Logical Reasoning · Principle (Exception)

PrepTest 151 · Section 2 · Question 7

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Principle (Exception)

The one idea it tests

A rule rests on a reason; a case becomes an exception when that reason no longer applies to it.

The basic logic

Find why the rule exists: helping makes someone dependent and less able to cope alone. The exception is justified if, in this case, the dependence is already unavoidable, so the helping causes no new harm.

Tiny words that decide it

“because”
“exception”
“must depend”

Playground logic

The rule says don't do it for them, because doing so breeds dependence. The exception clicks when Ms. Rivera learns the kindergartners can't do it alone anyway, so the rule's reason is gone.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Snow Coat Zippers

Ms. Rivera's school rule: big buddies should not zip up the kindergartners' coats, because it makes the little ones rely on help and slower to learn it themselves. But every snowy day, Priya and Nadia zip coats at the door. Marcus pounced. "Rule breakers! Busted!" Priya calmly held up a tiny coat. "Try this zipper." Marcus tugged. Nothing. He tugged harder. Still nothing. "These new coats have zippers so stiff no five-year-old can move them. They need help no matter what. We aren't making them depend on us. They already do." Lulu wrote: Rule's reason does not fit here. Ms. Rivera smiled. "That's a fair exception."

Step 3 · Try the model question

Rule: big buddies should not zip the kindergartners' coats, since it makes them rely on help and less able to do it themselves. Situation: big buddies often zip the kindergartners' coats on snowy days.

Which choice, if assumed, best justifies treating the snowy-day zipping as an exception to the rule?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Lighthouse Keeper's Cat

A fictional island had a rule: don't feed the harbor cats, since it makes them stop hunting. Old Mr. Pell, the lighthouse keeper, fed one cat every night. He was hauled into court. "Your Honor," said Mr. Whitfield, "this cat lost a leg years ago. It cannot hunt at all. It depends on someone for food, rule or no rule." The judge put down her pen. "So feeding it does not create the problem the rule worries about. The problem is already there." She nodded. "Exception granted. Feed the cat." Mr. Pell beamed, and the cat, waiting outside, meowed in approval.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 151, Section 2, Question 7 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

First, find the reason the principle gives for its rule. Then ask what would make that reason fail in the given situation. The best choice shows the harm the rule fears is not created by the action here, for instance because the dependence already exists. Eliminate choices that pile on more harm, praise the helpers, or talk about benefits to people unrelated to the rule's reason.