Dr. Kim: Electronic fetal monitors

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct73% picked this

   misses the point at

   Why this is right

   This is one we might mainly get to by working backwards through elimination. If the first person's point was that stethoscopes provide just-as-good info but are cheaper and less intrusive, then the second person didn't say anything to dispute that. She acknowledges even that the two methods provide equivalent information. She doesn't dispute that these more intrusive / expensive electronic monitors don't do anything to improve the chances of a healthy baby. When an author offers an essentially irrelevant response, LSAT will sometimes say that they "failed to address the argument / missed the point at issue".

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

   73%
2. B

   Wrong Flaw8% picked this

   assumes what it sets out to

   All these expressions mean Circular Reasoning, and they are wrong answer choices over 95% of the time we see them. - assumes what it sets out to prove - presupposes what it seeks to establish - presumes the truth of the conclusion - conclusion is a restatement of the premise Circular arguments don't really have a premise. Their support is more or less a reiteration of the conclusion. But this argument does have a premise (electronic monitors helped us to learn warming signs we should be listening for). The fact that it's a crappy premise doesn't make this a circular argument.

   8%
3. C

   Out of Scope: cost/quality6% picked this

   confuses high cost with high

   Dr. A doesn't bring up the cost or the quality of electronic monitors.

   6%
4. D

   Too Broad3% picked this

   overestimates the importance of technology to

   Dr. A isn't making any claims about modern medicine, so our logical complaint with her argument can't be that she's over-selling how important tech is to modern medicine.

   3%
5. E

   Too Strong: best9% picked this

   overlooks the fact that a procedure can be extensively used without being the

   Any time we see an answer choice structured like, overlooks the fact that X can be true without Y being true X should match the evidence, and Y should match the conclusion. This author's conclusion is not that electronic monitors are the best procedure available (and her premise isn't "after all, they're extensively used.")

   9%