LSAT 157 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q16

LR Question 16 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Future overall demand for professors can be predicted…

QUESTION TYPE: Principle

CLAIMS: Current birth rates can be used to predict future overall demand for professors with reasonable accuracy. But predictions for future music professor demand are less accurate, and predictions for future jazz studies professor demand are even less accurate.

ANALYSIS: This question is a bit wacky – not surprising for an experimental section. There isn’t really a conclusion! It’s just two claims.

The correct answer will be a generalization that is true in this case. From the stimulus, it seems that more specific predictions are less reliable.

___________

1. This isn’t what’s happening here. We aren’t comparing predictions with complete and detailed evidence to predictions that have incomplete or vague evidence.
2. CORRECT. Here, we see that the more general prediction (overall professor demand) is more accurate than the specific predictions (music professor and jazz studies professor demand).
3. We aren’t seeing predictions that are more temporally remote. All of these predictions are the same time away, because they’re based on current birth rates.
4. Similarly to A, we aren’t comparing predictions with varying quality of evidence.
5. This isn’t true here. We’ve been told that a general prediction for overall professor demand is “reasonably accurate”.

Recap: The question begins with “Future overall demand for professors can be predicted”. It is a Principle question. Learn more about LSAT Principle questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.