LSAC LSAT-TEST Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

LSAC LSAT-TEST Online Questions & Answers

• Question 631:

  Telephone companies are promoting "voice mail" as an alternative to the answering machine. By recording messages from callers when a subscriber does not have access to his or her telephone, voice mail provides a service similar to that of an answering machine. The companies promoting this service argue that it will soon make answering machines obsolete, since it is much more convenient, more flexible, and less expensive than an answering machine.

  Which one of the following, if true, most calls into question the argument made by the companies promoting voice mail?

  A. Unlike calls made to owners of answering machines, all telephone calls made to voice-mail subscribers are completed, even if the line called is in use at the time of the call.
  B. The surge in sales of answering machines occurred shortly after they were first introduced to the electronics market.
  C. Once a telephone customer decides to subscribe to voice mail, that customer can cancel the service at any time,
  D. Answering machines enable the customer to hear who is calling before the customer decides whether to answer the telephone, a service voice mail does not provide.
  E. The number of messages a telephone answering machine can record is limited by the length of the magnetic tape on which calls are recorded.
  D. Answering machines enable the customer to hear who is calling before the customer decides whether to answer the telephone, a service voice mail does not provide.

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  Certainly the companies promoting voice mail have a vested interest in making it sound as good as possible. Their pitch includes greater convenience, more flexibility, and lower cost than the garden-variety answering machine. One need not jump through hoops to weaken an argument like this--pointing out a factor that the voice mail folks overlook (conveniently, no doubt) that favors the answering machine over voice mail would be enough. The factor in option [Answering machines enable the customer to...] serves perfectly well. A huge benefit of answering machines (as we suspect most of us have discovered by now) is the ability they afford us to "screen" our calls. They weren't invented for that purpose, but people certainly figured out pretty quickly how to use them that way. Option [Answering machines enable the customer to...] therefore cites a function of answering machines that voice mail can't match, and to the extent that that function is desirable (which isn't so hard to imagine), we'd be less likely to believe the prediction that voice mail will render the answering machine obsolete.

• Question 632:

  From among ten stones, a jeweler will select six, one for each of six rings. Of the stones, three -- F, G, and H -- are rubies; three -- J, K, and M -- are sapphires; and four -- W, X, Y, and Z -- are topazes. The selection of stones must meet the

  following restrictions:

  At least two of the topazes are selected.

  If exactly two of the sapphires are selected, exactly one of the rubies is selected.

  If W is selected, neither H nor Z is selected.

  If M is selected, W is also selected.

  If J and M are the only sapphires selected, which one of the following could be true?

  A. F and G are both selected.
  B. F and X are both selected.
  C. G and H are both selected.
  D. G and K are both selected.
  E. Y and Z are both selected.
  B. F and X are both selected.

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  Interestingly--if frustratingly--this last question proves to be one of the most concrete, and hence one of the easiest. We hope that you didn't get bogged down on some of the earlier ones and miss out onthis one. In your roster, select J and M, and cross out K, in line with the question stem's if. Rule 4 requires that you select W, and Rule 3 requires that you cross out H and Z. At the same time, Rule 2 (we use it at last!) kicks in--there will be exactly 1 ruby chosen, and hence 3 sapphires. And with Z gone, those 3sapphires are W, X, and Y. So: J, M, W, X, and Y are definitely chosen, and the final stone will be a ruby, either F or G. Option [F and X are both selected.] is therefore the only possibility among the choices. Option [F and G are both selected.] would stick us with a total of 7 stones. And each of the remaining choices mentions a stone that we have definitively rejected: H in option [G and H are both selected.], K in option [G and K are both selected], and Z in option [Y and Z are both selected].

• Question 633:

  Many educators in Canada and the United States advocate multicultural education as a means of achieving multicultural understanding. There are, however, a variety of proposals as to what multicultural education should consist of. The most modest of these proposals holds that schools and colleges should promote multicultural understanding by teaching about other cultures, teaching which proceeds from within the context of the majority culture. Students should learn about other cultures, proponents claim, but examination of these cultures should operate with the methods, perspectives, and values of the majority culture. These values are typically those of liberalism: democracy, tolerance, and equality of persons.

