Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT102 S3 Q12 Explanation

Carl: Researchers who perform operations

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

TopicsWeaken

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

Free to start

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

Carl: Researchers who perform operations on animals for experimental purposes are legally required to complete detailed pain protocols indicating whether the animals will be at risk of pain and, if so, what steps will be taken to minimize or alleviate it. Yet when human beings undergo operations, such protocols are never required. be about animals, there would be pain protocols for human beings too.

Debbie: But consider this: a person for whom a doctor wants to schedule surgery can simply be told what pain to expect and can then decide whether or not to undergo protocols are unnecessary for human beings.

What this question is testing

Weaken

Your task

Find the choice that makes the argument's conclusion less likely to be true.

Common trap

Answers that look negative but attack a claim the argument never relied on.

Winning move

Find the assumption the argument depends on, then pick the choice that undermines it.

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

The question
12.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument made by Debbie in response

Answer choices

  1. Opposite of Goal4% picked this

    Not all operations that are performed on human beings

    We're looking for a way to argue that pain protocols are sometimes needed for humans. This answer is talking about operations that aren't even painful, so that won't help us.

  2. Unrelated to Goal2% picked this

    Some experimentation that is now done on animals need not be

    We're looking for a way to argue that pain protocols are sometimes needed for humans. This answer is talking about experimentation done on animals, so that won't help us.

  3. Too Weak6% picked this

    Preparing pain protocols is not a time-consuming or

    We're looking for a way to argue that pain protocols are sometimes needed for humans. This answer helps us to argue that "if we required them, it wouldn't be a terrible burden". But it's not pointing out any reason we need to require them in some cases.

  4. Correct79% picked this

    Some surgical operations performed on infants

    Why this is right

    We're looking for a way to argue that pain protocols are sometimes needed for humans. If we need to do an operation on an infant, we certainly don't expect the infant to understand the surgeon describing in advance what pain they should expect, and we don't expect the infant to then decide whether to consent to the operation or decline it. Basically, for the sake of this conversation (and for the sake of so many others), infants are essentially the same as "dumb" animals. :)

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

  5. Unrelated to Goal8% picked this

    Unalleviated pain after an operation tends to delay the

    We're looking for a way to argue that pain protocols are sometimes needed for humans. This answer is talking about trying to reduce the pain that follows a surgery. That's beyond the scope of what we're talking about. A pain protocol is only about the pain involved in the operation itself.

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill
LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free