LSAT 129 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q13

LR Question 13 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Administrators of educational institutions are enthusiastic

QUESTION TYPE: Role in Argument

CONCLUSION: Teachers are wrong to fear computers.

REASONING: Teachers and administrators think that computers will let schools teach more courses with fewer teachers. But actually computerized instruction requires more teaching time.

ANALYSIS: This is a role in argument question, so you are not supposed to look for flaws in the argument. Instead you’re just trying to figure out what the argument is saying.

The statement in question is what administrators (and teachers) believe: administrators think that computers will let them offer more courses with fewer teachers.

The final sentence says that this claim is wrong. So the statement in question is one that the argument proves wrong.

___________

1. This didn’t happen.
   Example of flaw: Maybe computers will let us have fewer teachers; this would explain something I saw recently. I observed a course where sixty students were on computers and one teacher supervised.
2. This is completely different.
   Example of flaw: Will computers let us teach more classes with fewer teachers? Let’s examine the evidence.
3. CORRECT. The final sentence disproves the claim in the first sentence. The sentence “But this is mistaken.” shows that the author disagrees with the previous claim.
   Always watch for “but”, it’s an extremely important word.
4. Nonsense. The author says “But this is mistaken”, in reference to the first sentence. The author disagrees with this statement.
5. Same as D. The final sentence is the conclusion, and this sentence shows that the author disagrees with the first sentence.