October 2010 LSAT Section 3 Question 20

When people show signs of having a heart attack an electrocardiograph (EKG) is often used to diagnose their condition...

AllisonJ on July 5, 2020

E v C

I understand answer C, but how can I confidently rule out E. I was between those two but wasn’t’ sure at the moment which one to pick.

Create a free account to read and take part in forum discussions.

Already have an account? log in

Skylar on July 5, 2020

@AllisonJ, happy to help!

(E) "The cardiologist in the study was unrepresentative of cardiologists in general with respect to skill and experience."

The passage tells us that the cardiologist used in the study was "very experienced, highly skilled." Yet the cardiologist was still outperformed by the computer. So, while it is very possibly true that the cardiologist is not representative of all cardiologists in general, that would be because the cardiologist is likely more experienced and skilled. We would not expect cardiologists in general to outperform this skilled and experienced cardiologist, so they would also fail to outperform the computer. Therefore, the outcome of the study does not change, meaning (E) does not weaken the argument and can be eliminated.

Does that make sense? Please let us know if you have any other questions!