LSAT and Law School Admissions Forum

Get expert LSAT preparation and law school admissions advice from PowerScore Test Preparation.

 Administrator
PowerScore Staff
  • PowerScore Staff
  • Posts: 8917
  • Joined: Feb 02, 2011
|
#36629
Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (B)

Both a genetic profile and a brain’s functional magnetic resonance image, or fMRI, can contain a
patient’s private information. They are distinguishable, however: while a genetic profile requires a
label to be linked with a particular patient, an fMRI provides enough information about a person’s
skull to create an image of the person’s face—meaning that the patient could then be identified
based on the image alone (not requiring the type of labeling that would need to accompany a
genetic profile for such identification). This is a vital distinction, of course, in the context of private
information.

The stimulus is followed by a Must Be True question, which means that the right answer choice
will pass the Fact Test, and thus will be able to be confirmed by the information presented in the
stimulus.

Answer choice (A): Although the author points out that fMRIs can be linked to patients without
additional records or labels, this is not the same as claiming that such labeling is not important.

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. The main point of distinction between a
genetic profile and an fMRI, as provided by the stimulus, is that a genetic profile requires labeling
to be linked to a particular patient, while the fMRI provides enough information that a patient could
be identified without such additional labels or records. This leaves the potential for an fMRI to
compromise patient privacy, as provided by this answer choice.

Answer choice (C): The author does not discuss the degree of certainty that patients can have
regarding the privacy of their genetic profile. Since this answer choice cannot be confirmed by the
information provided in the stimulus, it should be eliminated from contention.

Answer choice (D): The stimulus does not provide a detailed breakdown of the information
contained in a genetic profile versus that contained in an fMRI, so there is no way to assess whether
such overlap in information exists.

Answer choice (E): Although the author points out that an fMRI could be linked to a patient without
any labels or records, there is no discussion about patients’ specific degree of concern in response to
the various threats to privacy. Since this choice does not pass the Fact Test, it cannot be the correct
answer choice to this Must Be True question.

Get the most out of your LSAT Prep Plus subscription.

Analyze and track your performance with our Testing and Analytics Package.