Logical Reasoning · Method of Argument

PrepTest 110 · Section 2 · Question 8

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Method of Argument

The one idea it tests

You can answer an argument without denying its numbers by showing the numbers, as presented, give a false picture.

The basic logic

Speaker one cites a small total to say there is no risk. Speaker two does not dispute the total. Instead they add hidden details (when things happened, a growing trend) that change what the numbers mean. Describe that move: the first account is misleading, not false.

Tiny words that decide it

“neglect”
“only”
“increasing”
“therefore”

Playground logic

Frankie says the treehouse ladder is safe because there were only five slips all year and nobody got hurt. Sharon accepts the five but points out four were in the last month and the rungs keep getting looser. She shows Frankie's summary hides a trend, so it paints a misleading picture.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Wobbly Ladder Debate

Frankie and Sharon were debating again, this time about the treehouse ladder. Frankie said, "The ladder is totally safe. In a whole year, there were only five slips, and nobody got hurt. Case closed." Sharon crossed her arms. "Your five is correct. But you left something out. Four of those five slips happened in the last month. And the rungs are getting looser every week. More slips means a bigger chance someone gets hurt." Frankie blinked. "So my number was right?" "Your number was right," said Sharon. "The way you told it was wrong. It made a growing problem look tiny." Lulu wrote on her clipboard: True numbers can still tell a false story. Grandpa came out with a hammer and some nails.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Frankie: The treehouse ladder is safe. In the past year there were only five slips, and nobody was hurt. Sharon: You forgot to say that four of the five slips happened in the last month, and the rungs are getting looser every week. The more slips there are, the more likely someone gets hurt.

Sharon responds to Frankie by

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Quiet Bakery Oven

A landlord said a tenant's bakery oven was no fire hazard. "In five years," his lawyer argued, "the oven has smoked only six times, and there has never been a fire." Mr. Whitfield rose for the neighbors. "Your Honor, we accept the number six. But five of those six happened in the last two months, and the oven's door seal is cracking more each week. More smoke means more chances for a real fire." The landlord's lawyer sputtered. "Are you saying our number is wrong?" "Not at all," said Mr. Whitfield. "I am saying your number, told your way, hides the trend." The judge ordered an inspection.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 110, Section 2, Question 8 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Find the first speaker's conclusion and the figures used to support it. Then ask what the second speaker does with those figures: accept them, deny them, or reframe them? If the reply keeps the figures but adds timing or a trend that changes their meaning, the method is showing the first account is misleading. Reject choices that say the reply attacks motives, disputes the figures, or claims more than the reply actually argues.