Logic Reasoning
Hernandez: Celebrities' public pronouncements can warp a debate because people grant more weight to celebrities' opinions than to ordinary people's. For that reason, celebrities should avoid talking publicly about controversial issues on which they have no expertise.
Liu: But celebrities are full members of their communities. It is not their fault if people give their opinions more credence than they should. So it is absurd that they should not feel free to join controversial debates.
Hernandez and Liu disagree with each other about which one of the following?
A. People grant more weight to celebrities' opinions than to ordinary people's.
B. Celebrities should avoid talking publicly about controversial issues on which they have no expertise.
C. Celebrities' pronouncements on controversial issues can warp debates on those issues.
D. The public should disregard what celebrities say about controversial issues.
E. Celebrities are responsible for the fact that people give their opinions more credence than they should.
B. Celebrities should avoid talking publicly about controversial issues on which they have no expertise.
Hernandez would say yes and Liu would disagree with this statement.
Bovine remains found in a certain region of Africa date back to a time when the climate was arid. While there were people in the region at this time, there were no other large mammals there. Any natural sources of water available to these bovines would have brought other large mammals to the area. Thus, these bovines had been domesticated and the people living in the region were no longer exclusively hunter-gatherers.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. Unless they are domesticated, bovines are unlikely to exist in a region where there are no natural sources of water available to them.
B. Domesticating animals is one of the first practices that a society must adopt in order to change from hunting and gathering to agriculture.
C. With the help of humans, other large mammals would have been able to inhabit this arid region.
D. No human culture obtains food both through agriculture and through hunting and gathering.
E. Domesticated animals of a given size do not need as much water as do wild animals of comparable size.
A. Unless they are domesticated, bovines are unlikely to exist in a region where there are no natural sources of water available to them.
If bovines can exist non-domesticated without natural sources of water, then the author wouldn’t be able to conclude that the bovines were domesticated on the basis of there not having been natural sources of water.
Researchers gave each of eighteen subjects a playing card, then offered them money to lie to a computer about the identity of the card while undergoing a scan by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). When subjects lied, the scans revealed increased activity in several regions of the brain known to be stimulated by stress. This supports the idea that fMRI can eventually form the basis of an effective lie detector.
Which one of the following would, if true, most weaken the argument above?
A. Existing methods of lie detection, including the polygraph, have not been shown to be reliable.
B. The majority of people regard lying in an experimental situation as unethical.
C. The amount of stress that accompanies lying varies widely from person to person and is also affected by the circumstances in which the lie is told.
D. Telling a carefully planned lie causes less stress than telling a lie spontaneously.
E. Stress reactions in the brains of subjects who are being truthful are similar to those that occur in the brains of subjects who are lying.
E. Stress reactions in the brains of subjects who are being truthful are similar to those that occur in the brains of subjects who are lying.
In other words, an fMRI result isn't a useful way to determine who's lying and who isn't; the stress result doesn't actually correlate with lying. This breaks the link between lying and fMRI results, which dramatically weakens the argument.
Cerrato: Economists argue both that the higher turnover rate of part-time workers shows them to be much more likely to be dissatisfied with their jobs than full-time workers are and that lower-paid, part-time workers threaten to take jobs from full-time employees. But because job efficiency is positively correlated with job satisfaction, companies are unlikely to replace satisfied employees with dissatisfied ones. Therefore, _______.
Which one of the following most logically completes Cerrato's argument?
A. full-time workers are likely to lose jobs to part-time workers
B. the companies earning the greatest profits tend to be those that pay their workers the highest wages
C. dissatisfied part-time workers are unlikely to threaten the jobs of full-time workers
D. the higher turnover rate of part-time workers is only partly caused by their greater job dissatisfaction
E. companies generally hire part-time workers only when they are unable to hire full-time ones
C. dissatisfied part-time workers are unlikely to threaten the jobs of full-time workers
Cerrato uses the economists’ claim regarding part-time workers being more likely to be dissatisfied to suggest that part-time workers are not a threat to full-time workers.
What does LSAT stand for?
Law School Admission Test.