  Critics of this first proposal have argued that genuine understanding of other cultures is impossible if the study of other cultures is refracted through the distorting lens of the majority culture's perspective. Not all cultures share liberal values. Their value systems have arisen in often radically different social and historical circumstances, and thus, these critics argue, cannot be understood and adequately appreciated if one insists on approaching them solely from within the majority culture's perspective.

  In response to this objection, a second version of multicultural education has developed that differs from the first in holding that multicultural education ought to adopt a neutral stance with respect to the value differences among cultures. The values of one culture should not be standards by which others are judged; each culture should be taken on its own terms. However, the methods of examination, study, and explanation of cultures in this second version of multicultural education are still identifiably Western. They are the methods of anthropology, social psychology, political science, and sociology. They are, that is, methods which derive from the Western scientific perspective and heritage.

  Critics of this second form of multicultural education argue as follows: The Western scientific heritage is founded upon an epistemological system that prizes the objective over the subjective, the logical over the intuitive, and the empirically verifiable over the mystical. The methods of social-scientific examination of cultures are thus already value laden; the choice to examine and understand other cultures by these methods involves a commitment to certain values such as objectivity. Thus, the second version of multicultural education is not essentially different from the first. Scientific discourse has a privileged place in Western cultures, but the discourses of myth, tradition, religion, and mystical insight are often the dominant forms of thought and language of non-Western cultures. To insist on trying to understand nonscientific cultures by the methods of Western science is not only distorting, but is also an expression of an attempt to maintain a Eurocentric cultural chauvinism: the chauvinism of science. According to this objection, it is only by adopting the (often nonscientific) perspectives and methods of the cultures studied that real understanding can be achieved.

  Which one of the following, if true, would provide the strongest objection to the criticism in the passage of the second version of multicultural education?

  A. It is impossible to adopt the perspectives and methods of a culture unless one is a member of that culture.
  B. Many non-Western societies have value systems that are very similar to one another.
  C. Some non-Western societies use their own value system when studying cultures that have different values
  D. Students in Western societies cannot understand their culture's achievements unless such achievements are treated as the subject of Western scientific investigations.
  E. Genuine understanding of another culture is necessary for adequately appreciating that culture.
  A. It is impossible to adopt the perspectives and methods of a culture unless one is a member of that culture.

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  The criticism in the passage that's what the question is asking about ?boils down to the idea that using Western ideas, whether subjective (proposal #1) or "scientific" (proposal #2), to analyze a non-Western culture, must inevitably distort. The critics' solution is to adopt the perspective of the non-Western culture. But that solution is based in the assumption that one can do so. But if one cannot ?if a Westerner cannot escape his or her culture ?then the approach advocated is already doomed to failure, and one would do better to bite the bullet and carry out one of the two proposals.

• Question 634:

  Conflict had existed between Spain and England since the 1570s. England wanted a share of the wealth that Spain had been taking from the lands it had claimed in the Americas. Elizabeth I, Queen of England, encouraged her staunch admiral of the navy, Sir Francis Drake, to raid Spanish ships and towns. Though these raids were on a small scale, Drake achieved dramatic success, adding gold and silver to England's treasury and diminishing Spain's omnipotence. Religious differences also caused conflict between the two countries. Whereas Spain was Roman Catholic, most of England had become Protestant. King Philip II of Spain wanted to claim the throne and make England a Catholic country again. To satisfy his ambition and also to retaliate against England's theft of his gold and silver, King Philip began to build his fleet of warships, the Armada, in January 1586. Philip intended his fleet to be indestructible. In addition to building new warships, he marshaled one hundred and thirty sailing vessels of all types and recruited more than nineteen thousand robust soldiers and eight thousand sailors. Although some of his ships lacked guns and others lacked ammunition, Philip was convinced that his Armada could withstand any battle with England.

