Q23 - A professor of business placed

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

This is a tough question and there are many answer choices that at first sound very good. I agree that answer choices (A), (B), (C), and (D) all warrant at least a bit of consideration. This is a good example to practice moving from wrong to right. The key here would be to look for words that would allow us to eliminate the answer choice.

We're asked to strengthen the argument that concludes that it is not the case that books delivered via computer will make printed books obsolete. This is a fairly wide ranging statement, so answer choices about "some" people's behavior will not suffice.

The premise is an example of students printing out an assignment. What's the gap? Well, perhaps that's just a rare example. Also, that example is about assignments, while the conclusion is about books. Does this evidence fit into a wider body of evidence that includes books?

(A) can be eliminated because of the word "several." It's simply not strong enough to support the general conclusion reached in the stimulus. Plus, the conclusion is about books, and we need to be able to link the information about assignments to books.

(B) provides a statement about "most" computer users and so is strong enough to support the general conclusion reached in the stimulus. Also, it broadens the evidence to include "reading material" which includes books.

(C) can be eliminated because it says "some people." Again, it's not strong enough to support the general conclusion that is reached.

(D) provides an opt out clause. It says that books delivered via computer are full of errors unless editors carefully read the scanned versions. Well, we don't know that editors are not carefully reading the scanned versions, so we don't know whether books delivered via computer are actually full of errors.

(E) is irrelevant.

When you have so many good looking answer choices, it's best to start being very detail oriented. Focus on the specifics of the language, because the big picture of the answer choice already passed your first pass through. Let me know if you still need more help with this one!


#officialexplanation

[rharrington]

I really don't understand how to choose the right answer. Both A and B refer to students tendency to prefer printed pages and C refers to how it is difficult for students to read pro-longed text on computer and D refers to how online books are not good quality.

All of those answers seem about the same amount of strength to me.

[cyruswhittaker]

Can you elaborate more on why the answer is B rather than A?

I understand that the conclusion is general, and B provides a choice that is more wide-ranging. However, I initially chose A because it's more specifically related to the argument itself.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

It's understandable that answer choice (A) is tempting. If the behavior of those students of the other professors is similar to that described in the stimulus, then we know we're not dealing with an isolated case.

However, the conclusion is that it is not the case that books delivered via computer will make printed books obsolete. A fairly strong and general conclusion.

We're asked to find the answer choice that provides the most support for this conclusion. Answer choice (A) is simply not strong enough. "Several" students is not enough support to prove (or for that matter, even support) such a general conclusion. Answer choice (B) discusses most computer users and so could be used to support such a general conclusion.

Gosh, I feel like I just repeated myself from my earlier explanation. But I'm positive that such is the reasoning why answer choice (A) is incorrect.

[cyruswhittaker]

Thank you for explaining this again and emphasizing the level of generality in the conclusion and how that relates to what would most strengthen it. Keeping this in mind is definately going to help me move more quickly through other arguments.

[sr]

If the conclusion was that books will no longer be the majority's preference, then it is true that "some" is not strong enough. It is possible that "some" people still use books, while the books are no longer the majority's preference.

However the conclusion says that books will not be obsolete. Meaning they will not be wiped out completely. Meaning at least some people will use books. Thus, it is sufficient for at least some people to prefer books to support this. We just need at least one person to continue using books to have sufficient support for the fact that books will not be wiped out completely.

[d.andrew.chen]

The stim states clearly that it's CASE-STUDY assignments that are on the network. That's not a book. But the conclusion concludes that BOOKS delivered via computer won't make printed books obsolete.

(A) I found it to be too weak in the sense that it doesn't ever touch on anything that is a book. The premise also doesn't, so I thought the correct answer choice had to be inclusive of books. So other assignments are printed out...where does that involve books? You must assume that books are part of assignments, which is a bit of a leap, I think.

(C) Too weak. Even with the "some" idea, it doesn't show that these people are actually using printed books. The conclusion could easily be falsified...so a lot of people now have impaired vision, but books are still obsolete!

(B) If most computer users are going to print out material (including both CASE STUDIES and BOOKS...since both are included based on the length), then this is a direct way to show the conclusion is happening.

That's how I looked at the problem. Do not know if this is right.

What do the experts think about Natasha's rebuttal? I tend to agree that "most" is stronger than "some" and is a good way to look at it, but she raises a very good point.

