LSAT 132 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q2

LR Question 2 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Among people who live to the age of 100 or more, a…

QUESTION TYPE: Strengthen

CONCLUSION: Genetics are probably the cause of long life.

REASONING: Many people who live to the age of 100 lead “unhealthy” lives. They smoke, drink, eat fat and don’t exercise.

ANALYSIS: This argument hasn’t given us any reason to expect genetics is the cause. It’s presented a paradox (unhealthy habits + long lives) but then said genetics is the solution without any direct evidence in favor of genetics. We can strengthen this argument by providing actual evidence that genetics is the cause.

All of the wrong answers use “some”. This is a very vague word, and you must take it at its weakest. If an answer says “some Americans are jerks” you should take that to mean there’s one surly guy named Bob in Arkansas, and every other American is very friendly.

___________

1. This weakens the argument that genetics are the cause. This answer shows that one negative behavior cancels another negative behavior.
2. Take “some” to mean “one person”. The argument isn’t affected if one person doesn’t smoke or drink, but does eat fatty food.
3. This is identical to B. It just switches the terms around. The argument didn’t differentiate between the bad habits.
4. Take “some” to mean “one person”. This means that one person who does not live to 100 is also unhealthy. Who cares about one person?
5. CORRECT. Your siblings (brothers and sisters) are genetically related to you. If the siblings of very old people also live a long time, this supports the idea that the cause is genetics. The stimulus had a total lack of evidence that genetics was the cause – this answer gives us actual support.

Recap: The question begins with “Among people who live to the age”. It is a Strengthen question. To practice more Strengthen questions, have a look at the LSAT Questions by Type page.