LSAT 140 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q1

LR Question 1 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Advertisement: GreenBank gives all of its customers…

QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning

CONCLUSION: TekBank is more expensive than GreenBank.

REASONING: GreenBank has free ATMs. TekBank charges for its ATMs.

ANALYSIS: You’re allowed to use common sense to form hypotheses on the LSAT. You know from your everyday life that banks have many fees. ATM fees are just a small part of the costs of having an account.

So TekBank could be cheaper than GreenBank if TekBank has no monthly fees, no overdraft fees, etc.

___________

1. This is not a flaw (in this case)! The conclusion is only about an economic factor (cost), so it’s appropriate for the evidence to only involve economic factors.
   Example of flaw: GreenBank will make you happy, because GreenBank is inexpensive.
2. This didn’t happen.
   Example of flaw: GreenBank is better. A teller at a Chicago branch of TekBank insulted me once, three years ago!
3. CORRECT. Here we go. To make a proper comparison, we’d have to know that GreenBank was at least as affordable as TekBank in other respects as well, such as monthly fees.
4. This is a different flaw.
   Example of flaw: Overall, GreenBank is a friendly bank to deal with. So this particular GreenBank teller, Grumpy Bob, is surely friendly.
5. This is a different flaw.
   Example of flaw: There is no evidence that TekBank offers better interest rates than GreenBank. So it must not be true that TekBank offers better interest rates.

Recap: The question begins with “Advertisement: GreenBank gives all of its customers”. It is a Flawed Reasoning question. To practice more Flawed Reasoning questions, have a look at the LSAT Questions by Type page.