December 1999 LSAT Section 4 Question 9

Manuscripts written by first–time authors generally do not get serious attention by publishers except when these auth...

#JW on October 14, 2019

Could you please diagram the passage and the associated answer choices?

I used a compound diagram when diagramming the passage, FTA and notC-->notSAP... I got to B through elimination but would like to see how you would diagram each answer choice. Thank you.

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SamA on October 14, 2019

Hey @Jwebb,

I would have diagrammed the passage similarly. Like the passage, each answer choice has a set of rules, followed by a piece of information, followed by a conclusion.

Setup: SAP - - - - - - -> not FTA or C
FTA and not C - - - - - - -> not SAP

In this case, serious attention from publishers required just one of two necessary conditions. Both necessary conditions failed. The correct answer will have the same formula.

I'll go through the answer choices.

A. Very Unpopular Incumbent (VUI), Challenger Win (CW)

W - - - - - - - > VUI
VUI - - - - - - > could CW

Here, the necessary condition is fulfilled, so winning is possible. This doesn't match our passage.

B. Contains Bananas (CB), Boring (B), 2 or more exotic fruits (2EF)

not B - - - - - - -> not CB or 2EF
CB and not 2EF - - - - - - - > B

Do you see how two necessary conditions failed here, mirroring our passage? You did say you were able to choose B as the correct answer.

C. Poorly Attended (PA), Zoning Only (ZO)

ZO - - - - - - - > PA

D. Spouse survives (SS), Estate to Spouse (ES), Estate to Children (EC)
SS - - - - - - - -> ES
not SS - - - - - - > EC

E. 40% Die (40D), Extremely Mild (EM)

not 40D - - - - - - - - > EM
40D - - - - - - - - > not EM