Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Entry 82: F*ck This Damn LSAT

Test-takers,

This LSAT shenanigannery is getting tough.  My goal of a 180 is most likely nearly impossible.  I'm altering my reasonable expectations for the test to around a 172.  That's a great score, and is still going to be nearly impossible to achieve. 

Instead of daily focus and practice (as recommended by LSAT test masters) for 7+ months, I've mostly just drank a little less and taken half-practice tests while hungover.  I have yet to take a full test under test conditions (no breaks, no food/drink, Nazi-style restrictions on what you can bring, etc.) but I have seen my score climb up a few points each test.  161, 163, 165, 167.   I don't feel like I'm actually getting any better at it, just more lucky. Nothing wrong with Luck, right?  (no smart comments from you, Staycee)

Today I literally cursed out a textbook.  I took a practice section (logical reasoning) and got to a question that was super lame.  In fact, next to it I penciled in "BIGGEST BS E.V.E.R."  I'm not kidding, either.

$10 to the person who can give the right answer and explain clearly why it is the right answer:

Certain instruments used in veterinary surgery can be made either of stainless steel or of nylon.  In a study of such instruments, 50 complete sterilizations of a set of nylon instruments required 3.4 times the amount of energy used to manufacture that set of instruments, whereas 50 complete sterilizations of a set of stainless steel instruments required 2.1 times the amount of energy required to manufacture that set of instruments.

If the statements above are true, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

(A) The 50 complete sterilizations of the nylon instruments used more energy than did the 50 complete sterilizations of the stainless steel instruments.


(B) More energy was required for each complete sterilization of the nylon instruments than was required to manufacture the nylon instruments.


(C) More nylon instruments than stainless steel instruments were sterilized in the study.


(D) More energy was used to produce the stainless steel instruments than was used to produce nylon instruments.


(E) The total cost of 50 complete sterilizations of the stainless steel instruments was greater than the cost of manufacturing the stainless steel instruments.

Biggest.  BS.  Ever. 

Caleb

8 comments:

  1. I reckon B cannot be true because the opening statements imply that one sterilization would take 3.4/50=0.068 times the energy required for manufacturing. A and C and D are deliberately ambiguous so could go either way, and E sounds like it would always be true.

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  2. Okay, I'm probably going to look like the biggest idiot ever, but the only answer that logically (at least to me) seems false is C. C is the only statement that doesn't seem as if it "COULD" be true.

    The paragraph clearly states 50 complete sets of nylon and 50 complete sets of stainless steel instruments.

    Like I said, I'm probably wrong but that's my guess.

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  3. I'm wrong. I wasn't looking at the math because I was looking at the wording only. Which was silly because there's no indication of what even amounts in the 2 types of full sets.

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  4. I'll tell you the answer after you give me my $10.

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  5. ummm ya, What Matt79 said.

    BIGGEST BS EVER!!!
    Who even cares?

    But A is the correct answer, simply cos it states the fact of what the question is....

    I think that made sense? In my head it did anyways.

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  6. I hate word problems.

    But I love lamp.

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  7. Matt, you are correct. Nice work. After chewing on this one for a day or two I see what the heck it's talking about. However, the wording was very confusing and it's easy to read it differently- or understand "each". In fairness, most LSAT questions are much less of a pain in the butt (though not any easier). There were a few other questions in this particular section that I thought were BS, so my frustration was probably cumulative.

    I think it's from an older style test, too.

    JS- you're right in that answer A is true. But the question is which must NOT be true. They like to get all crazy like that with their questions.

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  8. I was that kid at school who was annoyingly good at stuff like this. However, I'm currently finding real life to be far harder work, so I guess it balances out.

    I'm happy to donate my $10 prize to your sponsored skydive!

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