LSAT 89, Logical Reasoning II, Q1, LSATHacks

LR Question 1 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: A company produced a small car that costs much less…

QUESTION TYPE: Paradox

PARADOX: The new car is much less safe than any other car before it, but most people who bought it were more safe on the roads after buying it than they were before.

ANALYSIS: If the new car is less safe than any other car, then the people who are now safer must not have had a different car before. They must have been doing something else before that was more dangerous, and now this car is safer than that (although less safe than other cars).

The correct answer will probably tell us what they were doing before that was more dangerous.

___________

1. This doesn’t resolve the paradox – we still don’t know why people are more safe. All this teaches us is why the company made a relatively unsafe car.
2. This doesn’t resolve the paradox either. It tells us that they could have made it safer without compromising the lower price point, but we don’t know why people who bought it are safer than before.
3. This tells us why people may have bought an unsafe car, but we want to know why they’re safer now than before.
4. This doesn’t tell us anything at all about why people might be more safe now than they were before they bought this car.
5. CORRECT. The people who bought this car tend to be people who were using less safe methods. This car is less safe than other cars, but safer than the methods they were using.

Recap: The question begins with “A company produced a small car that costs much less”. It is a Paradox question. Learn how to master LSAT Paradox questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.

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