LNAT Science 5

Question 1

A passage describes an experiment where rats given high doses of artificial sweetener developed tumours. The author concludes the sweetener is dangerous for humans. What is the primary weakness of this conclusion?

Accepted Answer

High-dose animal results cannot automatically be extrapolated to typical human consumption levels or human physiology

Answer

Extrapolating from extreme doses in a different species to typical human intake ignores dose-response relationships and interspecies physiological differences.

Question 2

Two scientists analyse the same climate dataset and reach opposite conclusions. Which of the following is the most scientifically sound response to this disagreement?

Accepted Answer

Commission additional independent analyses and examine methodological differences between the two studies

Answer

Scientific disagreement is resolved by further investigation and scrutiny of methodology, not by appealing to authority or convenience.

Question 3

A headline reads: 'Scientists discover gene linked to intelligence.' A critical reader should first ask:

Accepted Answer

What 'linked to' means—association, predictive correlation, or causal mechanism—and how large the effect size is

Answer

Vague causal language like 'linked to' can mean anything from a weak statistical association to a strong causal mechanism; effect size and mechanism are essential to evaluate the claim.

Question 4

A pharmaceutical trial is stopped early because initial results show the drug is highly effective. Critics warn this could overestimate the drug's benefit. Why?

Accepted Answer

Early stopping biases results upward because trials are more likely to be halted during chance positive fluctuations

Answer

Trials stopped at an unusually positive moment tend to capture a peak in natural statistical variation, causing the true effect to be overestimated relative to what a full trial would show.

Question 5

A study finds that teenagers who play violent video games are more aggressive. The researchers controlled for prior aggression levels, age, and gender. A critic argues that more aggressive teenagers may simply prefer violent games. This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Reverse causation as an alternative explanation for the observed correlation

Answer

Reverse causation suggests the effect (aggression) precedes and causes the exposure (game choice) rather than the other way around, which the study design cannot rule out.

LNAT - Law National Aptitude Test Practice Test

LNAT - Law National Aptitude Test Practice Test

LNAT Science 5