Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT12 S4 Q18 Explanation

Two alternative drugs are available to prevent

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

TopicsPrinciple-Strengthen

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Stimulus

Two alternative drugs are available to prevent blood clots from developing after a heart attack. According to two major studies, drug Y does this no more effectively than the more expensive drug Z, but drug Z is either no more or only slightly more effective than drug Y. Drug Z's manufacturer, which medical reason for doctors to use drug Z rather than drug Y on their heart‐attack victims.

What this question is testing

Principle-Strengthen

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
18.

Which one of the following principles, if established, would most help to justify a doctor’s decision to use drug Z rather than drug Y

Answer choices

  1. Trap2% picked this

    Only patients to whom the cost of an expensive treatment will not be a financial hardship should receive that treatment rather than

  2. Trap3% picked this

    Doctors who are willing to assist in research on the relative effectiveness of drugs by participating in clinical trials deserve

  3. Trap6% picked this

    The decision to use a particular drug when treating a patient should not be influenced by the marketing practices employed by

  4. Trap3% picked this

    A drug company’s criticism of studies of its product that do not report favorably on that product is

  5. Correct86% picked this

    Where alternative treatments exist and there is a chance that one is more effective than the other, the possibly more effective one

    Why this is right

    Answer E is correct.

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

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