Logical Reasoning · Paradox (Explain EXCEPT)

PrepTest 124 · Section 2 · 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

Paradox (Explain EXCEPT)

The one idea it tests

A cause can only explain a change if it was in place while the change happened. Watch the dates.

The basic logic

The stimulus gives a change and a time window, marked by one event at the start and another at the end. Four choices give causes acting inside the window, so each could help explain the change. The odd one out is something that began only at the end of the window, too late to have caused what came before it.

Tiny words that decide it

“between”
“when”
“first”
“EXCEPT”

Playground logic

Lemonade sales doubled from the day Priya hung her sign to the day Aunt Rosa began giving free cookies. Things that happened during the summer can help explain the jump. The cookies started on the last day, so they arrived too late to cause it. A rooster cannot cause a sunrise that already happened.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Doubling Lemonade Stand

Priya hung a bright sign on her lemonade stand on June 1. By August 31, her daily sales had doubled. That same August 31, Aunt Rosa started handing out free cookies with every cup. Marcus slapped the table. 'Obviously the cookies did it!' Lulu checked her clipboard. 'The cookies started on August 31. The doubling happened before that.' Nadia listed other ideas. 'A heat wave hit in July. A playground opened across the street in June. And Priya added pink lemonade in July.' 'Those all happened during the summer,' said Lulu, 'so any of them could have helped.' Priya sipped her juice box. 'The cookies are nice. But they are latecomers. They can't explain a jump that was already done.'

Step 3 · Try the model question

Priya's lemonade sales doubled between June 1, when she put up a sign, and August 31, when Aunt Rosa began giving away a free cookie with each cup.

Each choice below could help account for the doubling, with one exception. Which is it?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Early Blooms

In a fictional garden contest, Mrs. Lin's roses doubled in number between March, when she planted new bushes, and May, when the town installed free sprinklers. Her rival's lawyer argued, 'The sprinklers caused it! She had an unfair advantage!' Mr. Whitfield raised one finger. 'Your Honor, the sprinklers arrived in May. The roses had already doubled by then. A cause cannot work backward in time.' He listed the spring rains, the new bushes, and the fertilizer she bought in April. 'Those all happened during the window.' Judge Park nodded. 'The sprinklers are innocent of this one. The roses grew fair and square.'

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 124, Section 2, Question 5 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Mark the start and end of the time window and what changed during it. For each choice, ask: did this act during the window? Choices that act inside the window, even if they seem broad or unrelated, could help explain and are wrong for an EXCEPT question. Pick the one choice that begins only at the end, or otherwise could not have touched the change.