Logical Reasoning · Point at Issue

PrepTest 150 · Section 2 · 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

Point of Agreement

The one idea it tests

Two speakers who predict opposite outcomes can still share a hidden premise.

The basic logic

Use the Two-Clipboard Test, but look for a check mark on both clipboards. One speaker states a condition outright. The other speaker's prediction only makes sense if that same condition holds. That shared condition is the agreement.

Tiny words that decide it

“only way”
“because”
“will not”

Playground logic

Frankie and Sharon disagree about what Kevin will do, but both of their stories run through the same gate: the dinosaur book costs Kevin his pizza. Frankie says it out loud; Sharon's prediction needs it to be true. That shared gate is the point they agree on.

Step 2 · The kid story

Kevin's Big Choice

Kevin's mom made a deal: Kevin can get the giant dinosaur sticker book, but only if he gives up pineapple pizza Fridays for a month. Frankie and Sharon, of course, started debating. Frankie: "Kevin will give up pizza. That is the only way he gets the book, and the book is what he wants most in the world." Sharon: "No way. Kevin will not get the book, because his pizza Fridays matter more to him." Lulu wrote two clipboards. Frankie: gives up pizza, gets book. Sharon: keeps pizza, no book. Then she smiled. "You both think the pizza is the price of the book. Sharon, if he could get the book some other way, keeping pizza would not stop him." Kevin was busy telling Biscuit about stegosaurus plates.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Frankie: Kevin will give up pizza Fridays, because that is the only way his mom will buy him the sticker book, and the book is what he wants most. Sharon: Kevin will not get the sticker book, because keeping his pizza Fridays matters more to him.

The conversation most strongly suggests that Frankie and Sharon agree on which point?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

Two Lawyers, One Gate

The baker wants a new oven, and the landlord says the only way he can install it is to give up his front window display. Lawyer Pell: "Your Honor, the baker will give up the window, since that is the only way to get the oven, and the oven is what he wants most." Lawyer Grant: "Nonsense. He will never get the oven. That window display matters more to him." Mr. Whitfield, watching from the gallery, chuckled. "They argue like cats, but they stand on the same floorboard. Both assume the window is the price of the oven." The judge wrote it down: agreed fact.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 150, Section 2, Question 3 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Write each speaker's prediction on a separate clipboard. Then list the reasons each one gives. One speaker will state a condition plainly; check whether the other speaker's reasoning quietly needs that same condition. Cross off any choice that only one speaker says, and any choice that one speaker directly rejects. The right answer is a premise both stories travel through, even if only one says it aloud.