  The martial Armada set sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on May 9,1588, but bad weather forced it back to port. The voyage resumed on July 22 after the weather became more stable. The Spanish fleet met the smaller, faster, and more maneuverable English ships in battle off the coast of Plymouth, England, first on July 31 and again on August 2. The two battles left Spain vulnerable, having lost several ships and with its ammunition depleted. On August 7, while the Armada lay at anchor on the French side of the Strait of Dover, England sent eight burning ships into the midst of the Spanish fleet to set it on fire. Blocked on one side, the Spanish ships could only drift away, their crews in panic and disorder. Before the Armada could regroup, the English attacked again on August 8. Although the Spaniards made a valiant effort to fight back, the fleet suffered extensive damage. During the eight hours of battle, the Armada drifted perilously close to the rocky coastline. At the moment when it seemed that the Spanish ships would be driven onto the English shore, the wind shifted, and the Armada drifted out into the North Sea. The Spaniards recognized the superiority of the English fleet and returned home, defeated.

  The _______________ Armada set sail on May 9, 1588.

  A. complete
  B. warlike
  C. independent
  D. isolated
  E. answer not available
  B. warlike

• Question 635:

  In a class, six lectures are scheduled in a day on six different subjects – Physics, Chemistry, History, Language, Mathematics and Geography, not necessarily in this order. The following information is known regarding the schedule: The lecture on Chemistry is scheduled after the lecture on History The lecture on Geography is scheduled after the lecture on Language The lecture on Language is scheduled three slots after the lecture on Physics The lecture on History is either scheduled on the first or the third slot

  Which of the following lectures can be scheduled on the third, fourth and fifth slots?

  A. Physics
  B. Chemistry
  C. Language
  D. Mathematics
  E. Geography
  B. Chemistry

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  Explanation: Looking at all possible scenarios discussed below, we find that Chemistry can be 3rd or 4th (Case I) or 5th (Case II, Scenario A).

  General

  Let us denote the six slots using the numbers 1 through 6 as shown below:

  

  We need to fill in the names of the subjects in each slot depending on the information provided.

  Let us name the subjects Physics, Chemistry, History, Language, Mathematics and Geography as P, C, H, L, M and G.

  Let us look at the information given in the question stem:

  1.

  The lecture on Chemistry is scheduled after the lecture on History:

  The "..." above implies that there could be none or at least 1 subject between H and C.

  2.

  The lecture on Geography is scheduled after the lecture on Language:

  3.

  The lecture on Language is scheduled three slots after the lecture on Physics:

  Thus, from '2' and '3' above:

  4.

  The lecture on History is either scheduled on the first or the third slot:

  

  

  

  

  

  Let us look at possible scenarios from the above conditions: Case I: H is in the 1st slot:

  

  Note: If H is 1st, then P must come 2nd and L must be after two slots, i.e., at slot 5th, else G cannot be accommodated after L.

  Case II: H is in the 3rd slot: Scenario A: P is in the 1st slot:

  

  Note: C and G must follow H and L respectively, so these can be in the 5th or 6th slots. Thus, M must be in the 2nd slot. Scenario B: P is in the 2nd slot:

  

  Note: If P is 2nd, L must be 5th; hence, G must be 6th. Also, since C comes after H, C must be 4th; hence, M must be 1st.

  Thus, we have listed all the possible scenarios above.

• Question 636:

  In the decade from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, large corporations were rocked by mergers, reengineering, and downsizing. These events significantly undermined employees' job security. Surprisingly, however, employees' perception of their own job security hardly changed over that period. Fifty-eight percent of employees surveyed in 1984 and 55 percent surveyed in 1994 stated that their own jobs were very secure.

  Each of the following contributes to an explanation of the surprising survey results described above EXCEPT:

  A. A large number of the people in both surveys work in small companies that were not affected by mergers, reengineering, and downsizing.
  B. Employees who feel secure in their jobs tend to think that the jobs of others are secure.
  C. The corporate downsizing that took place during this period had been widely anticipated for several years before the mid-1980s.
  D. Most of the major downsizing during this period was completed within a year after the first survey.
  E. In the mid-1990s, people were generally more optimistic about their lives, even in the face of hardship, than they were a decade before.
  B. Employees who feel secure in their jobs tend to think that the jobs of others are secure.

