Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT126 S1 Q6 Explanation

Mathematics teacher: Teaching students calculus

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

TopicsPrinciple-Strengthen

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Stimulus

Mathematics teacher: Teaching students calculus before they attend university may significantly benefit them. Yet if students are taught calculus before they are ready for the level of abstraction involved, they may abandon the study of mathematics altogether. So if we are going to teach they can handle the level of abstraction involved.

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
6.

Which one of the following principles most helps to justify the mathematics

Answer choices

  1. Correct81% picked this

    Only those who, without losing motivation, can meet the cognitive challenges that new intellectual work involves should

    Why this is right

    This connects teaching people T → ~AS calculus with making sure they will not abandon the study of it.

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

  2. Weaken3% picked this

    Only those parts of university-level mathematics that are the most concrete should be taught to

    Since calculus is abstract rather than concrete, this makes it less likely that we should teach calculus to pre-university students.

  3. Out of Scope8% picked this

    Cognitive tasks that require exceptional effort tend to undermine the motivation of those

    Cognitive tasks that require a high level of abstraction may not be ones that require exceptional effort.

  4. Weaken6% picked this

    Teachers who teach university-level mathematics to pre-university students should be aware that students are likely to learn effectively only when the application of

    Since calculus is abstract rather than concrete, this makes it less likely that we should teach calculus to pre-university students.

  5. Weaken1% picked this

    The level of abstraction involved in a topic should not be considered in determining whether that topic is

    This argument does consider the level of abstraction involved in teaching calculus.

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