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Logical Reasoning · Parallel Reasoning

PrepTest 110 · Section 2 · Question 6

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type
Parallel Reasoning
The one idea it tests
Some ideas cancel themselves out: if the second word were true, the first word could not be.
The basic logic
X-Ray the argument: it says a combination is impossible because one part, by its very meaning, rules out the other. Find the choice that rejects a combination for the same reason, by definition, not because of bad results, rules of right and wrong, or what other people notice.
Tiny words that decide it
  • “cannot”
  • “if”
  • “then”
  • “not”

Playground logic

Kevin says the class can throw Owen a surprise party that Owen plans himself. Lulu says that idea falls apart: if Owen planned it, it is not a surprise. The bones are a combination that is impossible because one part, by definition, wipes out the other.

Step 2 · The kid story

Owen's Surprise Party Problem

Owen's birthday was coming. Kevin had a big idea. "Let's throw Owen a surprise party, and to make sure it is perfect, Owen can plan it himself!" Owen loved this. He started a list: pineapple pizza, no, regular pizza, a bounce house, a magician. Lulu looked up from her clipboard. "Kevin, that cannot work. A surprise party means the birthday kid does not know about it. If Owen plans it, Owen knows about it. So it is not a surprise. The two parts cancel each other out." Kevin thought hard. "So it is just a party." "A very well-organized party," said Priya. Owen shrugged and kept planning. Marcus whispered, "I will still act surprised."

Step 3 · Try the model question

Lulu: There cannot be a surprise party that the guest of honor plans. A party the guest of honor plans is a party the guest of honor knows about, and so it is not a surprise.

Which argument below uses reasoning most like Lulu's?

Choices

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Voluntary Fine

A town council tried to charge a man a "required donation" for parking. Mr. Whitfield represented the man. "Your Honor, a donation is something you give by choice. If it is required, then it is not by choice, and so it is not a donation. The council has invented a thing that cannot exist." The council's lawyer argued that the money was for a good cause. Mr. Whitfield bowed. "I do not question the cause. I question the word. They may call it a fee, and pass a fee law. They cannot call it a donation and also demand it." The judge agreed that the label cancelled itself out.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 110, Section 2, Question 6 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

First, X-Ray the original: notice the conclusion says a pairing is incoherent or impossible, and the support is simply that one part, by definition, means the other part is false. Then test each choice for that exact skeleton. Reject choices that reject something because of its effects, because it is unfair or unethical, or because someone would notice it. Keep the one where the meaning of one term alone knocks out the other.