  ---

  The question stem tells us that we're looking to explain surprising survey results. This just means that we have to resolve the paradox. So you should have first identified the paradox: even though massive downsizing occurred from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s, which the author tells us undermined employees' job security, results from surveys taken in 1984 and 1994 asking employees about their job security were surprisingly similar. The reason this is surprising is that we would expect the workers in 1994 to feel much less secure, having experienced so many mergers, layoffs, etc. All of the incorrect answer choices will help to explain how the results could be similar. The one that doesn't is option [Employees who feel secure in their jobs...]. How the employees feel about the jobs of others is irrelevant. The argument concerns one's confidence in one's own job security.

• Question 637:

  If something would have been justifiably regretted if it had occurred, then it is something that one should not have desired in the first place. It follows that many forgone pleasures should not have been desired in the first place.

  The conclusion above follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

  A. One should never regret one's pleasures.
  B. Forgone pleasures that were not desired would not have been justifiably regretted.
  C. Everything that one desires and then regrets not having is a forgone pleasure.
  D. Many forgone pleasures would have been justifiably regretted.
  E. Nothing that one should not have desired in the first place fails to be a pleasure.
  D. Many forgone pleasures would have been justifiably regretted.

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  This assumption question is almost formulaic, as long as you don't get bogged down in the abstract wording. The argument is: If you do something that you should regret, then you shouldn't have desired it; therefore, many forgone pleasures should not have been desired to begin with. Both the evidence and conclusion contain "something that should not have been desired in the first place." The term that seems to appear out of nowhere in the conclusion is "forgone pleasures."In order to legitimately link "forgone pleasures" to "not desired in the first place," we need to connect the new term -- "forgone pleasures" -- to the element in the evidence linked to "not desired in the first place": "justifiably regretted." Choice [Many forgone pleasures...] provides this connection. If the wording throws you, think of it in terms of algebraic variables. The argument can be abstracted as follows: If X (justifiably regretted), then Y (should not have been desired). It follows that Z (forgone pleasures) is Y. Well, that works only if we connect Z with X.

• Question 638:

  Philosopher Denise Meyerson views the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) movement as seeking to debunk orthodox legal theory by exposing its contradictions. However, Meyerson argues that CLS proponents tend to see contradictions where none exist, and that CLS overrates the threat that conflict poses to orthodox legal theory.

  According to Meyerson, CLS proponents hold that the existence of conflicting values in the law implies the absence of any uniquely right solution to legal cases. CLS argues that these conflicting values generate equally plausible but opposing answers to any given legal question, and, consequently, that the choice between the conflicting answers must necessarily be arbitrary or irrational. Meyerson denies that the existence of conflicting values makes a case irresolvable, and asserts that at least some such cases can be resolved by ranking the conflicting values. For example, a lawyer's obligation to preserve a client's confidences may entail harming other parties, thus violating moral principle. This conflict can be resolved if it can be shown that in certain cases the professional obligation overrides ordinary moral obligations.

  In addition, says Meyerson, even when the two solutions are equally compelling, it does not follow that the choice between them must be irrational. On the contrary, a solution that is not rationally required need not be unreasonable. Meyerson concurs with another critic that instead of concentrating on the choice between two compelling alternatives, we should rather reflect on the difference between both of these answers on the one hand, and some utterly unreasonable answer on the other ?such as deciding a property dispute on the basis of which claimant is louder. The acknowledgment that conflicting values can exist, then, does not have the far-reaching implications imputed by CLS; even if some answer to a problem is not the only answer, opting for it can still be reasonable.

