Q5 - Resident: Data indicates that 30 percent

[mshinners]

Question Type:
Weaken. If you viewed this as a Flaw question, that's fine. However, since the prompt asks us to find something that the argument overlooks, and it's only a flaw to overlook something that serves as an alternative explanation to your conclusion, it's better to look at these as Weaken questions.

Stimulus Breakdown:
Data! Always good to have data.

Here, we see that 30% of houses have one issue, and 30% have another issue. From this, the author concludes that 60+% of homes have issues. Troubling! But good for the contracting business. 30+30=60, right?"

Answer Anticipation:
Wrong. Whenever the LSAT adds numbers together, the first thing you should think about is potential overlap. Here, some houses have bad drainage; some houses have structural defects. Could those two groups overlap? Absolutely, so we can't simply add 30+30. In fact, there could be complete overlap between these two groups, guaranteeing only 30% of houses with issues. Leslie Knope is rolling her eyes!

Correct Answer:
E

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Out of scope. When we're talking percents, the number doesn't matter. An answer like this would only be relevant if the argument itself jumped between percents and numbers.

(B) Premise booster. This answer is trying to get you to think that it says the groups may overlap, by stating that the first issue can lead to the second. But this answer doesn't actually say the former leads to the latter; it says that both issues lead to unsafe houses. Since this answer doesn't point out the overlap, but it tries to make you think it does, it's definitely a tempting trap answer!

(C) Out of scope. The argument isn't about fixing issues, just pointing them out.

(D) Opposite. We care about overlap between houses that have the issues stated, not between the houses that don't have these issues.

(E) Exactly! Some of these houses may have both issues, which would mean we can't just add the two together. It'd be like asking your coworkers how many were wearing a left shoe (let's say 95%) and how many were wearing a right shoe (94% - I'm having fun with these numbers), and concluding that 189% of people are wearing shoes.

Takeaway/Pattern: Whenever the LSAT tries to add different groups, there's a good chance the argument is ignoring potential overlap between the groups.

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