LSAT Diagnostic Questions

Doctor: It would benefit public health if junk food were taxed. Not only in this country but in many other countries as well, the excessive proportion of junk food in people's diets contributes to many common and serious health problems. If junk food were much more expensive than healthful food, people would be encouraged to make dietary changes that would reduce these problems.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion drawn in the doctor's argument?

Some people believe that advertising is socially pernicious- it changes consumers' preferences, thereby manipulating people into wanting things they would not otherwise want. However, classes in music and art appreciation change people's preferences for various forms of art and music, and there is nothing wrong with these classes. Therefore, _________________

All people prefer colors that they can distinguish easily to colors that they have difficulty distinguishing. Infants can easily distinguish bright colors but, unlike adults, have difficulty distinguishing subtle shades. A brightly colored toy for infants sells better than the same toy in subtle shades at the same price.

Which one of the following conclusions is most strongly supported by the information in the passage?

Professor: A guest speaker recently delivered a talk entitled “The Functions of Democratic Governments” to a Political Ideologies class at this university. The talk was carefully researched and theoretical in nature. But two students who disagreed with the theory hurled vicious taunts at the speaker. Several others applauded their attempt to humiliate the speaker. This incident shows that universities these days do not foster fair-minded and tolerant intellectual debate.

The professor’s reasoning is flawed in that it

Depression is a serious problem for residents of nursing homes.

However, a recent study has found that residents who developed personal bonds with pets had significantly lower rates of depression than did residents who did not develop personal bonds with pets.

Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by the information above?

Essayist: If Earth's population continues to grow geometrically, then in a few centuries there will be ten people for every square meter (approximately one person per square foot) of Earth's surface. Some people have claimed that this will probably not be a problem, since humans will have learned by then how to colonize other planets. This would, however, be a temporary solution at best: if the population continues to double every 30 years, and if in the year 2500 half of Earth's population emigrated to Mars, then by the year 2530 Earth would be just as crowded as it had been before the emigration.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion drawn in the essayist's argument?

Some heartburn-medication advertisements imply that unrelieved heartburn is likely to cause esophageal cancer. This is simply false. The fact is that only about 5 percent of people with severe heartburn have a condition called Barrett's esophagus, in which cells similar to those in the stomach's lining develop in the lower esophagus. Only these people have an increased risk of developing cancer because of heartburn.

"Which one of the following most accurately expresses the overall conclusion drawn in the argument?"

Researchers had three groups of professional cyclists cycle for one hour at different levels of intensity. Members of groups A, B, and C cycled at rates that sustained, for an hour, pulses of about 60 percent, 70 percent, and 85 percent, respectively, of the recommended maximum pulse rate for recreational cyclists. Most members of Group A reported being less depressed and angry afterward. Most members of Group B did not report these benefits. Most members of Group C reported feeling worse in these respects than before the exercise.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

A species of foxes was eliminated from an island ecosystem in order to protect a species of ground-nesting birds that the foxes preyed upon. The  bird population declined even further after the foxes disappeared.

Which of the following, if true, most helps explain the decline?

One way to furnish a living room is with modular furniture. Instead of buying a standard sofa, for example, one can buy a left end, a right end, and a middle piece that can be completed to create an L-shaped sofa. Modular furniture, however, is far more expensive than standard furniture. On average, a three-piece modular sofa costs almost twice as much as a standard sofa of comparable size and quality.

Each of the following, if true, helps to account for the greater cost of modular furniture EXCEPT:

Detective Alvarez: Suspect 1 is probably the murderer. He was the only suspect found carrying a knife shortly after the murder, and the victim appeared to have stab wounds.

 Detective Chen: The forensic report now confirms that the victim was not stabbed at all, but was killed by blunt-force trauma. Therefore, Suspect 1 cannot be the murderer.

 Detective Chen’s reasoning is flawed because it

Syndicated political columnists often use their newspaper columns to try to persuade readers to vote a certain way. However, their efforts to persuade voters rarely succeed, for by the time such a column appears, nearly all who will vote in the election will have already made a decision about which candidate to vote for.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

Union member: Some members of our labor union are calling for an immediate strike. But a strike would cut into our strike fund and would in addition lead to a steep fine, causing us to suffer a major financial loss. Therefore, we must not strike now.

The union member’s argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it