Logical Reasoning

PT11 · S4 · Q19 The proposal to extend clinical trials

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

  • 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

The proposal to extend clinical trials, which are routinely used as systematic tests of pharmaceutical innovations, to new surgical procedures should not be implemented.

Conclusion

The proposal to extend clinical trials to new surgical procedures should not be implemented.

Evidence

Drugs and surgery differ in one important respect: a correctly prescribed drug's effectiveness depends only on the drug's composition, while even the most appropriate surgical procedure's effectiveness depends on the surgeon's skill.

Evaluate

The author argues that because surgery effectiveness depends on surgeon skill, clinical trials wouldn't be useful. But clinical trials don't only assess effectiveness — they can also reveal whether a procedure is intrinsically harmful. Even if surgeon skill varies, a trial can still surface that a particular procedure is more harmful than existing alternatives. The author's argument overlooks this whole purpose of trials.

Goal

Find the answer that points out the author has ignored a use of trials that surgeon-skill variation doesn't undermine — specifically, detecting intrinsic harm of the procedure.

19.

The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument

  1. Correct

    does not consider that new

    Why this is right

    This nails the gap. The author's argument focuses entirely on whether trials can measure surgical effectiveness. But trials also reveal whether a new procedure is intrinsically more harmful than the best existing alternative — and that's a critical safety reason to run trials, regardless of surgeon-skill variation. The author hasn't considered this purpose, so the argument against trials is incomplete.

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

    42% picked this

  2. ignores the possibility that the

    Bad Objection

    This complains that the proposal might be deliberately crude to invite refinement. Even if true, that wouldn't weaken the author's argument — it's a meta-claim about the proposal's design, not about whether the author's reasoning supports rejecting it. A real flaw answer should expose a defect in the author's logic.

    10% picked this

  3. assumes that a surgeon’s skills

    Bad Assumption

    This says the argument assumes surgeon skills don't change over a career. The argument doesn't need that assumption — the argument just needs surgeon-skill variation to exist (which it does, even within a single career). Skill changing over time doesn't undermine the author's premise that effectiveness depends on skill.

    19% picked this

  4. describes a dissimilarity without citing

    Bad Description

    This says the argument describes a dissimilarity without scientific evidence. But "drug effectiveness depends on composition; surgery effectiveness depends on surgeon skill" is a reasonable observation that doesn't require scientific citations to be plausible. The flaw isn't lack of citations — it's the overlooked alternative purpose of trials.

    19% picked this

  5. rejects a proposal presumably advanced

    Bad Description

    This says the author rejects a proposal without acknowledging good faith. That's a tone-policing complaint, not a logical flaw in the argument. Failing to credit the proposers' intentions doesn't make the reasoning flawed; the actual flaw is overlooking harm-detection as a purpose for trials.

    9% picked this

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