VIPLSATCracking LSAT makes you a VIP.

Logical Reasoning · Method of Argument

PrepTest 102 · Section 4 · Question 21

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type
Method of Argument
The one idea it tests
Name how the second speaker answers: he brings in new facts that cast doubt on a hidden assumption in the first speaker's reasoning.
The basic logic
Speaker one argues a forced plan can never build a willing habit, assuming forced activity can never lead to willing activity. Speaker two offers cases where forced activity was followed by willing activity, which undercuts that assumption.
Tiny words that decide it
  • “disagree”
  • “some”
  • “by itself”

Playground logic

Frankie's top bun: Grandpa's rule forcing kids to garden can never make anyone love gardening, since forced digging is not choosing to dig. Sharon's patty: some kids who were made to garden liked it and later chose to garden on their own. She is knocking out Frankie's secret sauce: that being forced can never lead to choosing.

Step 2 · The kid story

Grandpa's Garden Rule

Grandpa had a rule: every grandkid spends Saturday morning in the garden. "He wants us to love gardening," said Frankie. "But that can't work. If you are made to dig, you didn't choose to dig. And you can't love something you have never chosen. So this rule will never make anyone love gardening." Sharon crossed her arms. "I disagree. Tommy was made to garden last spring. He liked the tomatoes so much that now he goes out on Sundays all by himself. Nobody makes him." Lulu wrote on her clipboard: Frankie thinks forced means never chosen, ever. Sharon shows forced can lead to chosen later. Tommy, holding a giant tomato, just grinned.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Frankie: Grandpa's rule tries to make the grandkids love gardening by making them garden. But anyone made to dig has not chosen to dig, and you cannot love what you have never chosen. So this rule cannot work by itself. Sharon: I disagree. Some kids made to garden had such fun that they later began gardening on their own. For them, the rule did build a love of gardening.

Sharon's response to Frankie proceeds by

Choices

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Mandatory Music Lessons

A parents' group sued a town over required music lessons. Their lawyer argued, "Required practice is not chosen practice, and you cannot build a passion for something nobody ever chose. So the program cannot work." Mr. Whitfield, for the town, rose. "Your Honor, I call three former students. Each was required to take lessons. Each later joined a band on their own, with no one asking." The judge leaned forward. "So the other side assumed required lessons can never lead to chosen ones." "Precisely, Your Honor. These witnesses call that assumption into doubt." The judge nodded and took notes.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 102, Section 4, Question 21 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Find the first speaker's conclusion and the chain of reasons that leads to it. Ask what the first speaker takes for granted to get there. Then read the second speaker and ask: is he attacking a stated premise, the conclusion directly, or a hidden assumption? Describe his move in your own words. Choose the option that matches, and reject options that accuse the speaker of things the reply never mentions.