September 2009 LSAT Section 5 Question 20

A recent study confirmed that salt intake tends to increase blood pressure and found that, as a result, people with h...

kens on June 21, 2020

September 2009 SEC 5 Q20

I'm still quite confused with this question. The use of language such as abnormally low in the answer choice as oppose to very low in the passage. Also, the answer suggest that those people with low blood pressure have heightened salt craving and, even when they consume large amounts of salt, can still maintain very low blood pressure? Please help and thanks in advance!

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shunhe on June 28, 2020

Hi @kenken,

Thanks for the question! So here, we can basically assume that abnormally low and very low are synonymous, since they’re used synonymously in real life. To recap this stimulus, we’re told that salt intake tends to increase blood pressure, and people with high blood pressure who cut salt intake have lower blood pressure. But some people with high salt intake have low blood pressure. We’re asked to explain these potentially puzzling results.

Now take a look at (E), which tells us that persons solving from abnormally low blood pressure have heightened salt cravings to make sure their blood pressure doesn’t drop too low. Well, then that would explain why they intake a lot of salt. It’s to make up for their super super low blood pressure, which is possibly brought up to a “very low” blood pressure by their intake of salt. That explains the weirdness of why these people exist, even though this connection between salt and blood pressure has been found. Their blood pressures are still increasing, but from an even lower point. For example, If a normal salt level is 10, these people might normally be a 1, but because of their heightened salt cravings are at a 3.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

tisha212@yahoo.com on August 31, 2020

Thanks for the explanation. I totally get it now.

ohanamgt on April 30, 2021

I still don't get it! :()