LSAT 2 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q9

LR Question 9 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Advertisement: Clark brand-name parts are made for cars…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: Clark brand name parts are better than foreign car parts.

REASONING: Clark parts have satisfied all government auto tests. You never know which foreign made parts are reliable and which are cheap look-a-likes.

ANALYSIS: It sounds nice to say that Clark auto parts have passed all government tests. But what if the tests have extremely minimal requirements despite the fact that they are the “best” in the world? It’s possible all tests have low standards. The argument doesn’t present any direct evidence that Clark parts are high quality.

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1. The argument does not depend on Clark parts only being available in this country. They could be sold elsewhere as well. That might be a sign of their quality.
2. We don’t need to assume that foreign parts are not suitable. It would be sufficient if they were suitable, but still a poor choice compared to Clark parts.
3. This is tempting, but it isn’t necessary that no foreign parts satisfy government requirements. It is only necessary that enough of them are of poor quality that you would be taking a risk to use them.
4. CORRECT. If Clark auto parts are as poorly constructed as cheap foreign parts then this argument isn’t very good.
5. The argument isn’t denying the possibility that some auto parts made in this country are unreliable. But presumably this isn’t the case for domestically produced Clark auto parts, which pass all safety tests.

Recap: The question begins with “Advertisement: Clark brand-name parts are made for cars”. It is a Necessary Assumption question. Learn how to master LSAT Necessary questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.