LSAT: Identifying Logical Reasoning Question Types

What is the question type and why? Political scientist: As a political system, democracy does not promote political freedom. There are historical examples of democracies that ultimately resulted in some of the most oppressive societies. Likewise, there have been enlightened despotisms and oligarchies that have provided a remarkable level of political freedom to their subjects. The reasoning in the political scientist's argument is flawed because it [List of Answers]

This is a Flaw in the Reasoning question because it asks you to find the flaw in the argument.

What is the question type and why? About two million years ago, lava dammed up a river in western Asia and caused a small lake to form. The lake existed for about half a million years. Bones of an early human ancestor were recently found in the ancient lake-bottom sediments that lie on top of the layer of lava. Therefore, ancestors of modern humans lived in western Asia between two million and one-and-a-half million years ago. Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument? [List of Answers]

This is a Necessary Assumption question because it asks you to find the assumption which the blurb relies.

What is the question type and why? The Venetian Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio used sumptuous reds in most of his paintings. Since the recently discovered Venetian Renaissance painting Erato Declaiming contains notable sumptuous reds, it is probably by Carpaccio. Which one of the following contains a pattern of flawed reasoning most similar to that in the argument above? [List of Answers]

This is a Parallel Structure/Flaw question because you are looking for an answer choice which has the same logical structure as the blurb.

What is the question type and why? The supernova event of 1987 is interesting in that there is still no evidence of the neutron star that current theory says should have remained after a supernova of that size. This is in spite of the fact that many of the most sensitive instruments ever developed have searched for the tell-tale pulse of radiation that neutron stars emit. Thus, current theory is wrong in claiming that supernovas of a certain size always produce neutron stars. Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument? [List of Answers]

This is a Strengthener because it asks you to choose the answer which strengthens the argument.

What is the question type and why? Journalist: To reconcile the need for profits sufficient to support new drug research with the moral imperative to provide medicines to those who most need them but cannot afford them, some pharmaceutical companies feel justified in selling a drug in rich nations at one price and in poor nations at a much lower price. But this practice is unjustified. A nation with a low average income may still have a substantial middle class better able to pay for new drugs than are many of the poorer citizens of an overall wealthier nation. Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the journalist's reasoning? [List of Answers]

This is a Strengthener question because it asks you to locate the answer choice which best justifies (strengthens) the journalist's reasoning

What is the question type and why? Executive: We recently ran a set of advertisements in the print version of a travel magazine and on that magazine's website. We were unable to get any direct information about consumer response to the print ads. However, we found that consumer response to the ads on the website was much more limited than is typical for website ads. We concluded that consumer response to the print ads was probably below par as well. The executive's reasoning does which one of the following? A. bases a prediction of the intensity of a phenomenon on information about the intensity of that phenomenon's cause B. uses information about the typical frequency of events of a general kind to draw a conclusion about the probability of a particular event of that kind [...List of Answers]

This is a Structural Analysis question because it asks you find the structural purpose of something in the blurb.

What is the question type and why? Laird: Pure research provides us with new technologies that contribute to saving lives. Even more worthwhile than this, however, is its role in expanding our knowledge and providing new, unexplored ideas. Kim: Your priorities are mistaken. Saving lives is what counts most of all. Without pure research, medicine would not be as advanced as it is. Laird and Kim disagree on whether pure research A. derives its significance in part from its providing new technologies B. expands the boundaries of our knowledge of medicine [...List of Answers]

This is a Structural Analysis question because it is asking you to find what the disagreement in the blurb is.

What is the question type and why? Several critics have claimed that any contemporary poet who writes formal poetry—poetry that is rhymed and metered—is performing a politically conservative act. This is plainly false. Consider Molly Peacock and Marilyn Hacker, two contemporary poets whose poetry is almost exclusively formal and yet who are themselves politically progressive feminists. The conclusion drawn above follows logically if which one of the following is assumed? [List of Answers]

This is a Sufficient Assumption question because it wants you to find the answer choice which bridges the gap between the support and the conclusion/the argument and the blurb.

What is the question type and why? During the construction of the Quebec Bridge in 1907, the bridge's designer, Theodore Cooper, received word that the suspended span being built out from the bridge's cantilever was deflecting downward by a fraction of an inch (2.54 centimeters). Before he could telegraph to freeze the project, the whole cantilever arm broke off and plunged, along with seven dozen workers, into the St. Lawrence River. It was the worst bridge construction disaster in history. As a direct result of the inquiry that followed, the engineering "rules of thumb" by which thousands of bridges had been built around the world went down with the Quebec Bridge. Twentieth-century bridge engineers would thereafter depend on far more rigorous applications of mathematical analysis. Which one of the following statements can be properly inferred from the passage? [List of Answers]

This is an Inference question because it assumes the blurb is true/fine and asks you to find the inference/the answer which supports or logically follows the blurb.

What is the question type and why? In jurisdictions where use of headlights is optional when visibility is good, drivers who use headlights at all times are less likely to be involved in a collision than are drivers who use headlights only when visibility is poor. Yet Highway Safety Department records show that making use of headlights mandatory at all times does nothing to reduce the overall number of collisions. Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above? [List of Answers]

This is an Unexpected Result question because it presents an odd situation where where you expect something to happen but then something else happens, and you are trying to find the answer choice that reconciles or makes sense of the situation.