Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT16 S2 Q22 Explanation

Director of personnel: Ms. Tours

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

TopicsFlaw

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Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Stimulus

Director of personnel: Ms. Tours has formally requested a salary adjustment on the grounds that she was denied merit raises to which she was entitled. Since such grounds provide a possible basis for adjustments, an official response is required. Ms. Tours presents compelling evidence that her job performance has been both excellent by sending the message that employees can get their salaries raised if they just complain enough.

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
22.

The personnel director’s reasoning is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds

Answer choices

  1. Trap1% picked this

    fails to consider the possibility that Ms. Tours’s complaint could be handled on

  2. Trap29% picked this

    attempts to undermine the persuasiveness of Ms. Tours’s evidence by characterizing it

  3. Trap7% picked this

    sidesteps the issue of whether superior job performance is a suitable basis for

  4. Trap4% picked this

    ignores the possibility that some of the people who did receive merit increases were not

  5. Correct60% picked this

    overlooks the implications for the integrity of the firm’s merit-based reward system of denying

    Why this is right

    Answer E is correct.

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

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