PT159.S1.Q25

PrepTest 159 - Section 1 - Question 25

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Artist: Support I have never won a prize at the Art Competition, even though Support several of my submitted paintings have received widespread recognition and have sold thousands of copies as posters. █ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ ███████ █████ ███████ ███ ███ ███████████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ █████

Objective: Parallel Questions

Parallel questions have a highly regimented theory and approach – even if your core logical intuitions are very strong, following a routine process specifically built around the LSAT’s unique patterns will dramatically reduce the time and mental energy required to identify the correct answer. So review these lessons. They’re important.

In all Parallel questions, we develop an abstract model of the stimulus’ argument, preserving the structure but not the subject matter. We treat Parallel Flaw questions much the same, just with a greater emphasis on distilling the flaw.

We’ll then take a shallow dip into the answer choices looking for structural mismatches. Typically that suffices to identify the correct answer, but sometimes we’ll need a deep dive to distinguish between the (usually just two) answer choices that remain after our shallow dip.

Argument Summary: Distilling The Flaw(s)

Note: the summary below treats “the Art Competition” as the argument’s domain.

Our poor artist is salty about never winning prizes. My paintings are popular! They're popular, I say! And you know what? Many of my popular friends also never win prizes!

Then the very strongly worded conclusion: all prize winners are bad.

There are a few flaws at play here. The big one is that the artist’s conclusion is an all statement that’s only backed up by individual examples. Naming a few good artists who have never won does not establish that no good artists ever win. Maybe the winner was some different good artist.

Here's the other: the artist shifts from talking about popularity in the premises to goodness in the conclusion. Even if the premises established that no one popular ever wins, that wouldn’t be enough to conclude that no one good ever wins.

As it happens, our right answer preserves both flaws.

Show answer
25.

The pattern of flawed reasoning ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████

a

Researcher: I have █████ ███ █ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████████ ████████ █ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ██████████ █████ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ █████████████ ██ █████ ███ ███████████

b

Cook: I always ███ █ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ████████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████████ █████ █████ ████ ████████ ███████ ████████████ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ █████ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ████████ ██████

c

Professor: The same ██████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ███ █████████████ █████ ███████████ ████ ███ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ████████

d

Student: The student ██████████ █████ █████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██████████ ███ ███ █████████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ █████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████████

e

Travel agent: When █ ██ ██ ████ ████████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ███ ████ █ ██ ██████ █████ ████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ █ ████████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ ███ ████ █████

Confirm action

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