Columnist: The dangers of drinking are greatly exaggerated in the medical press. We are always hearing about the extent to which alcohol can shorten one's life, but my grandfather drank heavily his entire life and lived to be 95.
The reasoning in the columnist's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument
A. does not address moral objections to alcohol consumption
B. fails to consider factors other than alcohol consumption that can shorten one's life
C. only addresses the length of a life, and not the quality of that life
D. confuses the cause of a phenomenon with an effect of that phenomenon
E. relies merely on anecdotal evidence to challenge a general claim
E. relies merely on anecdotal evidence to challenge a general claim
The argument is solely relying on anecdotal evidence of his grandfather. Using the anecdotal evidence to challenge the claim that alcohol shortens one’s life.
The chorus in a play, like a narrator in a novel, introduces a point of view not tied to any of the characters, and both chorus and narrator allow the author to comment on the characters' actions and to introduce information about the context in which these actions take place. However, since the information introduced by the chorus in a play is sometimes not consistent with the rest of the information in the play, the chorus in a play is not equivalent to the narrator in a novel.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. The narrator in a novel is never deceptive.
B. The voice of a narrator is sometimes necessary in plays that employ a chorus.
C. Information necessary for the audience to understand events in a play is sometimes introduced by the chorus.
D. Information introduced by a narrator in a novel can never be inconsistent with the rest of the information in the novel.
E. Authors sometimes use choruses in plays to mislead audiences about events in the plays.
D. Information introduced by a narrator in a novel can never be inconsistent with the rest of the information in the novel.
This is both sufficient and necessary. It bridges us from the premise (the chorus sometimes introduces inconsistent information) to the conclusion (the chorus and narrator are not equivalent). This requires knowing that the narrator won’t introduce inconsistent information.
Researcher: In a recent study of elementary school computers, we found that all keyboards and most monitors were positioned higher than recommended for children. Consequently, children were seated in ways that encouraged craned necks, awkwardly placed wrists, and other unhealthy postures. Evidently, most elementary school computers are installed without consideration of their effect on posture, and thus put children at the same risk for repetitive stress injuries as office workers.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the researcher's argument?
A. The recommended height for computers is different for children than for adults.
B. Children spend more time working with computers at home than at school.
C. The greater suppleness of children's bodies makes them less susceptible than adults to repetitive stress injuries.
D. Office workers' keyboards and monitors are usually not at the recommended heights for healthy postures for adults.
E. Office workers are more likely to report injuries than children are.
C. The greater suppleness of children's bodies makes them less susceptible than adults to repetitive stress injuries.
This directly calls out a key assumption in the argument: that the difference between children and adults is negligible. This undermines the argument by suggesting that, even with poor posture, children are less likely to experience the same risks as office workers.
Scientists found the remains of several species of mites trapped in rocks in a high-altitude cave. Radioactive dating shows that the mites were trapped about 2,000 years ago. The mite species in the rocks no longer live in the vicinity of the cave, but they are found a few miles away in a cooler area. Therefore, the area around the cave was probably cooler 2,000 years ago, since _______.
The conclusion of the argument is most strongly supported if which one of the following completes the passage?
A. the mite species found in the rocks can only survive in very specific climates
B. the cooler area a few miles away from the cave also has a somewhat wetter climate
C. the mite species that were trapped in the rocks did not live in the vicinity of the cave much earlier than 2,000 years ago
D. the mite species found in the rocks only live at high altitudes
E. there are fewer mite species living in the vicinity of the cave today than there were 2,000 years ago
A. the mite species found in the rocks can only survive in very specific climates
This is exactly the support we're looking for. We know that the mites can live in the cooler nearby area, meaning that area meets their specific requirements. With that, we can support the conclusion that for the mites to have lived in the cave, it was likely cooler.
How much is the registration fee for the LSAT?
$248 per test
Prominent government officials have denied that their policies have produced serious environmental degradation. But the facts show otherwise. Last year, at the urging of certain mining companies, the government repealed a long-standing provision prohibiting the dumping of mining wastes into streams. Since that time, hundreds of miles of vital streams have been buried under bulldozed mining wastes.
The argument relies on which one of the following assumptions?
A. Without the urging of certain mining companies, the government would not have lifted the ban on dumping mining wastes into streams.
