#24 - In university towns, police issue far more parking

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Parallel Flaw—#%. The correct answer choice is (E)

The author of this stimulus makes a very basic mistake with numbers and percentages: Based on the fact that the police in university towns issue the majority of tickets during the school year—far more than they do when students are out of town, the author concludes that university students must therefore receive the majority of citations that are issued:

• Premise: When the students are in town, university police issue far more tickets.
  
  Conclusion: Therefore, students get most of the tickets.

The problem, of course, is that there could be many other factors that lead to the majority of tickets being issued during the school year. There are many reasons that more citations would be issued during the school year (more traffic, more officers, less parking, etc.); more citations may be given out when the students are around, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that students are getting the bulk of the tickets (maybe the tickets are going to school administrators or other staff, parents or other visitors the campus, or vendors coming to the campus).

The question that follows is a Parallel Flaw question, so the correct answer choice will reflect the same logical flaw as that found in the stimulus.

Answer choice (A): This choice provides that as the children represent a greater portion of the movie-going population, concession sales increase, concluding that children buy most of the snacks. This proportionality is not like the flaw in the stimulus, where the author concluded that students get most tickets, because more are issued when they are in town than when they have left town.

Answer choice (B): Since no information is provided about the type of plants, there is no way to know which one should be greener, but this is completely unlike the flaw found in the stimulus and should thus be eliminated from contention.

Answer choice (C): This choice simply says that we know they’re studious, because they study while at university. This is nothing like the numbers-and-percentages related flaw found in the stimulus, so it cannot be the right answer choice.

Answer choice (D): The presence of more varieties of fruit doesn’t necessarily mean that people are buying more fruit, but the flaw in this choice is different from the one in the reasoning of the stimulus.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice: The flawed reasoning in this case is as follows:

• Premise: When other peoples’ kids are around, parents give out more snacks than they normally do.
  
  Conclusion: Therefore other peoples’ kids get most of those snacks.

The flawed reasoning in this answer choice is much like that found in the stimulus: Just because more snacks are given out when other kids are around, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the other peoples’ kids are getting the bulk of those snacks.

[Garrett K]

Hello PowerScore,

I am confused about question 24...

How is E the correct answer? I am pretty bad on these parrall flaw questions and I picked A. I though A was the most similar to the stimulus. Even if I miss these types of questions I can later spot my mistake, but I cannot here.

Thanks,
Garrett

[eober]

Hi,

In this question is the author making an observation based on one sample (university) and applying this to what happens in the general population (town). I don't think I was able to identify the flaw in this question. I would appreciate it if someone could help me with that, thanks!

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi Garrett,

The reasoning is, essentially, "More of something is given out when particular people are present, so most of that thing must be given to those particular people." This is exactly the same logic as we see in E. Essentially, the flaw is that just because more are given out when certain people are around does NOT mean that those people receive most of it. For example, it is possible that more tickets are given out when students are around, but this is because parking spaces are more crowded when students are present and so non-students park in illegal spaces and get tickets. A doesn't follow that same reasoning.

[Emily Haney-Caron]

Hi eober,

The reasoning is, essentially, "More of something is given out when particular people are present, so most of that thing must be given to those particular people." This is exactly the same logic as we see in E. Essentially, the flaw is that just because more are given out when certain people are around does NOT mean that those people receive most of it. For example, it is possible that more tickets are given out when students are around, but this is because parking spaces are more crowded when students are present and so non-students park in illegal spaces and get tickets.

[kfactor901@gmail.com]

I would like more clarification as to how A is incorrect. When I look back at E it makes sense however A still sounds convincing with numbers increasing it doesn't mean that kids buy most of the snacks.

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, Kfactor. Good question. Answer choice A includes an additional flaw: assuming that popcorn sales are directly proportional and analogous to overall snack sales. This "Shell Game" trick is what threw you off. You are otherwise correct that the other flaw is similar. Does this explanation clear up this problem for you?

[kfactor901@gmail.com]

Yes thank you! I guess I just took it a step further and assumed too much.

[NeverMissing]

Hello--I'm back in the forum to prepare for the September LSAT.

Answer choice A is incorrect because it conflates popcorn sales increases with snack sales increases, a "shell game" as explained above. If this shell game flaw was not present, would the answer choice be a correct parallel flaw?

Ex. We know children buy most movie snacks, because snack sales increase when the child to adult proportion of moviegoers increases.

I found this answer attractive at first until I read E, and I think the reason that I found it so attractive is that it would parallel the stimulus were it not for that snack/popcorn incongruity. It would help to know if my my reasoning in assessing this flaw question was...flawed

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Never,

Right, it requires some manipulation since a comparison is being made, but if we remove the proportionality information, answer choice (A) appears as follows:

• Premise: When there are more child moviegoers, popcorn sales increase.
  
  Conclusion: Therefore child moviegoers get most of those popcorn sales.

There's a slight issue with "sales increasing" to "children buying" but for the most part it's similar enough to understand why it stopped you for a bit during the test.

Thanks!