Logical Reasoning · Weaken
PrepTest 157 · Section 2 · Question 4
Phase 1 (your first ~400 questions): read the guidance, then answer. No clock.
Step 1 · Pre-Question Guidance · read this first
- “as much as possible”
- “any”
- “therefore”
Playground logic
Marcus's top bun: make volunteers promise they can't quit all summer. His patties: the stand needs as many volunteers as possible, so it can't lose any. We pop it by showing the no-quitting rule scares new kids away, so the stand ends up with fewer volunteers, not more.
Step 2 · The kid story
The No-Quitting Lemonade Rule
The lemonade stand was booming, and Marcus was in charge of helpers. "We need as many volunteers as we can get," he told everyone. "So we can't lose a single one. New rule: anyone who signs up can't quit until September!" Nadia and Owen looked at each other. Lulu raised her clipboard. "I asked six kids who were thinking of joining. When they heard about the rule, five said no way. Nobody wants to be stuck all summer." Priya set down her juice box. "So the rule keeps the volunteers we have, but it stops new ones from signing up. Your goal was more helpers. This gives you fewer." Marcus stared at the empty sign-up sheet. "Maybe the rule needs a nap."
Step 3 · Try the model question
The lemonade stand needs as many volunteers as possible. So it cannot afford to lose any volunteers. Therefore, the stand should make a rule that nobody who signs up may quit before the summer ends.
Which fact, if it holds, hurts Marcus's reasoning the most?
Step 4 · The courtroom tale
The Case of the Locked Library
The town council's lawyer stood. "Your Honor, our library needs as many donated books as possible. We can't lose even one. So we passed a law: once you donate a book, you can never take it back." Mr. Whitfield adjusted his suspenders and called a witness, a retired teacher with three boxes of novels. "Did you donate?" he asked. "I was going to," she said, "until I heard about the law. What if I want my grandmother's copy back someday? So I kept every box." Mr. Whitfield turned to the bench. "The law keeps old books in, Your Honor, and keeps new ones out. That's fewer books, not more."
Step 5 · Work the real question
Open PrepTest 157, Section 2, Question 4 in your official copy from LSAC (for example in LawHub) and read it there.
Your answer
How to apply it
Find the goal (have as much of something as possible), the middle bun (so none can be lost), and the plan (make removal hard). Ask what the plan might cost. Look for the choice showing the plan triggers a side effect that reduces the very thing the goal wants. Skip choices that only confirm the thing is valuable, describe other places, or mention rules already in place.