Logical Reasoning · Weaken

PrepTest 151 · Section 3 · Question 22

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

Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first

Question type

Weaken

The one idea it tests

When an argument blames one cause for a difference between two groups, show another difference between those groups that could explain it.

The basic logic

One group has more of a problem even though the other group faces more obvious risk. The argument blames a tool the first group uses. Pop it with an alternative cause: something the second group gets that protects them, which the first group lacks.

Tiny words that decide it

“shows”
“higher than”
“not properly”

Playground logic

Marcus blames the beanbags for sore legs in the reading corner kids, since even the tag players are fine. Frankie pops the argument: tag kids are moving all day, and moving is what keeps legs from getting stiff. Another cause explains the gap.

Step 2 · The kid story

The Beanbag Blame

Kids who spend recess in the reading corner keep complaining about stiff, sore legs. Kids who play tag, sprinting and dodging nonstop, almost never do. Marcus pounds the table. "Tag is rough on legs, yet the readers hurt more. So the beanbags must be badly made!" Frankie, who loves to argue, jumps in. "Or maybe running around is exactly what keeps legs from getting stiff. The tag kids move all day. The readers don't move at all." Sharon, who loves to argue back, actually agrees for once. "Then the beanbags could be perfect, and the readers would still be sore." Lulu writes: Missing movement, not bad beanbags? Marcus sits down on a beanbag. It is, he admits, very comfortable.

Step 3 · Try the model question

Students who spend recess sitting in the reading corner report sore legs more often than students who play tag, even though tag is hard on the legs. Marcus concludes that the reading corner beanbags are poorly made.

Suppose each choice below is true. Which one hurts Marcus's argument the most?

Step 4 · The courtroom tale

The Hammock Hearing

A hammock maker was sued. "Backyard nappers get more stiff necks than roofers, who bend and twist all day," argued the lawyer. "The hammocks must be badly designed!" Mr. Whitfield rose. "Your Honor, roofers stretch and move constantly. Doctors say steady movement is one of the best ways to prevent stiff necks. Nappers lie still for hours." The judge tilted her head. "So the roofers may be protected by their movement, not hurt less by luck, and the hammock may be fine?" "Exactly, Your Honor. Another cause fits the gap." The hammock maker sighed with relief and almost dozed off.

Step 5 · Work the real question

Open PrepTest 151, Section 3, Question 22 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.

Your answer

How to apply it

Find the two groups and the surprising gap: the group with the milder risk has more of the problem. Find what the argument blames, usually something about the first group's setting. Look for a choice that gives another cause, especially something the second group gets that protects them or that the first group lacks. Pass over choices that make the groups look the same elsewhere, or that only say where or when the problem happens.