June 2013 LSAT Section 1 Question 5

Journalist: A recent study showed that people who drink three cups of decaffeinated coffee per day are twice as likel...

AndrewArabie on April 26, 2023

Answer choice A

I understand we need to make an assumption between exercising and arthritis, but would that not meet the reasonable assumption standard? If I was presented with this question and was pressed for time I would've selected A and moved on thereby getting it wrong. It spoke exactly to my anticipation which was the possibility of a biased sample.

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Emil-Kunkin on April 27, 2023

I would argue that it does come close to the common sense test, but it falls short. I think a reasonable person would agree that heavy, high impact exercise can lead to connective tissue damage. But what about moderate low impact exercise? What about the damage that a sedentary lifestyle can have to connective tissue? I legitimately don't know the answer to those questions and that would make me hesitate. I think a reasonable person could really come down on either side of this question, but ultimately the fact that exercise leads to/prevents arthritis feels a bit outside the bounds of common sense. I would caution when you see an answer like this that feels very close to an unwarranted assumption to read the other answers carefully. C doesn't immediately look right, but it hits at the same flaw you were looking for with A, what if there's some preexisting difference between the two groups and the caffeine actually has zero impact.

AndrewArabie on April 27, 2023

Thank you Emil. I'll do that