Logical Reasoning · Weaken

PrepTest 119 · 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

Weaken

The one idea it tests

When an argument says 'stop this because it causes a bad result,' pop it by showing the result is not really bad.

The basic logic

The conclusion says a trend should stop. The only reason given is one consequence: students arrive at the next stage missing a certain hands-on skill. The secret sauce is that missing this skill actually hurts their learning later. Find a fact showing they do fine without it.

Tiny words that decide it

“should”
“results in”
“without”

Playground logic

Grandpa says the school should stop replacing real baking with a cooking video game, because kids will reach middle school not knowing how to use an oven. Pop it: middle schoolers can learn cooking just fine without ever having used an oven.

Step 2 · The kid story

Grandpa and the Video Game Kitchen

Owen's school stopped real baking in cooking club. Now kids bake pretend cupcakes in a video game called Kitchen Blaster. Grandpa nearly dropped his newspaper. "Nothing beats real baking for learning to cook! This must stop. Kids will reach middle school without ever touching a real oven!" Owen thought about it. "Grandpa, is that actually bad? My cousin Nadia's middle school cooking class says kids who never used an oven learn just as well as kids who did. They learn the oven on day one." Grandpa scratched his chin. "Hmm. If skipping the oven doesn't hurt their cooking later, then my big reason just went poof." Biscuit, who had been hoping for real cupcake crumbs, sighed loudly.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Grandpa: Real baking, the top method for learning to cook, is being replaced in cooking club by a video game. This should stop, because it means kids reach middle school unable to use an oven.

Which one of these, if true, does the most damage to Grandpa's argument?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Map Reading Hearing

A parents' group sued to stop a camp from replacing paper-map hikes with phone navigation. "Your Honor," said their lawyer, "nothing teaches outdoor skills like paper maps. Without them, campers will reach the junior ranger program unable to read a paper map!" Mr. Whitfield stood up. "Your Honor, the junior ranger program reports that campers with no paper-map practice do just as well as those with it. They learn what they need there." Judge Reyes put down her pen. "So the harm the plaintiffs rely on is not really a harm. Their only reason for stopping the change has lost its bite."

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 119, 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 conclusion (a trend should stop) and the single reason (a skill students will lack later). Ask what the argument assumes about that missing skill: that it matters for success at the next stage. Look for the choice that cuts that assumption. Ignore choices about why the trend happened, who spent what, or other uses of the replacement tool; they do not touch the consequence the argument leans on.