Logical Reasoning · Weaken

PrepTest 108 · Section 2 · Question 3

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Weaken

The one idea it tests

A ban is justified by a harm, so show the harm barely happens.

The basic logic

The argument says a rule is worth a small cost because it blocks a real harm. Pop it by showing that, during the exact window the rule covers, the harm hardly occurs.

Tiny words that decide it

“thus”
“should”
“small cost”

Playground logic

Priya's argument is a burger: the patty says late snacks make players sluggish and there is no time to recover, and the top bun says ban snacks in the last hour. The secret sauce is that late snacks actually slow many players down, so showing that almost nobody gets slower pops the whole thing.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Pre-Game Snack Ban

The soccer team has a big game Saturday. Priya stands on a bench. "Snacks make players sluggish! And if you snack in the last hour before kickoff, there's no time to run it off. Banning snacks for just that one hour costs us a tiny bit of fun. So we should ban them." Marcus groans. Tommy hides a granola bar in his sock. Then Lulu flips her clipboard. "I timed everyone at the last five games. Kids who ate in the hour before kickoff ran just as fast as kids who didn't. Only one kid slowed down, and he also forgot his shoes." The team goes quiet. Priya sips her juice box. "Well, if the snack barely changes anything, my ban isn't buying us much."

Step 3 · Try the model question

Priya: Snacks can make players sluggish. A snack eaten in the hour before kickoff leaves no time to recover. A ban on snacks during that hour only slightly reduces our fun, so it should be adopted.

Suppose each choice were true. Which would most undermine Priya's argument?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Midnight Drum Rule

A town council banned drum practice after ten at night. A drummer sued. The council's lawyer said, "Your Honor, drumming wakes neighbors, and at night they can't escape it. The rule costs drummers only a little freedom." Mr. Whitfield rose. "Your Honor, I have the town's noise records. After ten, the number of neighbors woken by drums is nearly zero. The houses here have thick walls." The judge raised an eyebrow. "So the harm the rule is meant to stop barely happens in the hours it covers?" "Exactly," said Mr. Whitfield. "A small cost with no benefit is still a cost." The judge struck down the rule.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 108, Section 2, Question 3 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Map the burger: the evidence lists harms, the conclusion says a limited ban is worth its small cost. The hidden support is that the harm really happens during the window the ban covers. Look for the choice that cuts that support by showing the harm rarely happens in that window. Ignore choices that do not bear on how often the harm happens in that window.