Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT11 S4 Q17 Explanation

Teacher: Journalists who conceal the identity

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

TopicsFlaw

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

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

Teacher: Journalists who conceal the identity of the sources they quote stake their professional reputations on what may be called the logic of anecdotes. This is so because the statements reported by such journalists are dissociated from the precise circumstances in which they were made and thus will be accepted for publication can invent plausible, original, or interesting stories faster than they can be obtained from unidentified sources.

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
17.

The student’s response contains which one of the following

Answer choices

  1. Trap8% picked this

    confusing a marginal journalistic practice with the primary work done

  2. Correct51% picked this

    ignoring the possibility that the teacher regards as a prerequisite for the publication of an unattributed statement that the

    Why this is right

    Answer B is correct.

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

  3. Trap22% picked this

    confusing the characteristics of reported statements with the characteristics of the situations in which the

  4. Trap11% picked this

    judging the merits of the teacher’s position solely by the most extreme case to which

  5. Trap9% picked this

    falsely concluding that if three criteria, met jointly, assure an outcome, then each criterion, met individually,

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

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

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