LR Question 19 Explanation, by LSATHacks
QUESTION TEXT: Editorial: Painting involves a sequential application…
QUESTION TYPE: Complete The Argument
CONCLUSION: The early stages of education are most important.
REASONING: Education is like painting. You build on what’s been done before. In painting, the early layers are most important.
ANALYSIS: The argument is making an analogy between painting and education.
In painting, the early coats are most important. So it’s logical for the argument to claim that education is the same: the early parts are most important.
Many wrong answers mention things that were never mentioned in the argument. This is no good for an analogy. You need to find something that was said about painting.
___________
- We have no idea what is effective in education. Maybe being undemanding is a terrible idea!
- ‘Fundamentals’ is not necessarily the same thing as the early stages of education. Also, this answer talks about specific subjects, while the argument referred to education in general.
- The argument doesn’t talk about revising methods in painting, so there’s no reason it would mention revising methods in education.
- The argument never mentions painting being rewarding, so there’s no reason it would mention education being rewarding.
- CORRECT. The early coats of paint are most important, so it makes sense that the early levels of education are most important.
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isn’t (E) too strong because it says above “all?” can “most important step” equate with “depends above all”
The stimulus tells us that the proper application of the underlying layers of a painting is not only necessary for painting, but also includes the “most important steps”. So, although (E) does seem like a strong statement, we can conclude from the argument that the student’s overall educational experience is not only dependant on the initial experience, but that the initial stages are the most important part.
“Above all” simply means “before every other consideration” or “especially” (that’s the definition from Merriam-Webster online), so this answer choice actually does very easily follow from the stimulus.