October 2013 LSAT Section 1 Question 10

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tori06koto on November 11, 2020

A vs E

Hello! I was stuck between A and E for this question, and eventually chose E because I thought it was similar in the idea of participating in something in the past that was beneficial to them in the future, and didn’t choose A because the lucky charm was just that—luck. Would it be possible to get an explanation as to why A is correct and not E? Thank you so much!

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Ravi on November 11, 2020

@tori06koto, let's take a look. We have a causal fallacy in this argument. There is a correlation between program use and eventual success. The argument then concludes that the program caused the success. Additionally, there is a sampling fallacy in the argument. Three is too small of a sample to draw any meaningful conclusions from.

E contains a logical force fallacy and a temporal (time-related) fallacy. In order for this to be valid, we could have to learn that everybody who graduates from Perry gets a job to conclude that these three people will get jobs. However, instead, we simply learn that most people last year found jobs. The fallacies in E do not match the fallacies in the stimulus.

A is great because it contains a causal fallacy, as good-luck charms are correlated with winning the lotto. The argument then concludes that one of these caused the other. Additionally, there's a sampling fallacy, as only three people were in the sample. This is a perfect match for the stimulus.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any other questions!