Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT117 S4 Q1 Explanation

Jones fell unconscious on the job

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

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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

Jones fell unconscious on the job and it was suspected that he had swallowed a certain chemical, so he was rushed to the local hospital’s emergency room. In making her diagnosis, the emergency-room physician knew that if Jones had swallowed the chemical, a deficiency in the content of a mineral in his to the emergency room, the physician concluded that Jones had not swallowed the chemical.

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
1.

Which one of the following, if true, would undermine the

Answer choices

  1. No Impact0% picked this

    Jones did not know that the chemical

    This does not affect the chain of logic concerning the presence or absence of symptoms and doesn't weaken the conclusion.

  2. No Impact2% picked this

    Jones had suffered inflammation of the skin in

    This discusses the past, but doesn't indicate current inflammation or challenge the current absence of symptoms due to the chemical in question.

  3. Correct92% picked this

    It takes 48 hours for the chemical to bring about deficiency of the mineral

    Why this is right

    This suggests the symptoms may not have appeared yet, undermining the conclusion that Jones didn't swallow the chemical simply because inflammation wasn't present upon his arrival at the emergency room. It gives us a way to argue that he DID swallow the chemical. "Yes that chemical will lead to inflammation and he doesn't have inflammation, but give it some time ... the inflammation doesn't show up for at least 48 hrs, because it's triggered by this slow-forming mineral deficiency."

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

  4. No Impact1% picked this

    Jones often worked with the

    This doesn't address the presence or absence of symptoms at the time of examination.

  5. No Impact5% picked this

    Deficiency in minerals other than the mineral in question can cause inflammation

    This is irrelevant to the specific chain of logic linking this chemical to symptoms. It doesn't address the immediate context of Jones's condition.

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