|
|
|
|
LSAT Writing Example
Writing Sample topic taken from the official LSAC site and responded by our experts.
|
| LSAT Practice Tests
Practice LSAT Tests
95th percentile style questions
From $35 | | |
|
Directions: The scenario presented below describes two choices, either one of which can be supported on the basis of the information given. Your essay should consider both choices and argue for one over the other, based on the two specified criteria and the facts provided. There is no “right” or “wrong” choice: a reasonable argument can be made for either.
To support efforts to treat congenital nervous disorders, Lifetime Foundation is funding a two-year grant, for which BioSearch and Hanson Pharmaceutical are the two finalists. Using the facts below, write an essay in which you argue for one company over the other based on the following two criteria:
- The grant money must be used to develop a project that will provide relief to persons currently suffering from these disorders.
- The grant must be awarded to a company that has the financial resources to continue the project after the grant has expired.
BioSearch is a small company with a strong reputation for pure medical research. It has been facing financial difficulty for the last two years. Recently, its scientists developed a chemical compound that can, according to independent researchers, treat certain congenital nervous disorders. The compound may lead to a new family of drugs useful in the treatment of a wide range of these disorders. BioSearch would use part of the grant to hire one of the leading scientists in the field, Dr. Ruth Sherman. Dr. Sherman has identified another funding source that will match Lifetime’s grant, should it be awarded to BioSearch.
Hanson Pharmaceutical is a profitable drug manufacturer. It has recently purchased the rights to a drug that could have immediate application in the treatment of one fairly common congenital nervous disorder. This drug was originally developed by researchers at a medical school. At this time there is no commercially viable method to produce the drug. Hanson would use the grant to help defray the cost of researching such a production method. Hanson has in the past successfully developed streamlined production methods that made certain prescription drugs more affordable.
LSAT Essay
Lifetime Foundation should confidently award its two-year grant to BioSearch. This small, brilliant company has discovered a drug that can not only treat certain congenital nervous disorders but that may lead to a new family of drugs capable of providing relief from a wide range of these disorders.
While Hanson Pharmaceutical is admittedly a financially successful drug manufacturer, it has not proven itself capable of the kind of advanced medical research that Lifetime Foundation clearly wishes to support. The drug that Hanson Pharmaceutical intends to develop with the grant money was discovered not by Hanson Pharmaceutical at all but by medical researchers who have nothing to do with the company. Hanson Pharmaceutical has simply purchased the rights to the drug. That makes it a financially savvy company, not a recognized and esteemed medical research firm, like BioSearch. More serious still, while Hanson Pharmaceutical has a drug in hand that could treat a fairly common congenital nervous disorder, no method yet exists to produce the drug in a way that would be commercially viable. What good is the drug if it can't be manufactured? Finally, Hanson would use Lifetime Foundation's grant money not to conduct medical research at all, but to research production methods, as if it were just another factory. Surely this is not what Lifetime Foundation intended when it offered its grant!
BioSearch, on the other hand, has made a vital medical discovery on its own: it has discovered a chemical that could provide relief for people currently suffering from congenital nervous disorders. The importance of this discovery has been independently confirmed by an objective group of scientists. More significant still, BioSearch is reasonably certain that its chemical compound could lead to a new family of drugs that could be used to treat a wide range of congenital nervous disorders. Finally, while Hanson is admittedly the financially stronger company and would be capable of continuing its research after the grant money runs out, BioSearch has successfully located a donor that would finance the research too after the two-year period of the grant.
While Hanson Pharmaceuticals is a respectable firm, its reputation is strictly confined to the manufacture of drugs. BioSearch discovers new drugs. It is BioSearch therefore that deserves the grant money so that people suffering from the terrible effects of congenital nervous disorders can get the rapid relief they deserve.
|
Go back to LSAT writing sample.
More about the LSAT:
LSAT practice tests
LSAT sample questions
|
Free Practice
Free LSAT TestData Sufficiency TestFree MCAT TestReading Comp. TestCritical Reasoning Test
"It helped improve my logic games techniques."
Steve, LSAT Student, Jan 2011
|