Logical Reasoning · Principle

PrepTest 115 · 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

Principle

The one idea it tests

When fancy packaging wraps a plain idea, the fix is to match the packaging to what's inside, not to ban all fancy packaging.

The basic logic

The passage shows a mismatch (dressing up something simple) that fools careless people and annoys careful ones. Complete it with the rule the evidence actually supports: the outside should not be more complex than the inside. Avoid rules that go further than the evidence.

Tiny words that decide it

“often”
“may well”
“thus”

Playground logic

Tommy wraps a single pencil in a giant glittery box. Careless kids get excited and confused, careful kids roll their eyes. The rule that follows: the wrapping shouldn't be fancier than the gift.

Step 2 · The kid story

Tommy's Enormous Box

For the class gift swap, Tommy wrapped one plain yellow pencil inside a box the size of a microwave. Gold paper, three bows, glitter everywhere. Kevin, who wasn't really paying attention, gasped. "It's a dinosaur! It's got to be a dinosaur!" He tore it open, found the pencil, and was totally confused. "Is the dinosaur inside the pencil?" Lulu, who notices everything, had already guessed from the rattle. "It's a pencil, Tommy. The box is bigger than the present." Priya sipped her juice box. "So here's the lesson for gift givers. The wrapping shouldn't be fancier than what's inside it." Tommy looked at the pile of glitter on the floor and agreed. Next year, he said, the pencil gets a pencil-sized bag.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Tommy often wraps very small, ordinary gifts in huge, fancy boxes. Careless kids get excited but end up confused about what they got, while careful kids quickly see that the box is all show. So a good rule for gift givers is: ____.

Which choice most logically completes the passage?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Seventy-Page Parking Ticket

A city clerk issued a parking ticket written as a seventy-page booklet full of Latin and charts. The driver missed the one line saying the fine was ten dollars and was later charged a late fee. In court, Mr. Whitfield held up the booklet. "Your Honor, the idea inside is simple: you parked too long, pay ten dollars. The packaging buried it. Hurried readers get lost. Careful readers see it's just showing off." The clerk protested that the booklet looked very official. The judge flipped through it, sighed, and ruled: "A notice should be no more complicated than the message it carries." She waived the late fee and asked the clerk to try one page next time.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 115, Section 2, Question 6 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Find the problem the passage describes: a gap between how something is presented and how much substance it has, and what that gap does to two kinds of readers. The blank should name a rule that closes that gap. Predict a rule tying the complexity of the presentation to the complexity of the content. Choose the closest match, and reject any rule that is stronger than the evidence (a Megaphone) or that brings in ideas the passage never touches.