriate methods.
B
Even if secondary school students are taught with methods appropriate to their learning styles, they will not achieve broad mastery of the curriculum if they do not devote significant effort to their studies.
This says a lack of significant effort is sufficient for a lack of broad mastery. But this doesn’t change the argument’s core problem: a lack of broad mastery can mean either a lack of appropriate methods or a lack of significant effort. We’re still no closer to the conclusion.
C
Secondary school students do not achieve broad mastery of the curriculum if they are not taught with methods appropriate to their learning styles.
This says a lack of appropriate methods is sufficient for a lack of broad mastery. But this doesn’t change the argument’s core problem: a lack of broad mastery can mean either a lack of appropriate methods or a lack of significant effort. We’re still no closer to the conclusion.
D
Teaching secondary school students with methods appropriate to their learning styles does not always result in broad mastery of the curriculum by those students.
This breaks the argument. If appropriate methods aren’t sufficient for broad mastery, then the author can’t possibly conclude that a lack of broad mastery always implies a lack of appropriate methods.
E
Secondary school students who devote significant effort to their studies do not always achieve broad mastery of the curriculum.
So significant effort isn’t sufficient on its own for broad mastery. This doesn’t affect the argument, which says significant effort is sufficient if combined with appropriate methods. It’s still possible a lack of broad mastery sometimes implies a lack of significant effort.

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LSAT PrepTest 140 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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