PrepTest 102, Section 4, Question 16
Essayist: Wisdom and intelligence are desirable qualities.(38 more words not shown)
If the essayist's statements are(10 more words not shown)
- AMost people are(4 more words not shown)
- BMost people are(4 more words not shown)
- CNo one is(4 more words not shown)
- DNo one is(4 more words not shown)
- EMany people are(5 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
I can picture an intelligent person who lacks good practical judgment. I can also picture someone with useful life wisdom who isn't especially strong at abstract problem-solving. Those examples help separate the two qualities; they don't define the terms for everyone.
The essayist says having one quality doesn't imply having the other. Then comes a narrower personal observation: the people the essayist meets have one or the other, but not both. That doesn't establish what all people are like. Someone outside that social circle could have both qualities, even if the essayist has never encountered such a person.
What we’re looking for
We're looking for the statement that cannot be true. That is different from finding something we can't prove. The choices may describe the broader population, about which the essayist knows relatively little. Unless a claim conflicts with the statements, it can remain a possibility. We should use the people the essayist has actually met as evidence without treating them as a complete census.
Working the answers
- A
Most people could have neither quality while the essayist happens to meet people who have one. The observation about a limited group doesn't establish that group represents most people. A may not be proved, but it isn't contradicted.
- B
Most people could have both qualities, even though none of the people this essayist meets do. Perhaps the essayist's experience is unusual. Having one quality doesn't guarantee the other, but that still allows many people to possess both. B remains possible.
- C
Nobody having both qualities is compatible with the essayist's experience. Every person with either quality could have just that one. We don't know that this universal claim is true, but the passage gives us no person who disproves it.
- DCorrect
This says nobody has either quality at all: nobody is wise, and nobody is intelligent. But the essayist reports meeting people who have one of those qualities. Even one such person contradicts D.
Don't confuse this with C. “No one has both” allows a wise person without intelligence or an intelligent person without wisdom. “No one has either” rules out both kinds of people. The personal examples support the existence of at least one quality in real people, which is enough to defeat D.
- E
Many people could be intelligent without being wise. That fits the separation between the qualities and the type of person described in the essayist's experience. We aren't told how many such people exist, so “many” isn't guaranteed. But the question only needs it to be possible, and nothing rules it out.
More Must Be True questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Must Be True questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.