Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT5 S1 Q15 Explanation

M: It is almost impossible

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

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Stimulus

M: It is almost impossible to find a person between the ages of 85 and 90 the left hand.

Q: Seventy to ninety years ago, however, children were punished for using their left hands to eat or to write and their right hands.

What this question is testing

Weaken

Your task

Find the choice that makes the argument's conclusion less likely to be true.

Common trap

Answers that look negative but attack a claim the argument never relied on.

Winning move

Find the assumption the argument depends on, then pick the choice that undermines it.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
15.

Q’s response serves to counter any use by M of the evidence about 85 to 90 year olds in support of which one

Answer choices

  1. Correct40% picked this

    Being born right-handed confers a survival

    Why this is right

    This stimulus has an Explain a Curious Fact pattern. Curious Fact: How come there aren't any lefties from ages 85-90? Potential Silly LSAT Explanation: The genes for lefties include genes for early deaths This answer is actually matches the silly explanation we came up with. Right-handedness giving a survival advantage is the same idea as being a lefty making you less likely to survive. Q could say some of those people have left-handed genes, they were just taught to use their right hand and still survived.

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

  2. Opposite19% picked this

    Societal attitudes toward handedness differ at

    Q's response would actually strengthen this conclusion.

  3. Out of Scope: harmless2% picked this

    Forcing a person to switch from a preferred hand

    We don't know if it was harmful or not.

  4. Opposite25% picked this

    Handedness is a product of both genetic predisposition and

    Q's argument would strengthen this argument. We are assuming there are genetic left-handers but Q is saying that we have some that were forced to learn otherwise.

  5. Out of Scope: school14% picked this

    Physical habits learned in school often persist in

    Neither argument mentions school. Q's argument would also likely support this. Q is saying that some people who are right-handed today were taught otherwise when they were young. This supports the idea that the habit continued into their old age.

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