PT 53, Dec 07, Sec 1 Q6

[Athery]

Hi Dave!

This is Athery.

I found out I didn't do well on the LSAT last Dec. so I cancelled the test result on the spot. Registered for this June exam, which is coming next Sunday - 6 days left and plenty of questions still puzzle me...

Would really appreciate your help!


Since Jackie is such a big fan of MV’s music, she will probably like TCH’s new album. Like MV, TCH on this album plays complex rock music that employs the acoustic instrumentation and harmonic sophistication of early sixties jazz. TCH also has very witty lyrics full of puns and sardonic humor, like some of MV’s best lyrics.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

(A) Jackie has not previously cared for TCH, but on the new album TCH’s previous musical arranger has been replaced by MV’s musical arranger

(D) All of the music that Jackie prefers to listen to on a regular basis is rock music


My Question:

The answer is (A). However I’m not sure what role the statement “Jackie has not previously cared for TCH” plays. Isn’t it a drawback?

Although the second half of (A) sounds promising, (D) seems safer despite I’m not sure whether there’s a crucial difference between “complex rock music” and “rock music”...

[Dave Lynch]

Hi Athery,

I hope you are happier with your results the next time around...

The conclusion here is that Jackie will probably like TCH’s new album. The argument's logic here is based on an analogy between MV's music and TCH's music. Anything that strengthens the analogy by introducing more ways in which the two are similar will help the argument. That's what choice (A) does. In addition to the type of music, instrumentation, harmonies, and lyrics, we now learn that the musical director is the same.

Choice (D) is not as good for two reasons. First, it has nothing to do with the analogy, so it doesn't really have much of an effect on the internal logic of the argument. Second, there is no reason to think that Jackie likes all rock music or even the majority of it. She might like only 1% of all rock music, but since there is so much rock music, that 1% might be enough to supply all her musical preferences. In that case, it's unlikely that she will enjoy TCH's new album.

[Athery]

Hi Dave,

Thanks so much for your help!

The result was released yesterday and I got 160. It's lower than I expected. I scored an average of 165 out of PrepTest 57-59 in the mocks I self-timed, just days before the real test. I guess it's my anxiety on the real day that caused the poor-performance.

I've used up 2 out of the 3-attempts available for each 2-year duration. Not sure if taking a third test this October would help much, even if I might get 165 out of it - it is said that the schools usually average out all the scores an applicants has, 162.5 would be mine in this case - It still falls within the <158-163> band, which doesn’t make much difference does it?

I am Chinese, currently working as a paralegal in a local law firm in my city. I studied abroad (Singapore, Asia) with 2nd-class honors degree (lower division) in Industrial Engineering. CAP 3.5/5 to be exact. I am not sure how law schools in the States usually convert this CAP to GPA? Will they simply (3.5/5)*4? This simple conversion would be a total disaster to me: it would render me 2.8/4. However "B" stands for 3.0 in the States while it's 3.5 over here. So given an average “B” student in my school, we should look at someone with GPA3.0 as a counterpart in the States, shouldn’t we?

With the uncertainty of the CAP conversion formula each school might use, I am not sure my chance of getting in any schools ranking TOP35. In fact, a future prospect of working in academia is most attractive to me, so is there some criteria besides ranking I should look into? It seems unwise to consider schools solely on the rankings like that given in the US News I guess…

I would love to go to schools in the DC or NY. I'm eyeing on GeorgeWashington Law. It claims that there's no exact cut-off LSAT or GPA points they use. Does that imply I might have a chance? Also, for the 25%tile & 75%tile figures given in US News, should I treat the 25%tile point as the lowest cut-off?

Thank you in advance for your help. I guess it's a little inappropriate for me to raise the above questions in this forum. I should raise it to Professor Krackem in "round table"... the thing is the internet is intermittent when I'm logging on to most US websites, including this one (I'm in China), so I typed everything in advance and copy&paste this whole piece over.. and for this reply alone I tried 5 times.. see if this time I got successful

Athery

[Dave Lynch]

Hi Athery,
I've copied this post over to the Round Table.
Best,
Dave