LSAT 111 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q3

LR Question 3 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: More women than men suffer from Alzheimer’s disease…

QUESTION TYPE: Main Conclusion

CONCLUSION: The theory that more women get Alzheimer’s because they live longer may be wrong.

REASONING: It might instead be due to a lack of estrogen due to menopause. Men end up fine because testosterone gets converted to estrogen and men keep a steady supply of testosterone into old age.

ANALYSIS: The argument’s author hedges his bets. New evidence shows that the old theory may be wrong. We don’t know anything for sure.

___________

1. CORRECT. The theory isn’t certain to be wrong but new evidence is compelling. 
2. This is true, but it isn’t the main point. The argument was trying to explain why we get Alzheimer’s.
3. We’re not even sure if this is true. It might be that there has to be some combination of menopause + old age for Alzheimer’s to occur.
4. This is true, but it isn’t the main point. This is just information that supports the idea that the old theory may be wrong.
5. This isn’t even true. Testosterone wouldn’t be necessary if men could be given estrogen, for example.