Q18 - Office worker: I have

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Question Type:
Strengthen (principle)

Stimulus Breakdown:
The argument concludes that the office worker should devote all remaining time to the second project. What are the circustances on which that recommendation is made? Well, the first project is already late and if the office worker devotes time to it, the second project will be late well.

Answer Anticipation:
The right answer will estabish a rule that is triggered by the circumstances of the office worker and would require the office worker to devote all remaining time to the second project.

Correct Answer:
(E)

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) is too weak. This wouldn't allow the office worker to decide between working on the first project alone or the second project alone, though it would say that either is better than working on both.

(B) is out of scope. The projects will be finished. The issue is only that the office worker is in danger of finishing them both late.

(C) characterizes the options incorrectly. They're both required. Neither project is optional.

(D) is out of scope. The issue isn't how one feels about not completing one's projects on time, but rather which project the office worker should focus on first.

(E) is correct. Alhough this answer is not very similar to our prephrase. Rather than a conditional rule we typically use to link the evidence with the conclusion on Principle questions, this answer provides a basis for making the decision about which project to work on by providing the relative merits of each of the options remaining for the office worker.

Takeaway/Pattern: Reasoning: Comparison

#officialexplanation

[ganbayou]

I chose B...why is B wrong? is it because it says there is no guarantee?
I eliminated E because it says priority, but I did not see it discusses priority in the stimulus....

Thank you

[LsatCrusher822]

I chose B...why is B wrong? is it because it says there is no guarantee?
I eliminated E because it says priority, but I did not see it discusses priority in the stimulus....

Thank you

B) is incorrect because the stimulus already states that the first project is late anyway (read 2nd sentence). Therefore, there is no risk of failing "both" projects. The only risk of failing lies with the second project.

E) Priority is actually in the stimulus. The first sentence establishes that both projects are "equally" important, meaning that none takes precedence over the other.

A) First part of the answer is ok, but "split" is not part of the stimulus... our conclusion is the devote "all time"
C) Must be done vs. merely option is not part of the stimulus
D) "not to worry"? where is this coming from?

[GlenH807]

E was attractive but I eliminated it because it talks about priority, can someone please explain this? Although with poe E would have been the only valid answer now that I understand D is wrong,

[ohthatpatrick]

Do we know whether the 1st or 2nd project has higher priority?


Yes, we do. The first sentence tells us that these are "two equally important projects".

Thus, it's fair to say that the 1st project "does not have higher priority", as choice (E) says.

[VickX462]

Here's how I eliminated answer choices and narrowed down to (E):

(A): Tempting, but it wouldn't lend support to why the worker chose to work on the second project instead of the first one. The worker could think––well if I should focus only on one project at a time I should focus on the first project instead of the second.

(B): Similar to (A), it does not tell us why the worker should not choose the first project over the second project.

(C): "Projects that are merely optional?" Out of scope!

(D): "Worry" here seems fishy. There is no mention of emotion in the stimulus. Out of scope.

(E): "attempt to" is a good sign. Read on. "Does not have higher priority" is the same as saying "have the same or lower priority." As we know from the stimulus, the two projects are equally important. Therefore E is the right answer.