Logical Reasoning · Main Conclusion

PrepTest 124 · Section 3 · Question 3

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Main Conclusion

The one idea it tests

A 'though X, still Y' opening often puts the top bun in the Y part, with the rest of the passage backing it up.

The basic logic

Split the first sentence at the turn. The conceded part is background. The part after the turn is the claim, and the next sentences (including an example) are patty supporting it.

Tiny words that decide it

“although”
“but”
“for example”

Playground logic

Grandpa grants that today's tag is not 'better' than tag long ago, but his top bun is that kids' know-how about tag can grow. The spin move is just the patty proving it.

Step 2 · The kid story

Grandpa's Tag Lesson

Kevin asked Grandpa if kids today are better at tag than kids were when Grandpa was little. Grandpa laughed. 'Saying one generation's tag beats another's is silly. Tag is tag. But here is the thing: kids really have learned more about tag over the years. Some moves we now understand way better than kids did back then. Back then, everybody thought the backwards spin was a foul. Nobody dared use it. Now kids know how to use it to make clean, fair tags. So yes, tag know-how grows.' Kevin thought about it. 'Like how we know more about dinosaurs now?' Grandpa nodded. 'Exactly. The dinosaurs did not get better. Our knowing did.' Lulu wrote on her clipboard: 'Point = know-how grows. Spin move = proof.'

Step 3 · Try the model question

It is silly to say kids today play tag better than kids long ago. Still, kids' know-how about tag has grown over time. We understand moves that earlier players avoided; for example, kids now know how to use the backwards spin, once seen as a foul, to make fair tags.

What is Grandpa mainly trying to say?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Bread Recipe

Two bakeries argued in court over whose grandmother made better bread. Judge Okafor waved a hand. 'I will not rank grandmothers.' Mr. Whitfield, suspenders gleaming, agreed. 'Nor should you, Your Honor. But my point is different. Bakers today understand some things earlier bakers did not. For example, a dough once thrown out as too wet is now known to make the airiest loaf, if you handle it right.' The judge raised an eyebrow. 'So your claim is not that today's bread is better?' 'No, Your Honor. My claim is only that baking knowledge has grown. The wet dough is my exhibit.' The judge wrote it down: conclusion first, exhibit second.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 124, Section 3, Question 3 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Look for the turn in the opening sentence. Treat the conceded part as background, not the point. Take the claim after the turn and check that the following sentences support it, including any example. State the claim in your own words, then pick the choice that matches it. Reject choices that restate the concession, that repeat a detail from the example, or that go stronger than the passage.