Logical Reasoning · Principle

PrepTest 103 · Section 2 · Question 2

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Principle (situation conforms to a proposition)

The one idea it tests

Find the general rule that fits the shape of the situation: the same thing that makes the trouble also fixes it.

The basic logic

Strip the situation down to its bones. What creates the problem? What solves it? If they are the same thing, look for a broad rule saying so. Avoid rules that are too strong or bring in new topics.

Tiny words that decide it

“may”
“also”
“sometimes”

Playground logic

Kevin's new skill of drawing dinosaurs gives him scary dinosaur nightmares, but the same skill lets him draw a friendly guard dinosaur that makes him feel safe. The patty: one source, two effects. The rule on top: what causes a problem can sometimes also be its cure.

Step 2 · The kid story

Kevin's Guard Dinosaur

Kevin learned to draw dinosaurs really well this year. Too well, maybe. Now he draws a T. rex so scary that he cannot stop thinking about it at bedtime. 'It has seventeen teeth, Lulu. SEVENTEEN.' Lulu checked her clipboard. 'Can you also draw a nice one?' Kevin thought about it. He drew a giant, friendly long-neck dinosaur wearing a little security badge. 'This is Gus. Gus guards the bed. Gus eats T. rexes for breakfast.' He taped Gus over his bed and slept like a log. Priya nodded. 'So drawing made the scary thing, and drawing also made the thing that beats it. Same tool, two jobs.' Marcus said, 'I still think the T. rex would win.' Nobody listened to Marcus.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Kevin's new drawing skill lets him draw scary dinosaurs that keep him awake. But he uses that same skill to draw a friendly guard dinosaur, and with it over his bed he sleeps well.

Kevin's situation best illustrates which general rule?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Fence That Fixed Itself

Farmer Gil sued his neighbor Ada over a new tall fence. 'Her fence blocks the wind, so my windmill barely turns!' Mr. Whitfield, Ada's lawyer, adjusted his suspenders. 'Your Honor, the same fence now holds up the climbing beans my client gives Gil every week, and those beans pay for the electric pump he needed.' Judge Lin rubbed her chin. 'So the fence started the trouble with the windmill, and the fence also produced the solution. Interesting.' Gil grumbled, then admitted the beans were delicious. The judge wrote one line in her notes: the thing that made the trouble can also be the thing that ends it.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 103, Section 2, Question 2 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Summarize the situation in abstract terms: what causes the trouble, and what ends it? Notice whether one and the same thing does both. Then test each rule: does it match that shape exactly? Cross out rules that say 'only' problems, rules that make big claims about all cases, and rules about topics the situation never mentions. Choose the modest rule that fits the double role.