Logical Reasoning · Principle (Justify)

PrepTest 151 · Section 2 · Question 2

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)

The one idea it tests

A rule that makes it wrong to judge a new plan before enough time has passed.

The basic logic

The arguer admits the plan had some bad side effects, yet says it was ended too soon. The principle you want must be about timing: a plan's real effect cannot be judged until it has run long enough.

Tiny words that decide it

“should not”
“so soon”
“until”
“at least”

Playground logic

Priya's top bun says the seating plan was dropped too early. Her patty only shows it had a short, bumpy run. The principle that clicks says plans like this cannot be fairly judged until they run a set amount of time.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Three-Day Seating Chart

Ms. Rivera made a seating chart to stop chatter: talkers apart, quiet kids between. On day two, Kevin traded seats with Owen when Ms. Rivera stepped out, and on day three Marcus did too. By Thursday the chart was gone. Priya shook her head. "It got some swapping, sure. But three days? Nobody learns a new seat that fast." Marcus said, "It had problems, so it's dead." Lulu flipped her clipboard. "Problems in the first week don't tell you what week four looks like." Priya nodded. "Exactly. You can't tell if a plan like that works until it has had real time. Two weeks, at least." Kevin raised his hand. "Can I still sit by the dinosaur poster?"

Step 3 · Try the model question

Ms. Rivera's seating chart, meant to cut down on chatter, was dropped after three days. Some kids had been sneaking into other seats. Even so, Priya says the chart should not have been dropped so quickly.

Which rule, if true, gives the best support to Priya's view?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Case of the Early Pumpkin

A fair judge was asked to rule on the town's pumpkin contest. One grower pulled his pumpkin from the patch after just ten days, saying it looked lumpy. His partner sued. "Your Honor," said Mr. Whitfield, "yes, it was lumpy. Yes, a squirrel nibbled it. But you cannot know how big a pumpkin will get after ten days." He held up the contest handbook. "Rule seven: no pumpkin may be judged before sixty days of growing." The judge read it twice. "So the lumps don't settle it. The calendar does." She banged her gavel. "Pulled too early." The squirrel, watching from a window, looked guilty.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 151, Section 2, Question 2 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Read the conclusion and notice exactly what it claims went wrong: here it is about when something was stopped. Notice the arguer grants some downsides. Then look for the principle that connects the evidence to a timing judgment. Test each choice: if true, would it make the conclusion follow? Toss choices about whether to start, what to target, or when to stop for other reasons.