Q3 - Letter to the Editor: The arts section of this paper

[Laura Damone]

Question Type:
Weaken

Stimulus Breakdown:
Conclusion: The arts section of the paper demonstrates bias in favor of movies over local plays. Premise: Over the last year, the paper has done five times as many movie reviews as theater reviews.

Answer Anticipation:
This conclusion is an explanation of the premise. Why have there been so many more movie reviews? Bias! But could it be something else? Look for an answer that suggests an alternative explanation. Perhaps there are just way more movies to review than plays.

Correct answer:
B

Answer choice analysis:
(A) The first word in this answer should give you pause. "Some" statements are so rarely correct answers in Weaken questions. Why? Because "some" only necessarily implies "one" and one of anything is rarely enough to impact the argument. Furthermore, this one is out of scope. What other papers do or don't do isn't relevant here. This argument is about one paper and one paper only.

(B) Correct! An exact match to our prephrase.

(C) Some might be tempted by this one, thinking that the disparity in the number of reviewers might be an alternative explanation. But why the disparity in the number of reviewers? Perhaps that's a reflection of the very explanation we're trying to undermine: bias!

(D) So what? The fact that they can't review every play and every movie doesn't impact an argument about the number of plays reviewed vs. the number of movies reviewed.

(E) This might be tempting if you read the increase in the number of play reviews as evidence that the tide is turning and the trend of movie reviews over play reviews is changing. But even if more plays were reviewed this year than last, it still doesn't mitigate the fact that there were five times as many movies reviewed as plays.

Takeaway/Pattern:
For Weaken questions with explanations as conclusions, look for answers that supply alternative explanations. Also, be aware that a few questions on every LSAT test your understanding of proportional relationships, numeric relationships, and what they say and don't say about one another. When an LSAT argument deals with a change or difference in number or proportion, remember that there's more than one way to skin a cat. Might the difference in number of plays reviewed vs. number of movies reviewed reflect a bias? Sure. But it also might reflect the total number of plays and movies available for review.

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