B. The prominent government officials who deny that government policies have produced serious environmental degradation do not really believe what they are claiming.
C. The mining companies that urged repeal of the ban on dumping mining wastes in streams were among those that buried hundreds of miles of streams under mining wastes.
D. The government is generally more responsive to pressures from the mining industry than from environmentalists.
E. If the ban on dumping mining wastes in streams had not been repealed, considerably less mining waste would have found its way into streams.
E. If the ban on dumping mining wastes in streams had not been repealed, considerably less mining waste would have found its way into streams.
In other words, lifting the ban actually caused an increase in dumping. If we didn't make this assumption, the argument would fall apart, if the mining companies were dumping waste anyway, then repealing the ban couldn't be said to make a difference. That's what makes this a necessary assumption.
Medical researcher: A new screening test detects certain polyps at such an early stage that it is generally unclear whether the polyps are malignant. But the risk that a polyp might be malignant leads doctors, in most cases, to have such polyps surgically removed, which is a dangerous process. Yet some of those polyps turn out not to be malignant. Thus, the new screening test can prompt dangerous operations that actually are not medically necessary.
Which one of the following is an assumption that the medical researcher's argument requires?
A. A surgical operation that is dangerous is ethically justified only for treating a medical condition that is more dangerous.
B. Surgical removal of nonmalignant polyps detected by the new screening test is not always medically necessary.
C. If the new screening test encourages medically unnecessary operations, then probably it either should not be used or its use should be modified.
D. A polyp detected by the new screening test should be surgically removed if it is malignant.
E. The screening test is medically useful only when it detects a polyp that requires treatment.
B. Surgical removal of nonmalignant polyps detected by the new screening test is not always medically necessary.
This is needed to bridge the premises to the conclusion. We know that removing polyps is dangerous and that some polyps end up being non-malignant — but we need information about what is considered medically necessary to properly reach the conclusion.
Psychologist: We measured the "cognitive plasticity," or the willingness to accept new ideas, of a group of people of both genders and of all ages. The first-born children in the study consistently exhibited less cognitive plasticity than did their siblings. It is reasonable to think that those who are open to new ideas will be adventurous in other ways. Hence, our study suggests that siblings of first-born children will tend to be more adventurous than will the first-borns.
Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the psychologist's argument?
A. Some of the great creative geniuses in history were first-born children.
B. In most cases, the more younger siblings one has, the greater one's cognitive plasticity.
C. Other studies have shown a correlation between cognitive plasticity and the willingness to take risks.
D. A study of business executives shows that several industry leaders have older siblings.
E. Most of the participants in the study had characterized themselves as more adaptable than other people.
C. Other studies have shown a correlation between cognitive plasticity and the willingness to take risks.
If cognitive plasticity correlates with risk-taking, it becomes more plausible that birth order correlates with adventurousness. This is because birth order now correlates with risk-taking, which causes one to be adventurous.
A recent study found that most individuals believe that they sleep less than most other people. However, it is obviously not possible that most people sleep less than most other people. Therefore, _______.
Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?
A. some people believe things that could not possibly be true even in principle
B. most people are not aware of how much they sleep
C. most people underestimate how much they sleep in comparison to others
D. most people think that they do not sleep as much as they should
E. some people incorrectly believe that they sleep less than most other people
E. some people incorrectly believe that they sleep less than most other people
Recall the sleep deprivation contest. In our world of 100 people, 51 of them think they are in the top 50 when it comes to sleep deprivation. But it’s impossible for 51 people to be in the top 50 because of how numbers work. So some of those people are mistaken.
What are the sections included in the LSAT?
four 35 minute, multiple choice sections. # scored and one unsecured (Logical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension), plus a writing sample that does NOT affect your grade
Ross: Many governments have attempted to regulate strictly or even outlaw theater because of its subversive power. Such strategies have rarely succeeded, probably because people strongly desire theater for entertainment and dramatists always find subtle ways to criticize authorities who treat them harshly. Thus, since dramatists will not criticize governments of which they are honored employees, an effective strategy for controlling theater and satisfying the public is to make dramatists and performers honored employees of the government.
Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken Ross's argument?
