Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT123 S2 Q16 Explanation

Taylor: Researchers at a local university

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

TopicsAgree/Disagree

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Stimulus

Taylor: Researchers at a local university claim that 61 percent of the information transferred during a conversation is communicated through nonverbal signals. But this claim, like all such mathematically precise claims, is could never be established by science.

Sandra: While precision is unobtainable in many areas of life, it is commonplace in others. Many scientific disciplines obtain extremely precise results, which should because of their precision.

What this question is testing

Agree/Disagree

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
16.

The statements above provide the most support for holding that Sandra would disagree with Taylor about which one

Answer choices

  1. Half Scope / Nobody Agrees3% picked this

    Research might reveal that 61 percent of the information taken in during a conversation is

    While Taylor would disagree with this statement, Sandra does not address it.

  2. Half Scope / Nobody Agrees15% picked this

    It is possible to determine whether 61 percent of the information taken in during a conversation is

    While Taylor would disagree with this statement, Sandra does not address it.

  3. Half Scope / Nobody Disagrees18% picked this

    The study of verbal and nonverbal communication is an area where one cannot expect great precision

    While Taylor would agree with this statement, Sandra does not address it. Her statements create space for her to believe that the study of verbal and nonverbal communication is one of those areas in which precision is unobtainable, but she doesn't name any such areas, so we'd be speculating to assume that she's referring to verbal / nonverbal communication.

  4. Correct58% picked this

    Some sciences can yield mathematically precise results that are not

    Why this is right

    Sandra would agree with this statement while Taylor would disagree with it. By saying that many disciplines obtain extremely precise results that should not be doubted merely because they're precise, she is saying that their precision does not make them inherently suspect. Meanwhile, Taylor is lumping together all mathematically precise claims and saying "This one just like the others is inherently suspect, because it's so exact / precise."

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

  5. Out of Scope6% picked this

    If inherently suspect claims are usually false, then the majority of claims made by scientists

    Neither Taylor nor Sandra discuss whether inherently suspect claims are false.

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