LSAT 134 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q11

LR Question 11 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: A recent study revealed that the percentage of people treated …

QUESTION TYPE: Paradox – EXCEPT

PARADOX: Patients treated at big, urban hospitals recover at a lower rate than those treated at smaller, rural hospitals.

ANALYSIS: This is an EXCEPT question, so we’re looking for the answer that doesn’t help explain why recovery rates are lower at big hospitals.

The wrong answers will identify something about large hospitals that could reasonably lead to worse recovery rates.

___________

1. Helps explain. If nutritionists at small hospitals can better tailor meals to each patient, that could improve recovery rates compared to big hospitals.
2. Also helps explain. A more stressful and impersonal environment can make recovery more difficult, which explains why patients at big hospitals recover less.
3. CORRECT. This tells us that doctors at large hospitals often attended more prestigious schools. It also says that there’s no correlation between school prestige and recovery. So this gives us nothing to explain the worse recovery rate.
4. Discharging patients or ending observation sooner could lead to missed complications or delayed treatment. That provides a plausible reason why recovery rates might be lower at big hospitals.
5. If doctors have less time to explain medications, patients or staff may make more mistakes, leading to worse recoveries.