[noah]

However the conclusion says that books will not be obsolete. Meaning they will not be wiped out completely. Meaning at least some people will use books. Thus, it is sufficient for at least some people to prefer books to support this. We just need at least one person to continue using books to have sufficient support for the fact that books will not be wiped out completely.

I am unsure about your reading of "obsolete" - it seems to me you're interpreting it as "completely wiped out." I see it more as no longer what's used. A few freaks using it wouldn't make something not obsolete. For example, my cousin installed an 8-track stereo in his car and played his father's old tapes in it. I think we can all agree that 8-tracks are still obsolete.

The other issue is that we don't want an answer that is sufficient to make the argument work, we want the one that most strengthens the argument. So, even if we ignore the issue that the poster after you raises, (A) is weaker than (B).

Thanks for that question - very thoughtful.

[noah]

The stim states clearly that it's CASE-STUDY assignments that are on the network. That's not a book. But the conclusion concludes that BOOKS delivered via computer won't make printed books obsolete.

(A) I found it to be too weak in the sense that it doesn't ever touch on anything that is a book. The premise also doesn't, so I thought the correct answer choice had to be inclusive of books. So other assignments are printed out...where does that involve books? You must assume that books are part of assignments, which is a bit of a leap, I think.

(C) Too weak. Even with the "some" idea, it doesn't show that these people are actually using printed books. The conclusion could easily be falsified...so a lot of people now have impaired vision, but books are still obsolete!

(B) If most computer users are going to print out material (including both CASE STUDIES and BOOKS...since both are included based on the length), then this is a direct way to show the conclusion is happening.

That's how I looked at the problem. Do not know if this is right.

Great point! I'll go and revise Matt's original explanation to include this.

[pewals13]

Task:

Strengthen the argument

Core:

When a professor placed a case-study assignment for her class on the university's computer network, 50 out of 70 students printed it out
=>
It is not the case that books delivered via computer will make printed books obsolete

Gap:
It's a jump to go from students printing out readings to declaring that printed books will not become obsolete. Maybe students will hasten the demise of printed books by only printing portions of them and no longer getting printed books in their entirety.

Answer Choices:

(A) Too weak: This answer choice is a contender, but it is ultimately a watered down version of (B). When you're facing two similar answer choices on a strengthen question, generally you want to go with the one that is stronger.

(B) CORRECT: This answer choice provides a study confirming that the anecdotal observation of the professor in the stimulus is actually the case among most computer users. This strengthens the professor's evidence for the conclusion.

(C) Out of Scope (relevance): Even if you felt comfortable making a logical leap in assuming that when people get impaired vision from reading on the computer they are more likely to get a printed book, you're still left with the "some" language which is too weak to support such a broad conclusion.

(D) Out of Scope (relevance): Again, this answer choice would require a logical leap to strengthen the argument, it doesn't actually tell you that the books delivered via computer are full of errors and even if they were you would have to assume this is a reason people would use printed books instead.

(E) Out of Scope (relevance): The sales of books that were turned into movies are not relevant.

Final Note:

Always remember to parse the wording of the answer choices you are deciding between

[andrewgong01]

Would "C" have been correct thought if it said "Most people get impaired vision?". My reasoning for choosing "C" is that it is the best answer choice in broadening the scope to allow us to go from case studies on computers to printed books because it gives us a reason as to why documents that are digital are just not going to be welcoming for people because people get impaired vision, which is safe to assume on the LSAT is not good and something people would avoid. In other words, "C" best broadens the scope where it gives an underlying reason behind why case studiesthat were printed in a college class to why it applies to books too :: impaired vision. This would be pretty similar to what "B" is trying to get across where "B" says people just print materials more than a few page long whereas "C" gives us a reason as to why printing would always occur. Assuming "B" did not exist or if "B" had said "Some computer users print materials more than a few pages long..." would "C" have been correct by simply changing the quantifier

[ohthatpatrick]

Yup, if (C) had punching power (beyond "at least one person"), it's an effective strengthening idea.

[andrewgong01]

Yup, if (C) had punching power (beyond "at least one person"), it's an effective strengthening idea.

I had a follow up question regarding the use of "several". I did a RC passage today and in this question (https://www.manhattanprep.com/lsat/foru ... tml#p52313)

I eliminated the correct answer in the RC passage because it also used "several". From earlier discussion for this question on this thread (LR), "A" was ruled out because "several" was weak and I thought the correct answer choice in the RC passage was really analogous to LR's answer choice "A" since it also used several in a similar context.

