Logical Reasoning · Sufficient Assumption

PrepTest 116 · Section 3 · Question 5

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Sufficient Assumption

The one idea it tests

The premise says one group is kept in the dark about important facts. The conclusion predicts more trouble for that group. The magic key links less knowledge to more trouble.

The basic logic

Line up the patty term (people lack key information) and the top bun term (troubles happen more often). The missing piece is a rule that connects them directly: as knowledge goes down, frequency of trouble goes up. Click it in and the conclusion locks.

Tiny words that decide it

“thus”
“likely”
“the less”
“the more”

Playground logic

Owen's patty: in some classes only the captain sees the weather board, so most kids don't know the forecast. His top bun: those classes will get caught in the rain more often. The magic key: the less kids know about the weather, the more often they get caught.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Captain Keeps the Forecast

In some classes at school, the weather board hangs where everyone can see it. In other classes, only the class captain gets to look, and the captain keeps it a secret. Owen made a prediction. "In those secret-board classes, most kids don't know what the weather will do. So those classes will get caught in the rain without coats more often." Marcus shrugged. "Sounds right to me!" Lulu clicked her pen. "Sounds right, but what makes it lock? You need a rule: the less kids know about the weather, the more often they get soaked." Priya nodded. "Click that in and the prediction follows. Without it, maybe kids in secret classes just carry coats every day." Owen added the rule to his notebook.

Step 3 · Try the model question

In some classes everyone can see the weather board, but in others only the captain can, so most kids there do not know the forecast. Thus, kids in those classes are likely to get caught in the rain more often than kids in other classes.

Which one of the following, if assumed, allows the conclusion to be properly drawn?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Hidden Tide Table

Two fishing villages sat on the same coast. In one, the tide table was posted at the dock. In the other, only the harbor master saw it. Boats in the second village kept getting stranded, and an insurance company refused to pay, calling it bad luck. Mr. Whitfield, in bright red suspenders, argued for the fishers. "Your Honor, my clients were denied the facts that decide their safety. And here is the rule our expert will confirm: the less sailors know about the tides, the more often they get stranded." The judge wrote it down. "With that rule, the result is no accident." The lesson: to make a prediction lock, connect the missing knowledge straight to the outcome.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 116, Section 3, Question 5 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Underline the premise idea (a large group lacks information about what affects them) and the conclusion idea (that group will face a bad event more often). Notice the conclusion's new term that the premise never mentions. Predict a rule linking the premise term to the conclusion term in the right direction. Use the Click Test: add each choice and see whether the conclusion now follows. Reject choices that talk about who suffers or why the information is hidden.