Logical Reasoning

PT151 · S2 · Q12 An independent computer service company

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An independent computer service company tallied the service requests it receives for individual brands of personal computers.

Conclusion

ProBit is the more reliable computer brand.

Evidence

An indie computer repair company found that, relative to market share, KRV had the most requests and ProBit had the smallest.

Evaluate

The computer service company is thinking,

Since the author is interpreting a statistic, we can use our Curious Fact / Explanation template.

Curious Fact Why is it that a disproportionately small percent of computers serviced by this company are ProBit, whereas a disproportionately high percent of computers served are KRV?

Author's Story ProBit is more reliable than KRV. (ProBit's computers break down less, so their customers don't need to bring their computer into the shop as much as KRV customers do)

We always think about the same two pressure points: - Is there some OTHER WAY to explain the curious fact? - How plausible is the AUTHOR'S WAY?

Since we're doing Weaken, the correct answer is most likely to be an alternate explanation for the curious fact. Why else could it be that ProBit is brought in less frequently?

- maybe this indie computer company is in part of the country where ProBit users are disproportionately scarce? (i.e. maybe there are more customers that use Apple in the pacific northwest, but more customers that use Microsoft in the south, and this store is in the south).

- maybe KRV computer owners use their computers way more than ProBit computer owners do (you might drive a more reliable car than your neighbor, but if you drive your car five times as much as she drives hers, you might still end up taking your car in for service more)

- maybe ProBit is a real entry level computer, and so when your ProBit breaks down, you're more likely to just buy a new one than pay for expensive repairs.

Goal

Primarily look for an answer suggesting a DIFFERENT WAY to explain why ProBit gets brought in for service less. But stay receptive to an answer that makes it seem less plausible that ProBit is the more reliable (maybe KRV has won awards for "most reliable computer in its class").

12.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

  1. The proportions of service requests

    No Impact

    Since the conclusion is just a comparative claim between ProBit and KRV, where the other computers land is really not relevant.

    4% picked this

  2. Correct

    For some computer brands, but

    Why this is right

    This hints at the alternate explanation for why ProBit is the smallest share of service requests. It's not that ProBit is breaking down less; it's that when ProBit's break down, people get them repaired through ProBit's service department, not through an independent service company. Pretend that ProBit is a Mac, and when you need repair on your Mac you go to the Mac store, not some indie computer repair shop. Meanwhile, KRV is a Microsoft and people don't worry about getting their Microsoft computers repaired by Microsoft. (An even easier analogy is cars ... people will take their Honda Civic to any independent auto repair shop, but they'll only take their Porsche to an authorized Porsche dealership)

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

    73% picked this

  3. The company that did the

    Strengthens

    This rules out the potential objection we were considering that this independent service company might just live in a part of the country where ProBit owners are unusually rare.

    8% picked this

  4. The computer brands covered in

    No Impact

    We're sure they do differ greatly, and that's of course why the company factored in market share. If they just did raw numbers, then they wouldn't be able to judge reliability just based on which type of computer had the most or least service requests. Whenever LSAT gives us a statistic that's an average, or a per capita, or has been adjusted for inflation or for market share / prevalence, then we don't care any more about the raw numbers.

    13% picked this

  5. ProBit has been selling personal

    No Impact

    If anything, people would probably make a common sense link between "longer you've been in business, the more reliable your product would be", so this would potentially strengthen the conclusion. But "how long you've been selling X" is a pretty weak logical basis for judging reliability.

    2% picked this

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