LSAT 154 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q4

LR Question 4 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Oscar: Clearly, student evaluations provide the best…

QUESTION TYPE: Point at Issue

ARGUMENTS: Oscar says students are in the best position to judge a teacher, and so students should be the ones to evaluate teachers.

Bettina agrees…BUT, she says students really only know how a teacher was years later, whereas assessments are done at the end of class. So, evaluations should also be done by other teachers.

ANALYSIS: This is an interesting question because Bettina agrees with Oscar, and yet adds a qualification: student evaluations would be good, if they were done years later.

As it is, she disagrees that student evaluations are the best way to evaluate a teacher. She thinks peer evaluations are better, or at least should be used along with student evaluations.

___________

1. Both people agree about this! Oscar thinks students are the best judge of teachers, and Bettina think students can be good judges of teachers some years later. The difference is about when the students would be good judges: Oscar says now, Bettina says only later.
2. Bettina mentions this. Oscar doesn’t mention it, so we don’t know his opinion.
3. CORRECT. Oscar agrees with this. Bettina disagrees, as student evaluations are usually done too soon. Instead, peer evaluations may be better.
4. Oscar disagrees. But Bettina doesn’t agree either: she suggest peer evaluations might be a good supplement to student evaluations. That means she’s open to using student evaluations along with teacher (peer) evaluations.
5. Bettina agrees. Oscar doesn’t say when student evaluations are conducted, so we don’t know his opinion.

Recap: The question begins with “Oscar: Clearly, student evaluations provide the best”. It is a Point at Issue question. Learn more about LSAT Point at Issue questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.