Logical Reasoning · Role of a Statement

PrepTest 116 · Section 3 · Question 15

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Role of a Statement

The one idea it tests

A statement in the middle of a cause-and-effect chain is a Helper: it connects a small change to a far-off result.

The basic logic

Find the Boss (the main conclusion). Trace the chain from the first cause to the final effect. Ask where the target statement sits. If it is a link that lets the small change reach the distant effect, its job is to show how the effect happens indirectly.

Tiny words that decide it

“since”
“so”
“because”

Playground logic

Nadia says a tiny bus delay will shrink the clubs. The posters being made in the art room is a Helper on the Job Board: it links the late art room to the clubs losing new members. Without that link, the chain snaps in the middle.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Five-Minute Bus

Nadia makes an announcement at lunch. "A five-minute change in the bus schedule is going to shrink every after-school club. Watch." She draws arrows on a napkin. "The bus now gets here five minutes late. So the art room opens late. So the poster team runs out of time. And since the club posters are painted in the art room, and the posters are how new kids learn about every club, fewer kids will join. It's bound to happen." Marcus squints. "What do posters have to do with buses?" Priya points at the napkin. "That's the link. The bus slows the art room, and the art room makes the posters." Lulu draws a box around one arrow. "Without this one, the bus never reaches the clubs." Kevin draws a dinosaur riding the bus.

Step 3 · Try the model question

A five-minute change in the bus schedule will eventually shrink the after-school clubs. A later bus means the art room opens late, which leaves the poster team too little time. Since the posters, which are painted in the art room, are how new kids hear about every club, the shrinking is bound to happen.

What role does the claim that the posters are painted in the art room play in the argument?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Leaky Pipe

In a made-up insurance hearing, a homeowner claims a tiny drip in the attic ruined the basement. Mr. Whitfield explains. "The drip soaked the attic insulation. The wet insulation dripped into the wall. And since the wall's pipes run down into the basement, the water followed them. The basement flooding was unavoidable." The insurer's lawyer frowns. "Why mention the pipes?" "Because, Your Honor, the pipes are the bridge. They show how a drip upstairs reached a room two floors down." The judge nods. "So the pipe detail isn't the conclusion and isn't a side story. It's a link in the chain." "Exactly. Remove it, and the water stops in the wall."

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 116, Section 3, Question 15 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Underline the main conclusion first. Then number each link in the chain from the starting change to the final result. Find where the target statement sits and ask what would break if it were removed. If it connects an early step to a later one, its job is to show how the distant effect happens indirectly. Reject choices that call it the conclusion, an example, or support for a claim the argument never makes.