Logical Reasoning · Inference (Most Strongly Supported)

PrepTest 103 · Section 2 · Question 9

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

When someone pays to invent a new way of getting a thing right after their usual supply is cut off, the facts quietly suggest they had no other easy supply to turn to.

The basic logic

Line up the facts in time: the old source, the event that blocked it, and the fresh effort that followed. Pick the answer that stays inside the lunchbox and asks the least. Reject anything that adds new causes, new claims about the whole world, or claims about today.

Tiny words that decide it

“thus”
“no access”
“when”

Playground logic

Ms. Rivera's class always got its good kickballs from one shop, and when the road to that shop closed, the class started building its own balls. The facts never say it out loud, but they lean hard toward a small, safe conclusion: the class did not know of any other place it could reach to buy good kickballs.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Sock Ball Lab

Every good kickball at Maple Elementary came from one sports shop across town. Then the bridge to that side of town closed for repairs, all spring. The very next week, Ms. Rivera gave her class a budget and a mission: invent a kickball made from old socks and tape. Marcus announced, "So that shop is the only place in the universe that sells kickballs!" Priya sipped her juice box. "Too big, detective. We only know what happened here." Lulu wrote on her clipboard: "Why pay to invent a ball if you know a store you can still get to? You wouldn't. So the class probably didn't know of any other store it could reach." Priya nodded. "That's the small claim the facts actually hold up. Short, boring, and safe."

Step 3 · Try the model question

All of the good kickballs at Maple Elementary came from one sports shop across town. Last spring, after the only bridge to that shop closed, Ms. Rivera's class was given money to invent a kickball made from socks and tape.

The facts above give the most support to which of these statements?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Homemade Glitter

Judge Okafor peered over her glasses. "Mr. Whitfield, the craft club bought glitter from only one supplier. That supplier's trucks stopped coming in June. In July, the club paid a parent to invent glitter from crushed seashells. What do you ask me to find?" Mr. Whitfield snapped his suspenders. "Only this, Your Honor: in July, the club knew of no other glitter it could get. Nobody pays to invent what they can simply buy." Opposing counsel jumped up. "He should say seashell glitter is the best in the world!" The judge shook her head. "The record does not reach that far. I find only the modest point. Sit down, counselor."

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 103, Section 2, Question 9 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Read the facts and put them in order: the usual source, the event that blocked it, and the effort that came next. Ask what those facts quietly make likely, not what they prove. Then go through the choices and cross out any that add a new cause, talk about the whole world, or jump to the present day. The winner is a small claim that the timeline almost forces on you.