Q7 - A typical gasoline-powered lawn

[vincentsallan]

Not sure I get why (C) is wrong and (A) is right. The stimulus says that gasoline mowers emit about the same as an automobile. Not seeing how (A) makes sense unless it's that lawns in and of themselves clean the air (by replacing pollutants with oxygen) by simply existing so the use of gasoline powered mowers cancels that benefit out? I mean I guess you eliminate (C) because it talks about automobiles but I thought since the comparison was made in the stimulus you could equate the two, unless that's wrong.

Thanks.

[noah]

This is an easy one!

Not sure I get why (C) is wrong and (A) is right.

C is the right answer! You must have sped through the answer key.

In case someone else comes looking for an explanation:

The conclusion is that people can reduce air pollution by choosing electric mowers over gas ones.

Why? Because electric mowers don't emit any pollutants while gas-powered ones do.

What's the assumption here? Well, let's get into our debater stance: Sure electric-powered ones emit far less pollutants, but does that mean people switching will have an effect? Maybe the production (and/or transmission) of the electricity to the mower is an issue! Maybe that creates just as much (or even more) pollution. (C) strengthens the argument by preventing this gap from taking down the argument.

(A) is out of scope. Who cares what lawns do?!

(B) is about cost - out of scope.

(D) is about what folks are trying to do - who cares?

(E) is about lawn mowers in general - we're comparing two types. A similar answer to (E) is "Lawn mowers are really loud." Who cares?

[vincentsallan]

I'm staring at my answer key and it still says (A). That's why I posted it. I was so dumbfounded that as to how (A) could be correct. Now I'm starting to second guess some of my other ACs on questions.

For example, my answer key has the answer for #10 as (A) as well but the explanation on this forum gives it as (B). Some appear to be correct others appear to be wrong (ftr, a friend sent me a bunch of PDFs of practice tests). This is the first time I've noticed errors and I'm not sure what to make of it.

On this forum, question 17 is answered as (C) but my answer key gives me (A)

[noah]

If you poke around online you can find some universal answer key to use. Or, even slicker, use the LSAT tracker that you can download here: http://www.manhattanlsat.com/training-center.cfm and enter your answers (after you finish) and we'll score it for you. One nice thing is that we don't show you the right answer so you can retry the question in a more authentic way.

I hope that helps.

[dandrew]

Could B, D and E all weaken the argument?

[noah]

Could B, D and E all weaken the argument?

I don't see how any of those weaken the relationship between the following:

People can reduce air pollution by choosing electric mowers over gas ones.

Why? Because electric mowers don't emit any pollutants while gas-powered ones do.

(B) - how does cost affect whether electric mower emissions mean that we can reduce air pollution by having folks switch to them

(D) - "trying" means these things exist or will exist? No. And, even if gas-powered mowers with lower emissions become a reality, does that mean that electric ones are no longer an improvement in terms of reducing air pollution?

(E) - why does this matter? We're not talking about how this change compares to some other change.

[mornincounselor]

I read the conclusion of this argument as being that "people can help reduce air pollution by choosing electric mowers over gasoline one's whenever feasible."

How does a comparison of air pollution caused my electric mower's in an hour to that caused by automobiles in a hour provide support for our argument?

I confidently eliminated each answer choice multiple times for this question. If the word in the final sentence was "automobiles" instead of "gasoline ones" (meaning mowers) than it would seem to support the conclusion but as it stands I'm not sure how it does, unless the first sentence of the prompt is the conclusion.

[noah]

I read the conclusion of this argument as being that "people can help reduce air pollution by choosing electric mowers over gasoline one's whenever feasible."

How does a comparison of air pollution caused my electric mower's in an hour to that caused by automobiles in a hour provide support for our argument?

I confidently eliminated each answer choice multiple times for this question. If the word in the final sentence was "automobiles" instead of "gasoline ones" (meaning mowers) than it would seem to support the conclusion but as it stands I'm not sure how it does, unless the first sentence of the prompt is the conclusion.

My explanation above cites the same conclusion, so I'm wondering if you didn't read that yet.

Note that you're not asked to support the conclusion, but the argument as a whole.

If your issue is with the inclusion of a reference to cars, that is a bit fishy, as the first line isn't a direct premise. However, the pollution emitted by a car has been established as a benchmark, for gas-powered mowers, and we're talking about reducing air pollution from mowers.