Logical Reasoning · Flaw

PrepTest 116 · Section 3 · Question 4

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Flaw

The one idea it tests

The responder shows that more skill is needed now, then acts as if the only road to that skill is the one the first speaker said was unnecessary.

The basic logic

Track what the second speaker must prove: that the first speaker's claim is now false. The second speaker proves something smaller (more know-how is needed) and assumes, without saying so, that the know-how can come only one way.

Tiny words that decide it

“now”
“need”
“only”
“more”

Playground logic

Kevin says you don't need lessons to become a great skater, since Uncle Leo never had one. Sharon fires back that tricks today need way more skill. Her hidden sauce: the only way to get that skill is lessons, which ignores videos, practice and friends.

Step 2 · The kid story

Uncle Leo Never Took a Lesson

Kevin was explaining skateboards, and also dinosaurs, and also pineapple pizza. Finally he reached his point. "My Uncle Leo was the best skater in town. He invented two tricks! And he never took a single skating lesson. So you don't need lessons to become a great skater." Sharon crossed her arms. "Not anymore, Kevin. Skating has changed. Today's tricks need way more skill than tricks back then." Frankie nodded hard. Lulu raised her clipboard. "Sharon, I believe you that more skill is needed. But who said skill only comes from lessons? My cousin learned everything from videos and falling down a thousand times." Sharon opened her mouth, then closed it. Priya smiled. "Sharon proved the skill part. She skipped the lessons part."

Step 3 · Try the model question

Kevin: Uncle Leo became a great skater without lessons, so you don't need lessons to be great. Sharon: That's not true today. Modern tricks require much more skill than tricks did back then.

Sharon's response is most open to which criticism?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Self-Taught Plumber

A city required a license course for plumbers. A plumber who had learned by working beside her father sued, saying great plumbers never needed the course. The city's lawyer replied, "Not anymore. Today's pipes and pumps demand far more know-how than in the old days." Mr. Whitfield rose, snapping his suspenders. "Your Honor, I agree the job is harder now. But my client has fixed modern pumps for twenty years. The city assumes the only place to learn is the course. It never shows that." The judge frowned at the city's lawyer. "You proved the job got harder. You did not prove the course is the only teacher." The lesson: more skill needed is not the same as one road to skill.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 116, Section 3, Question 4 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Identify what the first speaker concludes and what the responder needs to show to defeat it. Then see what the responder actually shows. Spot the leap: the responder proves a need for more of something and quietly assumes that need can be met only through the one path the first speaker said was optional. Pick the choice naming that skipped possibility. Rule out choices describing moves the responder never makes.