Unplugged Practice Test: Logical Reasoning Set 2, Question 24 (Flaw)
Taking the test? Finish it first. This page shows the answer.
- Flaw questions ask you to name the reasoning error the argument commits, not to judge whether its conclusion is true.
- Before you read the choices, describe the argument's error in your own words. Most Flaw questions reward 1 of a small set of recurring patterns, so naming the pattern first keeps the trap answers from sounding right.
- Every question on this test is original, written to the same logical skeletons as real questions, and Steve checked every one himself before release.
The question
A survey covering a wide range of summer camps found that 57 percent of the camps that operate a climbing wall employ at least one counselor holding a wilderness first-aid certificate, while 45 percent of the camps that operate a sailing dock employ at least one such counselor. Clearly, then, counselors holding a wilderness first-aid certificate are more likely to work at a camp with a climbing wall than at a camp with a sailing dock.
24. The argument's reasoning is defective because the argument
- (A)assumes without warrant that camps operating a sailing dock are not far more numerous than camps operating a climbing wall
- (B)disregards the possibility that a good many camps operate both a climbing wall and a sailing dock
- (C)neglects to ask how many of the surveyed camps employ no counselor holding a wilderness first-aid certificate
- (D)gives no attention to whether counselors holding such a certificate influence which facilities their camps build
- (E)supposes a causal link on the strength of evidence showing only a statistical association
AWhy (A) is correct
The survey reports that 57 percent of camps with a climbing wall employ a certified counselor, versus 45 percent of camps with a sailing dock, and concludes that such counselors are more likely to work at a camp with a climbing wall than at a camp with a sailing dock. That jump only works if the 2 kinds of camps are roughly equal in number. If camps with a sailing dock far outnumber camps with a climbing wall, the lower 45 percent could still add up to more certified counselors at sailing docks than the higher 57 percent adds up to at climbing walls, and the conclusion falls apart.
Why the other answers are wrong
BWhy (B) is wrong
(B) worries about camps that run both a wall and a dock, but overlap between the 2 kinds of camps isn't what breaks the argument, the unequal group sizes are.
CWhy (C) is wrong
(C) asks how many camps have no certified counselor at all, information the given percentages already cover.
DWhy (D) is wrong
(D) asks whether certified counselors steer which facilities a camp builds, a question about cause that the conclusion, about where counselors work, doesn't depend on.
EWhy (E) is wrong
(E) treats this as mistaking correlation for causation, but the conclusion is a comparison of likelihoods, not a causal claim, so that label doesn't fit.
Common questions
What type of question is this?
Flaw. Flaw questions ask you to name the reasoning error the argument commits, not to judge whether its conclusion is true.
How do I get better at Flaw questions?
Before you read the choices, describe the argument's error in your own words. Most Flaw questions reward 1 of a small set of recurring patterns, so naming the pattern first keeps the trap answers from sounding right. The free LSAT cheat sheet lists the wrong-answer patterns to watch for on every type.
