Point at Issue Question Problem Set

1. Hazel: Faster and more accurate order processing would help our business. To increase profits, we should process orders electronically rather than manually, because customers’ orders will then go directly to all relevant parties.
Max: We would lose money if we started processing orders electronically. Most people prefer to interact with human beings when placing orders. If we switch to electronic order
processing, our business will appear cold and inhuman, and we will attract fewer customers. Hazel and Max disagree over whether
(A) electronic order processing is faster and more
accurate than is manual order processing
(B) faster and more accurate order processing
would be financially beneficial to their
business
(C) switching to electronic order processing would
be financially beneficial to their business
(D) their business has an obligation to be as
profitable as possible
(E) electronic order processing would appear cold
and inhuman to most of their customers
2. Councilperson X: We have an obligation to help ensure that electricity rates are the lowest possible. Since the proposed design for a new generating station would clearly allow for the lowest rates, it must be the design we endorse if we agree that we have no choice but to approve construction of a new plant.
Councilperson Y: Helping to ensure the lowest electricity rates is not the council’s only job; we also have an obligation not to lower the quality of life of our community. A plant of the type specified by the design would damage our community’s air quality to such an
extent that the benefit of lower rates would be outweighed.
Which one of the following is an issue about which
the two councilpersons disagree?
(A) The council should recommend the building of
a new generating station.
(B) It is the council’s responsibility to improve the
community’s quality of life.
(C) A plant of the type specified by the design in
question would damage the air quality of the
community.
(D) If a new generating station is to be built, the
council should endorse a plant of the type
specified by the design in question.
(E) A plant of the type specified by the design in
question would allow for the lowest
electricity rates.

Point at Issue Question Review

Point at Issue stimuli are comprised of two speakers who disagree about an
issue that is generally ethical or decision-oriented in nature, not factual. The
question stem directs you to choose the answer that describes the point of
disagreement between the two speakers, or to identify the statement that the two
speakers would disagree is true.
Point at Issue questions are a variant of Must Be True questions and are part of
the First Family Question type.
Because Point at Issue questions require you to select a specific type of
statement, several unique forms of incorrect answer choices tend to appear in
these problems.
1. Ethical versus Factual Situations
2. Dual Agreement or Dual Disagreement
3. The View of One Speaker is Unknown
Because of the specific nature of the correct answer choice, you can doublecheck
answers by using the Agree/Disagree TestTM:
The correct answer must produce responses where one speaker would
say “I agree, the statement is correct” and the other speaker would say,
“I disagree, the statement is incorrect.” If those two responses are not
produced, then the answer is incorrect.
The Agree/Disagree Test crystallizes the essence of Point at Issue questions by
forcing you to concretely identify the elements that determine the correct
answer.

Incorrect Answers in Point at Issue Questions

Point at Issue stimuli almost always contain two separate arguments. Because you must
assess more than one argument, these questions are generally difficult.
Finding the correct answer in most Point at Issue questions requires you to
examine the conclusion of each speaker. But, because Point at Issue questions
require you to select a specific type of statement, several unique forms of
incorrect answers tend to appear in these problems.
1. Ethical versus Factual Situations
When a stimulus addresses an issue that is ethical in nature, answer
choices that are factual in nature cannot be true. For example, imagine
that two speakers are having a disagreement about whether doctors
should inform their patients of a terminal illness. An answer such as the
following would clearly be incorrect:
Every medical school includes ethics training in their curriculum.
This answer, factual in nature, cannot address the underlying judgment
issues that form an ethical or moral debate.
The reverse is also true: when a stimulus addresses an issue that is
factual in nature, answer choices that are ethical in nature cannot be true.
However, disagreements over facts occur infrequently because they are
generally easy for students to spot. For example, consider the following
abbreviated example:
Damon: World War I began in 1910.
Tania: No, World War I began in 1914.
The gist of a disagreement is clear: did the war begin in 1910 or 1914?
(1914 is correct). In a factual disagreement issue like this example, an
answer choice that addresses an ethical issue (such as “should nations
go to war?”) would be incorrect.
2. Dual Agreement or Dual Disagreement
Often, incorrect answer choices will supply statements that both
speakers will agree with, or that both speakers will disagree with. These
answer choices are typically quite attractive because they raise issues
that are addressed in the stimulus and therefore they require some
analysis. Remember, just because both speakers discuss the issue does
not mean that it is an issue about which the two would disagree.
3. The View of One Speaker is Unknown
Another crafty trick used by the test makers is to create an answer where
the view of only one of the speakers is known. In these instances the
view of the speaker is unknown because the speaker’s comments did not
address the issue in the answer choice. Since the correct answer must
contain a point of disagreement, these “one unknown” answers are
always incorrect since there is no way to determine that the other
speaker disagrees.

Point at Issue Questions

Last but not least, we arrive at Point at Issue questions, the thirteenth and final
question type on the LSAT. Point at Issue stimuli are comprised of two speakers
who disagree about an issue that is generally ethical or decision-oriented in
nature, not factual. The question stem directs you to choose the answer that
describes the point of disagreement between the two speakers, or to identify a
statement that the two speakers would disagree is true.
Point at Issue questions are a variant of Must Be True questions and are part of
the First Family Question type. Like all First Family questions, you can only
use the information in the stimulus to evaluate the answer choices. Accordingly,
the Fact Test applies to Point at Issue questions, with a modification accounting
for the two speaker construction. We will discuss this idea in more detail
momentarily.
The question stem of a Point at Issue question typically refers to a disagreement
or the point at issue between the two speakers.
Question stem examples:
“Which one of the following most accurately expresses the point at issue
between Tom and Mary?”
“Which one of the following most accurately represents what is at issue
between Jorge and Ruth?”
“The dialogue above lends the most support to the claim that Sherrie
and Fran disagree with each other about which one of the following
statements?”
“On the basis of their statement, Logan and Mendez are committed to
disagreeing over whether”