# 7 - Because people are generally better at detecting

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Parallel Reasoning—Principle. The correct answer choice is (D)

The principle in the stimulus is clearly stated: “one should always have one’s own work checked by
someone else.” Your task is to find the answer that most closely follows that guideline.

Answer choice (A): This answer choice does not contain any work to be checked, and therefore it
cannot illustrate the principle in the stimulus.

Answer choice (B): Although this answer discusses “one’s view,” a view is not the same as “one’s
own work” and therefore the principle cannot be applied to this answer.

Answer choice (C): Although this answer involves the checking of work (juries “check” the work of
lawyers), the heart of this answer is not that one should have one’s own worked checked by others.
Rather, this answer focuses on who is in the best position to do the checking: experts or novices.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer. The answer matches the principle by stating that a
writer should have his or her work proofread by others, and then further provides a justification that
matches the premise in the stimulus (that other people are better at detecting errors).

Answer choice (E): Ordering a meal does not qualify as “one’s own work,” nor does eating the meal
qualify as checking the work. Hence, this answer has no attribute that illustrates the principle.

[Jay]

Hello.

Whenever I see a scope indicator, such as "generally" in this case, I always circle them and pay close attention to. In this case, although I felt like (D) was the correct answer, I spent so much time thinking about the word "generally" that I ended up choosing (B) because (B) has the word "generally". How do I know when to not worry about the scope change? I thought the word "generally" means "mostly" (51~99%). So, I thought any answer choice that does not conform to this scope(51~99%) would be wrong. (B) had the word "generally" which is the same thing as "mostly", while (D) didn't, so I was thrown off. Please help!

[Adam Tyson]

Hey Jay, thanks for the question! Generally speaking, I suggest NOT taking notes in LR stimuli, and not getting too fixated on particular words. That can lead to a lot of wasted time and focuses your attention on the wrong things. But you are right to pay attention to indications of certainty vs probability vs possibility, so you weren't at all foolish to be concerned about that "generally" issue.

The key in this case is to realize that we are looking for an answer that illustrates a principle. That means we want to see the rule, or guideline, being applied or activated in some way. Here, while the principle is based on the claim that something generally happens, the principle itself is NOT a "generally" principle - it's a 100% certain principle (one should always do something). So we need to see that 100% guaranteed rule being applied - someone getting their work checked by someone else to avoid mistakes.

Pay close attention to what the question is asking of you, and don't get too hung up on things in the stimulus that are NOT at the heart of what the question is asking of you. That's generally a good idea and the path to success on the LSAT!