LSAT 5 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q9

LR Question 9 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: It is not known whether bovine spongiform encephalopathy…

QUESTION TYPE: Complete the Argument

ANALYSIS: The main point of the argument is that if BSE can be spread at all stages of the disease then we can’t tell when it is spreading. We can only be sure a cow is infected when it starts showing symptoms. That happens late in the game.

If we can’t detect it then there is no way to treat the disease by looking at only the infected cattle. Many other cattle will be infected.

All of the wrong answer choices describe techniques that either would work or might work.

___________

1. CORRECT. Yes. There will be many other infected cattle that do not show symptoms. The disease will keep spreading.
2. This would actually eliminate the disease: the cause of the disease would be killed off.
3. This might work, if absolutely no cattle in non-infected areas were ever infected (even without symptoms).
4. This would also work. All new cattle would become immune to BSE.
5. If we could detect BSE at all stages then it wouldn’t matter anymore whether the disease could spread before the cows began to show symptoms. We could detect the disease then too.

Recap: The question begins with “It is not known whether bovine spongiform encephalopathy”. It is a Complete the Argument question. Learn how to master LSAT Complete the Argument questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.