Logical Reasoning · Principle

PrepTest 133 · 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

Principle (illustrated by examples)

The one idea it tests

When a passage gives only examples, the right answer is the general pattern they share, stated no more strongly than the examples allow.

The basic logic

Line up the examples and ask what they have in common. Here, each example shows something created early whose use was found only much later. Pick the answer that names that pattern with a modest word like 'some,' not one that claims prediction, necessity, or ranking.

Tiny words that decide it

“some”
“only”
“later”

Playground logic

Grandpa's two examples are the patty, and there is no top bun at all, so we build one. Both show something made long ago that turned out to be useful only much later, and that shared pattern is the answer.

Step 2 · The kid story

Grandpa's Attic Surprises

Grandpa was cleaning the attic with Kevin and Tommy. He held up a strange wooden peg board. "I carved this forty years ago just for fun," he said. "Last week Kevin discovered it's the perfect stand for his dinosaur models." Kevin beamed and held up a stegosaurus. Then Grandpa pulled out a long knitted tube. "Aunt Rosa knitted this ages ago, and nobody knew what it was for. Yesterday Lulu found it fits the cat's scratching post exactly." Tommy scratched his head. "So stuff you make can sit around for years before anyone figures out what it's good for?" "Sometimes," said Grandpa. "Not always. But sometimes." Tommy quietly checked whether his old candy tin might be useful someday too.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Grandpa carved a wooden peg board forty years ago, and only last week did Kevin find it was perfect for holding his dinosaur models. Aunt Rosa knitted a tube long ago that no one could use until Lulu found it fits the cat's scratching post exactly.

The examples above best illustrate which of the following?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Forgotten Patent

In a fictional patent court, an inventor's lawyer argued that ideas always find their purpose right away. Mr. Whitfield disagreed. "Your Honor, Exhibit One: a spring design drawn in a notebook decades ago, ignored until a toy company used it last year. Exhibit Two: an old stitching pattern nobody wanted, until a tent maker found it perfect for waterproof seams." He paused. "I am not claiming every idea waits. I am claiming that some ideas sit unused for a long time before anyone sees what they are good for. Two examples are enough to show that much, and no more." The judge nodded. "A modest claim, well supported."

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 133, Section 2, Question 5 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Read the examples and note what each one has in common, especially the order of events and the time between them. Write your own one-line pattern before reading the choices. Pick the answer that matches it with modest wording such as 'some.' Cross out answers that go beyond what a couple of examples can show, that add claims about intentions or necessity, or that make comparisons the examples never set up.