Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT105 S2 Q15 Explanation

A report of a government survey

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

TopicsFlaw

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Stimulus

A report of a government survey concluded that Center City was among the ten cities in the nation with the highest dropout rate from its schools. The survey data were obtained by asking all city residents over the age of 19 whether they were high school graduates and computing the proportion who the result did not seem accurate according to the schools’ figures.

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
15.

The school official can most properly criticize the reasoning by which the survey report reached its result for failure to do which

Answer choices

  1. Trap9% picked this

    take into account instances of respondents’ dropping out that occurred before the respondents

  2. Trap3% picked this

    ask residents whether they had completed their high school work in fewer than the usual

  3. Correct85% picked this

    distinguish between residents who had attended the city’s schools and those who had received

    Why this is right

    Answer C is correct.

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

  4. Trap1% picked this

    predict the effect of the information contained in the report on future high school dropout

  5. Trap1% picked this

    consider whether a diploma from the city’s high schools signaled the same level of

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