PrepTest 121, Section 1, Question 7
Enthusiasm for the use of calculators in the(73 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(6 more words not shown)
- ASome students who(14 more words not shown)
- BSlide rules, which(18 more words not shown)
- CIt is much(17 more words not shown)
- DHabits that are(17 more words not shown)
- ETeachers' enthusiasm for(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Getting the answer quickly isn't necessarily the same as learning how to get it.
I can see the attraction of calculators. Once a student understands basic arithmetic, tedious calculations might get in the way of studying more advanced ideas. But imagine handing a child a calculator before the child has practiced addition. The device produces answers without requiring the child to do the work that might make the principles stick. That's the concern the author develops.
The passage gives us a reason to favor practice: students are more likely to remember principles when they repeatedly apply them. Does that make restrictions worthwhile? It depends on what we're trying to accomplish. If we cared only about finishing today's assignment easily, calculators could look great. If we care more about what students still understand later, the benefit of practice becomes much more important. We don't have to ban calculators altogether to recognize a reason to limit their use.
What we’re looking for
For a strengthener, I'd want support for that educational priority: lasting knowledge matters enough to outweigh some extra ease in acquiring it. The argument needs a reason to prefer the harder route, not merely another statement that it is harder.
Working the answers
- A
Some students can use calculators and understand the principles thoroughly. That doesn't support restricting calculators. It shows the two abilities can coexist, without telling us how those students learned or whether more practice would improve retention. It also doesn't defeat a limited restriction: such a policy needn't assume that every calculator user fails to understand math.
- B
People used an earlier calculating tool. Was that helpful or harmful? The answer doesn't tell us. Past use of slide rules doesn't establish what calculators do to learning or whether their use deserves limits.
- CCorrect
Remembering the principles matters much more than acquiring them easily. Now the benefit the author attributes to painstaking practice carries more weight than the convenience calculators offer. Students are more likely to retain principles through repeated application, and C tells us why prioritizing that retention is reasonable. That supports restrictions without requiring the claim that calculators have no benefits.
- D
This favors habits learned painlessly over habits learned through tedious practice. The author's case for restrictions relies on a benefit of the more laborious approach. D doesn't help establish the value of taking that approach; it pushes in the other direction.
- E
Teachers can misjudge educational devices generally while being right about calculators in this situation. We need evidence bearing on this device and this proposed restriction. A broad mismatch between enthusiasm and effectiveness doesn't establish the educational priority on which the argument relies.
More Strengthen questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Strengthen questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.