LSAT 77, Logical Reasoning I, Q12

QUESTION TEXT: When doctors vaccinate a patient, their intention…

QUESTION TYPE: Principle – Parallel

PRINCIPLE: Doctors vaccinate patients with weak forms of disease, in order to give them resistance against stronger forms later.

ANALYSIS: Principle questions test your ability to think abstractly. Here, the general form of the principle is: give someone a small problem now so they’ll get resistance to a larger problem later.

___________

1. This doesn’t match. It doesn’t go from a small problem to a large one. There’s only a single big problem: forgetting lines.
   Example of proper analogy: During practice, directors sometimes create small, stressful situations. This helps prepare actors for the much larger pressures of opening night.
2. CORRECT. This matches. Cruel stories are slightly disturbing. This experience protects those children from being too shocked by the larger, real cruelty of the world.
3. This situation has two large problems.
   Example of proper analogy: Firefighters sometimes light small fires to clear fuel, preventing larger fires later.
4. This doesn’t match at all. The business should be avoiding a larger problem later, instead of seeking a gain later.
5. This is a very tempting answer. But in both the stimulus and the correct answer, it was the person receiving the treatment who was strengthened. Patients received a vaccine and they resisted disease. Children received story and they resisted emotional trauma.
   But here the police department punishes small criminals in the hopes of dissuading other people. So this doesn’t parallel.

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