Logical Reasoning · Sufficient Assumption
PrepTest 154 · 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
- “any sort”
- “essential”
- “presupposes”
- “since”
Playground logic
Owen hates rules of every kind. Board games need turns, and turns need rules. The top bun says Owen fights something his own recess fun depends on, but nobody said board games are essential to his recess fun. That missing hook is the magic key.
Step 2 · The kid story
Owen Against All Rules
Owen stands on a lunch bench. "I am against rules! All of them! Every single one!" Sharon claps. Frankie boos. Priya calmly writes on a napkin. "Owen," she says, "you are fighting against the thing your recess fun depends on." Owen blinks. "How?" Priya points to her napkin chain. "Board games need turns. Turns need rules. So rules hold up board games." Marcus frowns. "But you never said Owen's recess fun needs board games. Maybe he just runs around." Lulu flips her clipboard. "Owen has played Castle Quest every single recess since September. He says recess is pointless without it." Priya grins. "There is the missing link. Now my chain clicks all the way from Owen's fun to the rules he hates."
Step 3 · Try the model question
Priya: Owen opposes rules of every kind. Yet that stance puts him against something his own recess fun depends on, because board games require taking turns, and taking turns requires rules.
Which assumption, if added, would make Priya's conclusion follow logically?
Step 4 · The courtroom tale
The Gardener Who Hated Fences
"Your Honor," says attorney Plum, "Mr. Thistle campaigns against every fence in town. But he campaigns against his own livelihood. Rose beds need protection from deer, and protection from deer requires fences." Mr. Whitfield rises. "A tidy chain, counsel. But where does Mr. Thistle's livelihood enter it?" Plum hands up a ledger. "His business sells nothing but roses. Rose beds are essential to his work." The judge nods slowly. "Without that page, the chain floats in the air. With it, the chain is hooked to Mr. Thistle himself. Livelihood needs rose beds, rose beds need fences, and he opposes fences." Thistle sighs and asks whether a very short fence counts.
Step 5 · Work the real question
Open PrepTest 154, Section 2, Question 2 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.
Your answer
How to apply it
Write the chain the patty gives, link by link. Then write the top bun and spot the term in it that the chain never touches, usually the person's own work or goal. Ask which statement would hook that term onto the first link of the chain. Click Test each choice: add it and see if the conclusion is forced. Skip choices that deny a link, talk about other people, or restate a link already given.