LSAT 131 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q2

LR Question 2 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: A university psychology department received a large donation

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: The book was selected only for academic reasons.

REASONING: The textbook committee gave the book its highest rating.

ANALYSIS: There’s obviously a potential conflict of interest here. The department got a grant because it selected a textbook.

It’s true the textbook committee gave the textbook its highest rating. But there are some potential issues:

Was the committee influenced by the potential for a grant?

Were there other books that also got the highest rating?

Are there factors other than committee rating worth considering?

___________

1. CORRECT. If this is true, then we should doubt the usefulness of the committee’s rating.
2. This strengthens the argument by showing the ratings are important.
3. We don’t know how to evaluate this. Was the textbook good? Did the department receive a donation? This answer lacks context.
4. This doesn’t matter. We want to know whether the committee had a conflict of interest. This doesn’t tell us that. We have no reason to think the chair was the only one at the department who might have been aware or unaware of the grant.
5. This shows the current situation is exceptional, but it doesn’t tell us anything about how the department made its decision.