#6 - Michaela: I think doctors who complain about patients

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[ShannonOh22]

Hi there,

Can you please explain why B is a better answer than C on this question? Is it because B specifically mentions a patient doing research on the internet, while C instead discusses "the opinions of doctors published on websites"? The stimulus implies the patient is reading information presumably posted on the internet by doctors or other medical professionals, but it doesn't say this explicitly.

Am I on the right track with why C is wrong?

Thanks!

[Robert Carroll]

Shannon,

One thing to focus on in answer choice (C) is the comparison between doctors of different types. Note that Sam says "How can you maintain that a doctor's opinion is not worth more" than someone who is not a doctor. So Sam isn't interpreting Michaela to be erroneously ranking doctor against doctor, but doctor against patient. That's why (C) is wrong. He thinks she's comparing patient opinion to doctor opinion, not the opinion of a doctor against doctors' opinions from the net.

Robert Carroll

[g_lawyered]

Hi P.S.,
While I did answer this question correctly. I have a question on what question type this is. I see PS Analytics ID this question type as Must be true. Can someone please explain how we conclude that? As this question type wording is different that what I ID a Must be true question to me.
During my PT, I considered it as a method of argument question in prephrasing what did Sam misinterpret Michaela to say? Prephrasing what part of Michaela's argument (her conclusion or evidence) did Sam misinterpret? Is this an incorrect way to solve the question?
Thanks in advance!

[Robert Carroll]

g_lawyered,

The question is asking us to interpret what Sam is actually saying. Thus, it has to be a First Family question: Must Be True, Main Point, Point at Issue/Point of Agreement, Method of Reasoning, Flaw in the Reasoning, or Parallel Reasoning. The only remotely plausible candidates are Must Be True and Method of Reasoning. Our PowerScore materials on Method questions point out that these are just abstract Must Be True questions. At that point, I'm not sure what difference it makes how you identify the question type! Either way, we're looking for what Sam thought Michaela said. There would seem to be no difference in approach for either.

Incidentally, the question does not say that Sam misinterpreted Michaela. You're looking for how he interpreted her remarks, whether he was right or not.

PT40, Section 1, Question 10 is a very similar Must Be True question, although it does explicitly talk in its question about a misinterpretation.

Robert Carroll

[g_lawyered]

Hi Robert,
Thank you for clarifying that. I didn't know method of reasoning questions were abstract MBT questions. In that matter, can we use the strategy, The Fact Test that we use on MBT question, on Method of Reasoning questions then? I want to make sure I'm using the correct strategies for the appropriate question types...

[Robert Carroll]

Absolutely: https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/argume ... questions/

"All Method of Reasoning questions, including Argument Part questions, must meet the Fact Test. "

Robert Carroll

[akreimerman1]

Why is B a better answer than A? By Sam's response to Michaela's argument, isn't it fair to say that he thought she meant that since health information found online is trustworthy, then it would be natural for a patient to want to know what they have?

Thenks!

[akreimerman1]

Thanks!***

[Adam Tyson]

Not necessarily, akreimerman1. His response is based on what he thinks she said about the relative value of the two opinions. If he thought she was saying that the information was trustworthy, he would have responded by challenging that issue more directly, like "how can you say that the information a patient finds on the internet is more reliable than what doctors learn in medical school?"