LSAT 88, Logical Reasoning II, Q22, LSATHacks

LR Question 22 Explanation, by LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: Educator: Environmental factors clearly have little effect…

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: Environment has little effect on whether a teenager will do sports.

REASONING: Family has little influence since one teenager in a family can do sports while the other doesn’t. School sports programs are generally ineffective.

ANALYSIS: The educator gives two examples of environments (family and school programs) to support the argument that environment (broadly speaking) has little impact on a teen doing sports. It could be that the educator failed to consider another environment that does have an impact, such as friends and social media trends.

___________

1. Athletic ability is a physical factor, not an environmental factor. Thus, it can’t weaken the conclusion that environment has little effect on teens doing sports.
2. Cool fact but how does this weaken the conclusion? It doesn’t.
3. The argument isn’t about whether or not adults are enthusiastic about sports. It’s about if environmental factors can affect whether or not a teen plays sports.
4. CORRECT. Yes! Different societies and different decades are also “environments”! Societal and time-period factors could definitely affect whether or not teenagers play sports.
5. So a few school programs are very successful. We know from the stimulus that these programs generally aren’t successful, so overall, it’s not a strong environmental factor. This doesn’t add to the argument.

Recap: The question begins with “Educator: Environmental factors clearly have little effect”. It is a Weaken question. Learn more about LSAT Weaken questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.

Hi, I'm Graeme Blake

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