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Logical Reasoning · Principle

PrepTest 137 · 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
Principle (justify an application)
The one idea it tests
To make a rule cover a case, find the bridge that turns the case's facts into the rule's trigger.
The basic logic
The rule forbids a certain act when it benefits the person acting. The case shows the act benefited someone close to that person, not the person directly. The principle you need says that helping those close to you counts as helping yourself.
Tiny words that decide it
  • “oneself”
  • “should”
  • “even”

Playground logic

The rule says hall monitors can't use their job to help themselves. Tommy let Lulu cut the line. The Click Test: once 'helping your family counts as helping yourself' is added, the rule snaps onto the case.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Hall Monitor's Sister

Tommy is hall monitor this week, and he takes it very seriously. He has a sash. The rule on the classroom wall says: 'Monitors must not use their job to get things for themselves.' At lunch, Tommy waves Lulu to the front of the line, right past Nadia and Owen. 'Hey!' says Nadia. 'That's against the rule!' Tommy argues, 'The rule says for myself. Lulu isn't me. She's my sister.' Ms. Rivera tilts her head. 'True. But if helping your family counts as helping yourself, then you broke the rule.' Tommy looks at the sash, then at Lulu, then at the floor. Lulu quietly walks back to her spot and makes a note on her clipboard.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Class rule: Hall monitors must not use their job to get things for themselves. Application: Tommy, the hall monitor, broke the rule when he let his sister Lulu move to the front of the lunch line.

Which principle, if accepted, best supports applying the rule this way?

Choices

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Referee's Nephew

A youth league rule says referees may not use their position to benefit themselves. Referee Gallo gave a penalty kick to a team on which his nephew plays. His lawyer argued, 'Your Honor, the rule says themselves. The nephew is not the referee.' Mr. Whitfield, representing the league, adjusted his suspenders. 'The league treats a benefit to family as a benefit to the official. Under that principle, the rule plainly covers this.' The judge agreed. 'Without that bridge, the rule would not reach the nephew. With it, the referee is out of bounds.'

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 137, Section 2, Question 8 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Read the guideline and note exactly who must benefit for it to apply. Then read the application and note who actually benefited. Spot the gap between the two. Pick the principle that closes it, so the rule clicks onto the case. Reject principles that are true but general, or that never connect the actual beneficiary to the rule's trigger.