LSAT 26, Logical Reasoning I, Q22, LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: Most students are bored by history courses as they are…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption – Exception

CONCLUSION: The best way to teach history is to tell stories about historical people. Statistics and dates be damned.

REASONING: Most students are bored by history classes, because they spend much time talking about dates and statistics.

ANALYSIS: There are many flaws with this argument. The best way to do this type of question is to think of a few, then eliminate wrong answers by referring to the passage.

The author assumes:

1. There’s not an even better way to teach history.
2. Students aren’t bored by historical figures, too.
3. You can teach history without spending much time on dates and figures.
4. It’s not a good idea to bore your students. (It’s no good to entertain students but teach them nothing.)

___________

1. If it’s fine to bore students, then maybe dates and statistics are the way to go.
2. If history can’t be taught without spending much time on dates and statistics, then this new plan is a bad idea.
3. CORRECT. The argument didn’t say we should never spend time on dates and statistics. We should just refer to them less. So it’s not a big deal if you have to throw a few dates into your historical stories.
4. If this isn’t true, then telling stories about dead people isn’t the best way to teach history.
5. If students would be even more bored by history classes about historical figures, then it’s not a good idea to spend the whole class talking about them.

Recap: The question begins with “Most students are bored by history courses as they are”. It is a Necessary Assumption question. Learn more about LSAT Necessary questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.

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