LSAT 142 – Section 2 – Question 22

LSAT 142 - Section 2 - Question 22

December 2014

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT142 S2 Q22
+LR
+Exp
Except +Exc
Strengthen +Streng
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
2%
155
B
10%
159
C
82%
165
D
4%
156
E
2%
156
141
150
159
 +Medium 146.338 +SubsectionMedium

Psychiatrist: In treating first-year students at this university, I have noticed that those reporting the highest levels of spending on recreation score at about the same level on standard screening instruments for anxiety and depression as those reporting the lowest levels of spending on recreation. This suggests that the first-year students with high levels of spending on recreation could reduce that spending without increasing their anxiety or depression.

Summarize Argument
The author concludes that first-year students with high levels of spending on recreation can reduce spending without increasing their anxiety or depression. This is based the fact that at a particular university, the first-year students reporting the most spending on recreation score the same level on anxiety/depression tests as those who report the lowest-levels of spending on recreation.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the students reported spending amounts reflect actual spending amounts. The author assumes that students who spend in between the highest and lowest amounts on recreation don’t have higher rates of depression/anxiety than the students with the highest spending. The author assumes that the first-year students at this university are representative of first-year students in general.

A
At other universities, first-year students reporting the highest levels of spending on recreation also show the same degree of anxiety and depression as do those reporting the lowest levels of such spending.
This strengthens by providing evidence that the results at the university in the stimulus aren’t unrepresentative.
B
Screening of first-year students at the university who report moderate levels of spending on recreation reveals that those students are less anxious and depressed than both those with the highest and those with the lowest levels of spending on recreation.
This strengthens by eliminating the possibility that moderate spending is associated with higher depression/anxiety. This supports the claim that students with high spending can decrease their spending without becoming more depressed/anxious.
C
Among adults between the ages of 40 and 60, increased levels of spending on recreation are strongly correlated with decreased levels of anxiety and depression.
If anything, this might undermine the argument by associating increased spending on recreation with decreased anxiety/depression. This would suggest reducing spending might lead to more anxiety/depression.
D
The screening instruments used by the psychiatrist are extremely accurate in revealing levels of anxiety and depression among university students.
This strengthens by affirming the reliability of the screening instruments. If they’re extremely accurate, they’re a good indication of actual depression/anxiety.
E
Several of the psychiatrist’s patients who are first-year students at the university have reduced their spending on recreation from very high levels to very low levels without increasing their anxiety or depression.
This strengthens by giving a few data points that align with the psychiatrist’s hypothesis.

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LSAT PrepTest 142 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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