LSAT 114 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q5

LR Question 5 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Toxicologist: A survey of oil-refinery workers who work…

QUESTION TYPE: Strengthen – Exception

CONCLUSION: There will soon be more headaches, fatigue, etc.

REASONING: Oil refinery workers exposed to MBTE have a lot of headaches and fatigue, etc. MBTE will soon be used as an additive in gasoline.

ANALYSIS: This isn’t a very good argument. It could be that oil refineries themselves cause headaches, and MBTE isn’t to blame. Or it could be that MBTE in gasoline is not present in high amounts and it won’t hurt anyone.

The wrong answers take care of these objections and also show that the sample of oil workers was representative.

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1. This shows that it’s likely MBTE causing the headaches, rather than something else in the oil refinery.
2. CORRECT. This just tells us something about headaches. It doesn’t strengthen the idea that MBTE causes them. 
3. This shows that the prediction is true in the areas that did start using MBTE.
4. This shows that MBTE seems to be causing problems in those regions where it is used.
5. This shows that the sample was representative and strengthens the findings.