#16 - Some health officials are concerned about the current sustained increase in reported deaths

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Strengthen - CE. The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[ashpine17]

How do I read A? Are the number of cases actually going up or is only the reports increasing?

[Robert Carroll]

ashpine17,

It's unclear, which is why answer choice (A) is wrong. It's equally compatible with their being more actual cases, which would be bad for the argument, or just more reporting, which would be good for the argument.

Robert Carroll

[askuwheteau@protonmail.com]

I solved this question in under a minute by prephrasing an answer, namely that the correct answer choice would either likely touch upon the follow: Alcoholism death recognition reports by Drs. have increased (like a supporter assumption...in that it says what is/has happened) OR alcoholism has not risen (like a defender assumption...in that is says what something is not).

Is my logic on-point here?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi askuwheteau,

Your prephrases were both solid.

One point that I'd mention is that it's helpful to recognize this as a causal argument, which are quite common in Strengthen (and Weaken) questions.

Here the effect is the increase in reported deaths from alcoholism and the cause (according to the conclusion) is an increase in physicians reporting deaths as alcohol-related.

There are specific ways of strengthening causal arguments, which are listed in "The Logical Reasoning Bible," so knowing these can help focus what your looking for and help you spot it when you see the right answer.

The other point to note is that the LSAT likes to test the difference between reported statistics and actual statistics, and this question is a great example of this distinction. There have been a number of questions that hinge on this idea, reported crime rates versus actual crimes rates, reported death rates versus actual death rates, etc..

[askuwheteau@protonmail.com]

Hello Jeff,

I appreciate the clarification and explanation. I recall encountering an LR question based upon reported vs actual stats in the LR Bible Workbook months ago when I started studying for the LSAT. Thanks for reminding me to be on the lookout for this type of question construct.

Have a great weekend,

Jonathan Sloan