Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT104 S1 Q1 Explanation

Powell: Private waste-removal companies

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

TopicsAgree/Disagree

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Stimulus

Powell: Private waste-removal companies spend 60 percent of what public waste-removal companies spend per customer, yet give their customers at least as good therefore, work more efficiently.

Freeman: Your conclusion is unwarranted. Different customers have different waste-removal needs. Since private companies, unlike their public counterparts, can select which customers to serve, they choose to exclude the potential be the most costly to serve.

What this question is testing

Agree/Disagree

Your task

Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.

Common trap

Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.

Winning move

Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence 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
1.

The issue in dispute between Powell and Freeman

Answer choices

  1. Both Probably Agree12% picked this

    Accuracy of the figure of 60 percent with regard to the difference in service costs between private

    We evaluated that they don't disagree over Powell's 1st claim. In fact, Freeman seems to accept that the different types of companies have different expenses.

  2. Correct75% picked this

    Reason private waste-removal companies are able to offer service comparable to that offered by public ones while spending

    Why this is right

    This gets to the heart of the disagreement over Powell's 3rd claim. There is a Curious Fact -- why do private trash companies only spend 60% as much as public trash companies to private similar service? Powell's explanation -- private trash companies work more efficiently. Freeman's explanation -- nah, private companies just have the prerogative to choose to only have customers that are cheaper to serve. So, the two people disagree about the reason that private companies can spend less per customer.

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

  3. No Support Person 13% picked this

    Ability of private versus public waste-removal companies to select which customers

    Powell never addresses whether there's any difference between private and public trash companies in terms of their freedom to choose their own customers, so we wouldn't be able to say that Powell disagrees with the idea that private companies have more ability to select their customers.

  4. No Support from Either0% picked this

    Likelihood of the local authorities’ turning public waste-removal companies into private ones so that the companies can operate with lower service

    Neither person gets into the hypothetical of public companies being turned into private ones.

  5. No Support Person 110% picked this

    Relationship between the needs of a waste-removal customer and the amount of money it takes

    Powell never addresses whether there's any difference in how much it costs to service customers with different trash needs, so we wouldn't be able to say that Powell disagrees with the idea that some customers have different needs that can make them more costly to serve.

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