Logical Reasoning · Most Strongly Supported

PrepTest 102 · Section 2 · Question 13

Phase 1 (your first ~400 questions): read the guidance, then answer. No clock.

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Inference (Most Strongly Supported)

The one idea it tests

Combine 'the best source was never processed' with 'some processed product existed' to learn where the processed product came from.

The basic logic

If the top-quality source was never put through a treatment, then anything that was treated came from some other source. And if the top source was the best known, every other source was below its level. Chain these together and stay inside the lunchbox: no extra assumptions about weight, value or other sources.

Tiny words that decide it

“never”
“most”
“purest known”
“only”

Playground logic

Grandpa's lemons were the sweetest anyone knew and never got sugar added; the stand still made extra-sweet sugared lemonade. So the sugared lemonade came from other lemons, and those other lemons were less sweet than Grandpa's. That is the lunchbox conclusion: just put the two pieces together.

Step 2 · The kid story

Grandpa's Lemon Rule

Priya's lemonade stand used mostly Grandpa's lemons. Grandpa's lemons were the sweetest anyone on the block had ever tasted. They were so sweet that you could make lemonade with no sugar added, and you could even tell a Grandpa cup by its exact sweetness. The stand also knew how to stir in sugar, and it sold some extra-sweet cups that were sweeter than any Grandpa cup. But Grandpa had one rule: "Nobody puts sugar in MY lemons." And nobody ever did. Lulu wrote it all down. Then she drew an arrow. "So the sugared cups came from other lemons. And since Grandpa's lemons were the sweetest anyone knew, those other lemons had to start out less sweet." Grandpa winked. "Smart girl."

Step 3 · Try the model question

Most of the stand's lemonade came from Grandpa's lemons, the sweetest lemons anyone knew. They were sweet enough to use with no added sugar. The stand could add sugar and made some cups sweeter than any Grandpa cup, but sugar was never added to Grandpa's lemons.

Which choice is best backed up by the facts given?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Wool Mill Mystery

A tailor sued a wool mill, claiming its dyed wool came from her prized flock. Mr. Whitfield read from the mill's records. "The tailor's flock grows the softest wool known in this valley. It is so soft that the mill sells it without washing it in softener. The mill can soften wool, and it does sell softened wool that is even softer. But the records show the tailor's wool was never once put through softener." He turned to the jury. "So where did the softened wool come from? Not her flock. From other flocks. And since her flock's wool is the softest known, those other flocks' wool started out rougher." The tailor frowned. "Well, when you put it that way."

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 102, Section 2, Question 13 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

List the facts as building blocks: which source is the best known, that it was never treated, and that treated products existed. Then chain them: treated products came from other sources, and other sources rank below the best. Choose the answer that follows from that chain. Reject answers that add new facts, use absolute words the passage does not earn, or talk about values and amounts never mentioned.