Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT10 S1 Q8 Explanation

Of 2,500 people who survived

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsFlaw

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Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Stimulus

Of 2,500 people who survived a first heart attack, those who did not smoke had their first heart attack at a median age of 62. However, of those 2,500, people who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day had their first heart attack at a median age of 51. On the basis years later than do people who smoke two packs of cigarettes a day.

What this question is testing

Flaw

Your task

Describe the reasoning error the argument actually commits.

Common trap

Answers that name a real logical flaw the argument doesn't actually make.

Winning move

Articulate the gap in the reasoning yourself, then match it to the choice that describes that gap.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
8.

The conclusion is incorrectly drawn from the information given because this information

Answer choices

  1. Trap8% picked this

    the relative severity of heart attacks suffered by smokers

  2. Trap2% picked this

    the nature of the different medical treatments that smokers and nonsmokers received after they had survived

  3. Trap3% picked this

    how many of the 2,500 people studied suffered a second

  4. Trap25% picked this

    the earliest age at which a person who smoked two packs a day had his or

  5. Correct62% picked this

    data on people who did not survive a first

    Why this is right

    Answer E is correct.

    Skill tested: Flaw · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

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