Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT132 S4 Q11 Explanation

A bacterial species will inevitably

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

TopicsMost Supported

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Stimulus

A bacterial species will inevitably develop greater resistance within a few years to any antibiotics used against it, unless those antibiotics eliminate that species completely. However, no single antibiotic now on eliminate bacterial species X completely.

What this question is testing

Most Supported

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
11.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the

Answer choices

  1. Out of Scope - Speculation3% picked this

    It is unlikely that any antibiotic can be developed that will completely eliminate

    The statements are about antibiotics now on the market, while this is about antibiotics that have not yet been developed.

  2. Correct79% picked this

    If any antibiotic now on the market is used against bacterial species X, that species will develop greater resistance to

    Why this is right

    If the antibiotic is now NOM ? BEC on the market it will not completely eliminate bacterial species X, which implies that species will develop a greater resistance to that antibiotic within a few years.

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

  3. Too Strong1% picked this

    The only way of completely eliminating bacterial species X is by a combination of two or more antibiotics

    The contrapositive of the BEC ? NOM second statements suggests that if something is strong enough to completely eliminate bacterial species X, it is not a single antibiotic now on the market. But that doesn’t mean that such a measure is two or more antibiotics now on the market. It’s possible that the solution is a single antibiotic not currently on the market.

  4. Too Strong3% picked this

    Bacterial species X will inevitably become more virulent in the course

    It’s possible that a solution already exists that combines several antibiotics now on the market or will exist in the future that includes some new antibiotic not currently on the market.

  5. Unsupported Comparison14% picked this

    Bacterial species X is more resistant to at least some antibiotics that have been used against it than it was before those

    This requires assuming that at least some antibiotics have already been used against bacterials species X.

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