A. Few governments are willing to shoulder the expense of employing dramatists and performers.
B. Even when completely unregulated, theater rarely leads to the overthrow of a government.
C. Some dramatists criticize their governments even though those governments do not treat them harshly.
D. Most theatrical productions neither criticize government nor support it.
E. The public generally dislikes plays written or performed by government employees.
E. The public generally dislikes plays written or performed by government employees.
This weakens the argument by providing a reason the author's strategy might not satisfy the public's demand for entertainment. Remember, the author's conclusion asserts that making playwrights employees of the government would satisfy the public. But if the public actually dislikes plays written or performed by government employees, that's strong reason to think the author's strategy will fail to achieve that purpose.
The more profitable a corporation is, the more valuable its managers' time is. As a result, it is especially costly for highly profitable corporations to have their managers spend time monitoring employees. Such corporations can save money by reducing this monitoring, as long as the employees are given strong incentives to keep working hard. So highly profitable corporations can save money by giving their employees expensive bonuses.
The argument requires the assumption that
A. only a few corporations give their employees bonuses that provide strong enough incentives for the employees to keep working hard even when they are not being monitored
B. if a highly profitable corporation could save money by giving its employees expensive bonuses, it is because giving such bonuses would reduce the amount of time its managers must spend monitoring those employees
C. the more valuable the managers' time is at a corporation, the less likely it is that the corporation will actually have those managers spend time monitoring employees
D. for people who are employees of highly profitable corporations where monitoring is reduced, expensive bonuses constitute strong incentives to keep working hard
E. a highly profitable corporation can save money by reducing its managers' monitoring of employees only if its employees are given expensive bonuses
D. for people who are employees of highly profitable corporations where monitoring is reduced, expensive bonuses constitute strong incentives to keep working hard
This is one of the implicit assumptions in the stimulus. If expensive bonuses weren’t an incentive to keep working hard, then they wouldn’t be able to replace monitoring, and wouldn’t offer an opportunity for the company to save money.
Psychologist: Most people's blood pressure rises when they talk. But extroverted people experience milder surges when they speak than do introverted people, for whom speaking is more stressful. This suggests that the increases result from the psychological stress of communicating rather than from the physical exertion of speech production.
Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the psychologist's argument?
A. Medications designed to lower blood pressure do not keep the people who take them from experiencing blood-pressure fluctuations when speaking.
B. In general, the lower one's typical blood pressure, the more one's blood pressure will increase under stress.
C. Introverted people who do not have chronically high blood pressure often sense the rises in blood pressure that occur when they speak in conversation.
D. Deaf people experience increased blood pressure when they sign, but no change when they move their hands for other reasons.
E. Extroverted people are more likely to have chronically high blood pressure than are introverted people and are more likely to take medication to lower their blood pressure.
D. Deaf people experience increased blood pressure when they sign, but no change when they move their hands for other reasons.
This suggests that physical exertion isn’t causing the blood pressure increase. Since deaf people’s blood pressure rises when they communicate through sign language, but not when they move their hands, it suggests the increase is due to communication, not physical movement.
Most of the members of Bargaining Unit Number 17 of the government employees' union are computer programmers. Thus it is certain that some of the government employees who work in the Hanson Building are computer programmers, since _______.
The conclusion of the argument follows logically if which one of the following completes the passage?
A. most of the government employees who belong to Bargaining Unit Number 17 but are not computer programmers work in the Hanson Building
B. most members of the executive committee of Bargaining Unit Number 17 work in the Hanson Building
C. most of the government employees who work in the Hanson Building are members of Bargaining Unit Number 17
D. most of the members of Bargaining Unit Number 17 work in the Hanson Building
E. most of the people who work in the Hanson building are government employees
D. most of the members of Bargaining Unit Number 17 work in the Hanson Building
The premise tells us most of BU 17 are computer programmers. If, as (D) says, most of BU 17 work in the Hanson Building, then there must be at least 1 member of
What major change occurred to the LSAT in 2024 regarding section types?
Logic Games were removed; replaced with a second Logical Reasoning section.
Company spokesperson: Although our products are the most expensive in our industry, they are also the best available. After all, consider any less expensive product made by one of our competitors. If it were as good as, or better than, our product, it would cost as much, or more.