In general, is there any specific rule or meaning behind "several" as a strengthener on the LSAT if it is generally considered on the weaker or stronger end (from "some" to "many" to "most" to "all" ) because several seems really context specific at the same time based of the subject that we are describing as "several"

[ohthatpatrick]

"Several" is pretty weak, since it just means "3 or 4".

It basically has the same minimum value as "many", since "many" could really be as few as five, depending on the context.

With some / several / many, it's not like we can KILL an answer simply because it has that word.

It's a red flag, just as extreme words are red flags in Inference and Necessary Assumption.

For Inf and Nec Assump, you can pick an answer with strong wording if the argument/statements used strong wording in the same capacity.

For Str / Weak / Explain questions, you can pick an answer with weak wording if there are no better answers.

[ZacharyW220]

The difficulty I'm having is that no answer truly seems to strengthen the argument. How do any of these link to the obsolescence of printed books?

Premise:
Most students printed an assignment from the computer rather than read it on the computer screen.

Conclusion:
Books delivered via computer will NOT make printed books obsolete.

(A) provides further evidence outside the initial case-study (a few replications, even expanding the phenomenon beyond business courses). Though admittedly, "several" isn't as strong as one might hope for, and the answer choice has nothing to do with books delivered via computer vs. books printed out, it still relates directly to the premise. Additional evidence = strengthens. However, this option has a similar issue to (B) in that it doesn't address a gap in the reasoning, but at least it is a 1-to-1 comparison to the premise.

(B) says studies show that computer users will print material themselves. The answer choice does not mention printed books vs. books delivered via computer. It merely says that material longer than a few pages -- a criteria for which books qualify -- were printed, presumably from a computer, vs. read on the screen. The key for me is that these books were still delivered via computer. It could be that the users mentioned in this study still preferred to have those pages delivered via computer and then printed out after for reading. In other words, how does it strengthen the argument when it has nothing to do with books not delivered via computer? Again, the pages, although eventually printed, were still delivered via computer and were not necessarily books, and therefore these studies do not support the conclusion. Right? I mean, I get that it follows the flawed logic of our passage, but it does nothing to strengthen its conclusion by addressing the flaw.

The only reason I chose (A) over (B) is because (A) actually mirrors the reasoning of the initial premise; it provides additional examples of a similar phenomenon.

Now, you might point out that the problem I have with (B) -- that the pages were still printed from computers and therefore delivered via computer -- is true for (A) and the initial premise -- students printing from computers. Well, yes, exactly; nothing here really seems to draw a connection to the conclusion, but, again, at least (A) strengthens the argument by expanding the phenomena of the initial premise outside business courses.

In retrospect, I see that (B) is a better answer than (A) because (i) it expands the preference for printing things out even further to "most computer users" and (ii) provides stronger evidence (multiple "studies" that "consistently" produce the same outcome vs. (A)'s "several colleagues" finding "several students" (the support gets smaller and smaller) behaving "similarly" (which is vague)).

I guess I'm just frustrated that no answer does a good job of addressing the gap in reasoning or really providing any support for the conclusion.

[ohthatpatrick]

It feels like you might have an un-helpful mental model of what Strengthen/Weaken questions are doing, in general.

Correct answers are never bulletproof; they never prove or refute.

Picture these arguments as a football field where you're writing CONC in one endzone and ANTI-CONC in the other endzone.

"Computer books will make printed books obsolete" vs. "Computer books will NOT make printed books obsolete".

We start at midfield (the 50 yard line), having no reason to believe one way or the other. The author introduces at least one supporting idea that brings us closer to the CONC endzone. A strengthen answer just needs to bring us somewhat closer (it could be a powerful 20 yard gain or a meek, but still progressing 2 yd gain). A weaken answer just has to move us backwards, even if it just brings us back to midfield by neutralizing the author's premise.

In a trial, the endzones are GUILTY vs. NOT GUILTY.

If the defense attorney ends up raising doubt about one of the eyewitnesses to a burglary by showing that the witness is an old man with very troubled eyesight, that attorney has WEAKENED the prosecution's case.

Saying "this old man can't see more than 10 feet in front of him" doesn't directly connect in any way to "whether or not the defendant committed burglary", but it still weakens the prosecution's case.

