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Logical Reasoning · Strengthen

PrepTest 106 · Section 3 · 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
Strengthen (resolve a dispute in favor of one side)
The one idea it tests
Undercut one side's clue by showing it also appears in the other side's category.
The basic logic
Side one uses a trait found only in category X to say X. Side two uses a different trait to say not X. Help one side by showing that the second trait can come along with the first in category X itself, so the second clue no longer points away from X.
Tiny words that decide it
  • “only”
  • “suggests”
  • “therefore”
  • “however”

Playground logic

Lulu's patty is a clue that only cats leave; Marcus's patty is a dug hole, which he says means dog. If the same habit that gives some cats their soft prints also makes them dig, Marcus's clue fits a cat too, and Lulu wins.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Garden Visitor

Somebody dug up Grandpa's tomato bed overnight. Lulu crouched with her clipboard. "These prints have no claw marks. Only cats walk with claws tucked in. It was a cat." Marcus shook his head. "But look at this deep hole! Digging means energy and busy paws. That means a dog. Case closed." Grandpa came out with his coffee. "Funny thing," he said. "Mr. Whiskers is one of those cats who walks soft-pawed and loves to dig. Some cats are like that: the same soft paws that hide claws are perfect little shovels." Lulu smiled. "So the hole fits a cat too." Marcus frowned at the hole. Mr. Whiskers, sitting on the fence with dirt on his nose, said nothing at all.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Lulu says a cat visited the garden, because the prints have no claw marks, which only cats leave. Marcus disagrees: a deep hole was dug, which suggests a busy digger, so it must have been a dog.

Which of these, if true, best settles the disagreement in favor of one of them?

Choices

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Muddy Boots

A prosecutor pointed at the evidence. "The footprints are size twelve. Only the gardener wears size twelve. The gardener did it." The defense lawyer countered. "But the prints go up the ladder fast. That suggests someone young and nimble. The gardener is neither." Mr. Whitfield, sitting in the gallery for fun, whispered to the judge's clerk. Later, an expert testified: "Some people with size twelve feet wear grippy work boots, and those same boots make ladder climbing quick." The judge tapped her pen. "So the speedy climb fits the gardener after all. The prosecution's clue still stands, and the defense's clue no longer points away."

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 106, Section 3, Question 13 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Write down each side's clue and the category each clue points to. Notice which clue is an 'only' clue. To settle the dispute, look for a choice that neutralizes the other side's clue by showing it can appear in the first side's category, often because the same cause produces both traits. Reject choices that only add other traits, talk about unrelated groups, or merely say a trait is not universal.