The reasoning in the company spokesperson's argument is flawed in that the argument
A.contains a premise that presupposes the truth of the conclusion
B. fails to make a needed distinction between the best product currently available and the best product that could be produced
C. treats a cause of a product being the most expensive as an effect of its being the most expensive
D. presumes that because something is true of each of a company's products it is also true of the company as a whole
E. bases a conclusion on claims that are inconsistent with each other
A. contains a premise that presupposes the truth of the conclusion
When the LSAT points to circular reasoning, it uses wording like this. Conclusions and premises presupposing the truth of one another. Unless another answer choice is worded similarly, you can just say “it’s probably this one” without needing to parse out exactly how the premise presupposes the conclusion in this question.
The differences in distance from Earth between the stars in any one distant galaxy are negligible compared to the vast distance to the galaxy itself. Thus, if two stars are in the same distant galaxy, any significant difference in the apparent brightness of those stars results from differences in how brightly each is actually burning. Therefore, we should be able to determine how a star's relative actual brightness correlates with other characteristics by studying stars in the same distant galaxy.
Which one of the following is an assumption the argument requires?
A. If two stars are in two different galaxies, it is not possible to determine whether or not they are approximately the same distance from Earth.
B. If any two stars are in the same distant galaxy, differences in the elements each is burning will be detectable from Earth.
C. The stars in our own galaxy are not all approximately the same distance from Earth.
D. There are stars in distant galaxies that have characteristics, other than brightness, discernible from Earth.
E. If there are significant differences in how far away two stars are from Earth, then those stars will differ significantly in apparent brightness.
D. There are stars in distant galaxies that have characteristics, other than brightness, discernible from Earth.
Necessary, because if this were not true — if there are NO stars in distant galaxies that have characteristics besides brightness that are detectable from Earth — then we have no basis to believe that we can correlate those other characteristics with the brightness of distant stars. For example, if we can’t tell how large the star is or how fast it’s spinning, then we can’t correlate size or spinning speed with brightness.
To test the claim that vitamin C is effective in treating acne, scientists administered it to one group of subjects and a placebo to a control group. The group receiving vitamin C had less severe acne during the study than did the control group. It was subsequently discovered, however, that half of the subjects in each group knew which kind of pill they were given. Among those who could not tell, no difference in the severity of acne was found between the two groups. Therefore, we can tentatively conclude that vitamin C has no real benefit in reducing the severity of acne.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. The subjects who were given vitamin C had a history of suffering from more severe acne than did the subjects receiving a placebo.
B. None of the subjects who were given vitamin C took additional doses of vitamin C on their own.
C. During the study, the severity of the subjects' acne was lower than the national average.
D. Some of the subjects who were given placebos consumed foods during the study that are naturally rich in vitamin C.
E. Some of the subjects who knew their pills were placebos did not actually take the pills they were given.
A. The subjects who were given vitamin C had a history of suffering from more severe acne than did the subjects receiving a placebo.
This explains how the two groups might end up with the same severity of acne even if vitamin C does help to reduce severity. Vitamin C may have reduced the severity down to the same level as that of the placebo group.
Advertising agencies are often wrongly criticized for causing people to desire, and thus purchase, products they do not really need. People actually buy what they buy mainly because they believe the product will satisfy their desires—a belief that, admittedly, it is the purpose of advertising agencies to induce. It is clear then that the desires that people believe products will satisfy _______.
Which one of the following most logically completes the argument?
A. can be classified as needs if they actually prompt people to make a purchase
B. are created by false, but not by true, advertising claims
C. will rarely be satisfied by the purchases they prompt
D. are exploited rather than created by advertisers
E. are generally what induce people to believe claims made by advertisers
D. are exploited rather than created by advertisers
This accurately describes the core difference between the “wrong” and “right” accounts as presented by the author. People wrongly think advertisers cause people to desire products that they didn’t used to want, when really advertisers take pre-existing desires and aim them at specific products.
Where can you get a fee waiver to law school application?
You can get law school application fee waivers through financial need-based waivers from LSAC, merit-based waivers, and school-specific requests.