  Last, Meyerson takes issue with the CLS charge that legal formalism, the belief that there is a quasi-deductive method capable of giving solutions to problems of legal choice, requires objectivism, the belief that the legal process has moral authority. Meyerson claims that showing the law to be unambiguous does not demonstrate its legitimacy: consider a game in which participants compete to steal the item of highest value from a shop; while a person may easily identify the winner in terms of the rules, it does not follow that the person endorses the rules of the game. A CLS scholar might object that legal cases are unlike games, in that one cannot merely apply the rules without appealing to, and therefore endorsing, external considerations of purpose, policy, and value. But Meyerson replies that such considerations may be viewed as part of, not separate from, the rules of the game.

  It can be inferred from the passage that Meyerson would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements about "external considerations" (line 53)?

  A. How one determines the extent to which these considerations are relevant depends on one's degree of belief in the legal process.
  B. The extent to which these considerations are part of the legal process depends on the extent to which the policies and values can be endorsed.
  C. When these considerations have more moral authority than the law, the former should outweigh the latter.
  D. If one uses these considerations in determining a legal solution, one is assuming that the policies and values are desirable.
  E. Whether these considerations are separate from or integral to the legal process is a matter of debate
  E. Whether these considerations are separate from or integral to the legal process is a matter of debate

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  3rd paragraph say that CLS scholars might try to break the analogy between the shoplifting game and legal rules by claiming that it's impossible to form legal rules without making some moral judgments. That is, one has to bring in external considerations. But Meyerson counters that such considerations may be viewed as inherent in the rules of the game; in other words, those considerations may not be "external" after all. Applied back to the world of legal rules, we can therefore infer that Meyerson would find it debatable whether the moral judgments are external to the legal world, as the CLS proponents suggest in their objection.

• Question 639:

  A music store carries exactly ten types of CDs -- both new and used of each of jazz, opera, pop, rap, and soul. The store is having a sale on some of these types of CDs. The following conditions must apply:

  Used pop is on sale; new opera is not.

  If both types of pop are on sale, then all soul is.

  If both types of jazz are on sale, then no rap is.

  If neither type of jazz is on sale, then new pop is.

  If either type of rap is on sale, then no soul is.

  If both types of jazz are on sale, then which one of the following is the minimum number of types of new CDs that could be included in the sale?

  A. one
  B. two
  C. three
  D. four
  E. five
  A. one

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  In this one's sketch we circle both J and j, and keep our attention mostly on the new CDs -- the CAPS, as we've been talking about them. What is the minimum number that must be on sale? Well, new opera isn't (Rule 1), and now we see that new rap isn't either (Rule 3). Let's try crossing out both S and P, and check the rules. No damage! The only new CD that has to be on sale is the one mandated by the question stem.

• Question 640:

  We are in a new industrial revolution that requires management trainees to develop "action learning" from real experience within business and industry, rather than getting tied up with theory and academia. Business schools seem unable, on their own, to tear themselves away from their largely academic roots and move closer to the realities of today's business and industry; too often, trainees in business schools find themselves studying hypothetical cases instead of real ones. Furthermore, business schools have been slow to respond to the needs of business. Therefore, business schools should allow business executives to set curricula for management trainees that could then be taught by academics.

  The argument relies on which one of the following assumptions?

  A. Academics in business schools have no practical business experience that is valuable.
  B. Academics in business schools deal only with hypothetical situations in their business case studies.
  C. Academics are not capable of teaching curricula suitable for relevant management training.
  D. Academic training outside of business schools is more responsive to the needs of business than is training within business schools.
  E. Today's business executives have valuable insight into business that academics in business schools do not have.
  E. Today's business executives have valuable insight into business that academics in business schools do not have.

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  The conclusion, signaled by "Therefore," is that b-schools should allow business executives to set curricula. The evidence is wordy, but boils down to the idea that b-school academics are out of touch with the real world. That's as it may be, but to give over an academic function like curriculum design to a group of outsiders, it has to be true that those outsiders can bring to the task something unique, something that the academic types lack. That's what correct choice [Today's business executives have] states. If this option is false if academics have the same business insights that executives do -- then there's no need to turn curriculum design over to the outsiders.