Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT139 S1 Q11 Explanation

Editor: When asked to name

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

TopicsRole

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Stimulus

Editor: When asked to name a poet contemporaneous with Shakespeare, 60 percent of high school students picked a twentieth-century poet. Admittedly, it is hard to interpret this result accurately. Does it show that most high school students do not know any poets of Shakespeare's era, or do they just is clearly something deeply wrong with the educational system.

What this question is testing

Role

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.

The statement that the majority of students picked a twentieth-century poet functions primarily

Answer choices

  1. Too Strong3% picked this

    as evidence that the educational system is producing students who are ignorant of the

    The conclusion is not that the educational system is producing students who are ignorant of the history of poetry, but rather that something is deeply wrong with the educational system.

  2. Contradiction4% picked this

    as evidence of the ambiguity of

    The argument does not assert that some questions are ambiguous. It concludes that something is deeply wrong with the educational system.

  3. Too Strong6% picked this

    to illustrate that research results are difficult

    The argument never asserts that research results are difficult to interpret. The author only suggests that this particular result is admittedly hard to interpret.

  4. Contradiction4% picked this

    as evidence that the ambiguity of data should not prevent us from drawing

    This correctly describes the role of the claim as evidence, but incorrectly describes the conclusion for which the claim is offered in support.

  5. Correct83% picked this

    as evidence that something is deeply wrong with the

    Why this is right

    This correctly describes the role of the statement as evidence and also correctly describes the conclusion for which the statement is offered in support.

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

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