The prosecution was using that eyewitness as evidence, and by bolstering or undermining the credibility of evidence you can strengthen or weaken an overall argument.

I'm not sure what you're considering THE flaw in this argument. There are potentially many different ways to argue with it.

My first reaction was, "Reading books for pleasure is too different a situation than a case-study assignment". I don't trust the sample, as an indicator of overall reading habits. For an assignment, I probably want to mark stuff up with highlighters and sticky notes and such, so printing it out gives me a practical advantage. If I'm reading a book, I don't have the same needs so I might be more likely to be fine with a Kindle.

Since I see a potential flaw here as, "Wait a sec ... can we really extrapolate from case study assignments to [i]books[/b]?", I see that (B) is making me feel a little better about doing so. It applies to a majority of computer users and it applies to all reading material.

(A) is very limited in strength, since it's several / several. It's also still talking about assignments! Yes, it's no longer a business course, but it wasn't BUSINESS course vs. OTHER course that had me troubled.

It was CLASS ASSIGNMENT vs. BOOK YOU READ FOR PLEASURE

hope this helps

[JohnZ880]

Very frustrating question. I picked (C) because I thought it best defended against the glaring weakness in the argument, which is extrapolating from case-studies to books. When I initially read the passage, I thought to myself, what would make books different than case studies? The first thing that popped into my mind was the length. Maybe people will print a 30 page case study, but not a 400 page book.

I thought (C) best connected books to case-studies. If a reader's vision gets impaired, then that would explain why the reader prints the material for both case-studies and books. (B), on the other hand, does little, if anything, to explain why case-studies and books are printed. Again, people might prefer to print a case-study, but maybe not a huge book. So yeah, people prefer to print things a few pages long, but that doesn't speak to whether they would print the Bible. My basic assumption is that books are longer than case-studies, which I think is an acceptable assumption.

I guess I see why (B) does it, but if we're at the 50 yard line, I guess we move to the 49 yard line, because it barely does it for me. I don't mean to argue my point, cause that doesn't help me get better, I'm just wondering can point out how my approach was flawed and how to better approach a similar question in the future.

[abrenza123]

My issue was with B was that it doesn’t address printed books. The conclusion states that books delivered via computer will not make printed books obsolete, but to me B seems to be indicating that people prefer to print out material that is more than a few pages vs. read on the computer screen, but doesn’t distinguish between printing out books delivered on computer and PRINTED books. what is stopping them from continuing to print out books delivered via computer rather than reading PRINTED books? To me, printing out a book via a computer is different from a printed book... which was why D had some appeal to me, because it addresses another reason as to why printed books might be preferable to book delivered via the computer..

[ohthatpatrick]

I see what you're saying.

what is stopping them from continuing to print out books delivered via computer rather than reading PRINTED books?


Nothing is STOPPING them, but which option would YOU more likely choose if you wanted to read a printed book:
buy the printed book
or
buy the computer-delivered book and then print it out
?

Common sense says it's cheaper / faster / easier to just buy the printed book. So LSAT is counting on us reading (B) and thinking, "Oh, it looks like people really want that printed-out tactile feel for longer works. So I guess the market for printed out books will continue to be strong."

In the professor's example (and potentially in all the examples that B is describing), people are given a computer version of some long file, and they then choose to print it out.

Had they been offered a choice ahead of time, we presume they would have just chosen a printed out version, since that was the medium they ultimately wanted and receiving the reading material in already-printed form would save them some time and energy.

I think you're looking at what (B) is literally talking about and not seeing the extrapolative value that LSAT has in mind: this answer reveals that most computer users don't like reading stuff on screen as much as reading stuff in print.

Keep it generic like that, and then you can apply that principle to the issue of "In the future, will people want their books on computer instead of in book form?"

The principle of "I'd rather read long stuff in print than on screen" tells us that there will probably still be people who would prefer the printed book option over the on screen computer option.

I think you're also hearing "books delivered via computer" as "a book that a customer intends to download and print out."

But they just mean it as "e-books". E-books are books delivered via computer, but they are intended to be read on a screen, not printed out.

(D) would be a decent answer, but the "unless" really neuters it. If the answer stopped after the word 'errors', then it would be a compelling reason to avoid computer books and choose printed books. But the final "unless" clause allows for the possibility that editors carefully read over the scanned versions and fix the errors they find.

Assuming that editors DO carefully look over the scanned text, then computer books could be relatively error free.

Hope this helps.