LSAT 2 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q5

LR Question 5 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: A government agency publishes ratings of airlines…

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

ANALYSIS: The purpose of the ratings is to determine how effective airline personnel are at keeping flights on time. The ratings will only be effective if airline personnel are actually the ones responsible when flights are late.

If some other factor such as the weather or local airports is at fault then the ratings will not be fully effective.

The ratings will be particularly weakened if a factor affects some airlines much more than others for reasons that are not their fault.

___________

1. The ratings could still be effective, even if travelers sometimes have no choice. They would at least know how the airline they were taking tended to perform.
2. CORRECT. If some airlines are often disproportionately affected by a non-personnel factor such as the weather then ratings won’t be an accurate measure of personnel effectiveness.
3. If this factor affects all airlines then it won’t have much of an effect on the ratings.
4. This would show that the personnel have an extra incentive to be on time but it won’t skew the ratings.
5. If this applies equally to all airlines then the ratings won’t be affected.

Recap: The question begins with “A government agency publishes ratings of airlines”. It is a Weaken question. Learn how to master LSAT Weaken questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.