LSAT PrepTest 44 Section 1 Question 6 Explanation | Reading Comprehension

I didn't write the following blog post. It was already on the blog when I took over the URL. The following blog post may contain mistakes. -Steve

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This is a Reading Comprehension (RC) question from the October 2004 LSAT.

This is another evidence question, the last we'll do for a while probably. They seem simple but they can be tricky and it's easy to make mistakes on them. Those are mistakes you can't really afford since you'll need to save those errors for the hardest questions. So, let's make sure we master this common kind of problem.

We can't pre-phrase here so let's just go through the answer choices and look back to the passage whenever needed.

A) Correct. The passage says plan members can use the staff lawyers "or an outside lawyer," (line 8) which is a benefit other than the staff lawyers, as this answer choice says. There isn't a pressing need to go on, and if you're short on time you shouldn't, but we will do so very quickly for practice.

B) Beyond the scope; this is never mentioned in the passage.

C) Wrong for the same reason as C.

D) Wrong for the same reason as B and C.

E) The opposite of what we want. The passage contradicts this answer choice, saying that the plan is for "active and retired autoworkers and their families" (lines 2-3). Maybe the plan is for others too, but the passage never says that, so we have no basis to think E is correct.

Remember:

1) On an evidence question, look back to the passage for evidence to answer a question whenever necessary...there is no point in trying to memorize the passage. Also, don't try to pre-phrase on an open-ended question like this ("what is true"...it could be any number of things).

2) Find answers that are beyond the passage's scope (if the passage never even talks about it, that can't be what the passage said, and that's what this question is asking about) and one's that contradict the passage and are thus the opposite of what we want. Then, eliminate these answer choices. These two common categories can often eliminate all of the wrong answers on an LSAT question, as we've often seen on this blog.