Logical Reasoning · Strengthen

PrepTest 151 · Section 2 · Question 26

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Strengthen

The one idea it tests

When an argument says breaking a usual habit is smart because the audience is mixed, support it by showing the usual habit backfires with a mixed audience.

The basic logic

Background: most people do it one way. Patty: this audience is very mixed. Top bun: doing it a different way is smart here. Secret sauce: aiming at one group pushes away the others. The best strengthener shows that sticking to one style costs you everyone outside it.

Tiny words that decide it

“typically”
“but”
“since”
“in this case”

Playground logic

Nadia mixes music styles at the dance even though most DJs stick to one, because the school's kids like all sorts of music. The strongest help is showing that one-style dances push the other kids off the floor.

Step 2 · The kid story

Nadia Spins the Tunes

Nadia is DJ for the fifth grade dance. Most DJs, she knows, play one style all night so the party has a clear feel. But Nadia's playlist hops from country to hip hop to polka to movie songs. Marcus is shocked. "That's not how DJs do it!" Nadia shrugs. "Our school has kids who like every kind of music. So mixing it up is smart." Owen nods. Frankie and Sharon argue about whether polka counts as music. Priya sips her juice box. "Nadia's idea gets stronger if one-style dances usually make kids who like other music leave the floor. Then sticking to one style would lose half the gym."

Step 3 · Try the model question

Most DJs play one style all night to give the party a clear feel. Nadia mixes many styles instead. That is a smart choice, since the kids at her school like many different kinds of music.

Which choice, if true, best supports the claim that Nadia's choice is smart?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Restaurant Menu Dispute

Two partners in a diner go to court. One wants a short menu with one cuisine, like most restaurants, to give the place a clear identity. The other has already printed a menu with tacos, noodles, pancakes, and curry. Mr. Whitfield defends the long menu. "Your Honor, our town has families from all over the world. A mixed menu is smart here." The judge asks, "Any proof?" Mr. Whitfield calls a food critic. "Diners with one cuisine," she says, "often lose customers who want something else, and those customers do not come back." The judge nods. "So the usual single theme would push away much of this town. That helps."

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 151, Section 2, Question 26 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Spot the usual way of doing things, the reason this case is different, and the claim that breaking the habit is smart. Ask what would make the habit a bad fit for this audience. The right answer shows the habit causes a loss with a mixed group. Skip answers that praise the habit, that are about how many people pay attention at all, or that talk about quality instead of fit.