Q15 - Sanchez: The sixteen new computers that

[mshinners]

Question Type:
ID the Disagreement

Stimulus Breakdown:
S: Most people think the new computers were more expensive than they were. Therefore, we didn't spend too much.

M: The price was fair, but the school could have bought something less powerful.

Answer Anticipation:
Both agree that they got what they paid for. The disagreement is over whether they spent more than they should have.

Correct answer:
(C)

Answer choice analysis:
(A) Out of scope. Neither clearly states whether the school needed this exact number of machines.

(B) Out of scope. Neither discusses how many computers the school needed.

(C) Boom. Sanchez disagrees ("isn't true that too much was spent") and Merriweather agrees ("much more elaborate than they needed to be.")

(D) Opposite. The two agree the machines were worth the price; they disagree over whether these were the right machines to buy.

(E) Out of scope. Neither has an opinion on this. The closest is S saying that people assume the were more expensive as many assume, but that's different than saying they faced harsh criticism.

Takeaway/Pattern:
Look for the overlap in what the speakers discuss! Also, be careful that you pay attention to what they actually say instead of what you think they'd probably believe.

#officialexplanation

[PierreR118]

I sort of have to scratch my head at why

"It isn't that the school paid more for each computer than it was worth"

can be understood as

"The price was fair."


It doesn't matter in finding the correct answer I think* , so I guess it doesn't matter too much. Anyway, I read it as "paying more for what they're worth is not the issue", so I think we can't know if Merriweather thinks one way or the other on that issue.



*Getting the correct answer I think hinges on understanding that "more elaborate than they needed to be" means "more expensive than they needed to be." We can probably reasonably assume more elaborate computers are expensive.

[GlenH807]

I was debating between C and D and eventually this analogy helped me eliminate D:

Say I bought a $5,000 Diamond Rolex watch for the LSAT. The issue is not whether I "paid more for [the watch] than it was worth" -- the diamond watch could easily worth more than $5,000 -- the issue here is whether I spent more on an LSAT watch than I should have (what answer choice C is essentially saying). Could have bought a $12 dollar Casio watch off Amazon, which I did irl