Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT127 S2 Q12 Explanation

Throughout a certain nation

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

TopicsFlaw

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Stimulus

Throughout a certain nation, electricity has actually become increasingly available to people in urban areas while energy production has been subsidized to help residents of rural areas gain access to electricity. However, even with the subsidy, many of the most isolated rural populations still subsidy has failed to achieve its intended purpose.

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
12.

The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds

Answer choices

  1. Too Strong1% picked this

    takes for granted that the subsidy's intended purpose could have been achieved if the subsidy

    The asserts that the policy hurt the efforts to achieve the it’s intended purpose.

  2. Wrong Evidence7% picked this

    takes for granted that if a subsidy has any benefit for those whom it was not intended to benefit, then that subsidy has

    This asserts the wrong evidence. The argument suggests that the reason why the policy did not achieve its intended purpose to help rural areas gain access to electricity is that not everyone gained access to electricity.

  3. Unsupported4% picked this

    presumes, without providing justification, that the intended purpose of the subsidy was to benefit not only rural populations in the nation who have no

    The argument does not assume that the purpose included extending electricity to people other than those who live in rural populations.

  4. Out of Scope5% picked this

    overlooks the possibility that even many of the people in the nation who live in urban areas would have difficulty gaining access

    Whether or not some people who live in urban areas benefited from the policy is not relevant to the argument.

  5. Correct83% picked this

    fails to take into account that the subsidy could have helped many of the rural residents in the nation gain access to electricity even

    Why this is right

    This attacks the argument’s AP + ~EA assumption by showing that the energy policy could have achieved its purpose even if some people still did not have access to energy.

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

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