Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT12 S4 Q7 Explanation

DataCom, a company that filed many patents

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

TopicsFlaw

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Stimulus

DataCom, a company that filed many patents last year, was financially more successful last year than were its competitors, none of which filed many patents. It is therefore likely that DataCom owed its greater it filed many patents last year.

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
7.

The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds

Answer choices

  1. Trap13% picked this

    presupposes what it sets out to demonstrate about the relationship between the financial success of DataCom’s competitors and the

  2. Trap4% picked this

    confuses a company’s financial success with its

  3. Trap1% picked this

    fails to establish whether any one of DataCom’s competitors was financially more successful last year

  4. Correct82% picked this

    gives no reason to exclude the possibility that other differences between DataCom and its competitors accounted for

    Why this is right

    Answer D is correct.

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

  5. Trap0% picked this

    applies a generalization to an exceptional

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