LSAT 158 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q2

LR Question 2 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Educator: Few problems faced in daily life can be solved…

QUESTION TYPE: Strengthen the Argument

CONCLUSION: Schools should require students to take interdisciplinary courses instead of courses in individual disciplines.

REASONING: Few problems in life are solved with knowledge from a single discipline alone.

ANALYSIS: This argument could be stronger. Right now we are told that applying knowledge from multiple disciplines is important to solve problems in daily life. But we don’t see anything to tell us courses in individual disciplines don’t prepare students for interdisciplinary problems. A student who has taken both math and health courses may be able to solve a problem by applying both, even without taking a course that combines both.

If we had evidence to show that the current system doesn’t solve this problem, the argument would be stronger.

___________

1. This doesn’t strengthen the argument, and in fact weakens it. Why are we changing the system when all we need to solve problems is common sense?
2. This weakens the argument. It provides evidence that interdisciplinary courses will not be as useful.
3. CORRECT. This strengthens the argument, by telling us that students in individual-discipline classes can’t combine their knowledge. Because problems can’t be solved with single-discipline knowledge, these courses aren’t preparing students to solve the problems, and an interdisciplinary course would be better.
4. Similar to answer A – this actually weakens the argument.
5. Similar to A/D – this provides evidence against interdisciplinary courses.

Recap: The question begins with “Educator: Few problems faced in daily life can be solved”. It is a Argument Evaluation question. Learn more about LSAT Evaluate questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.