LSAT Logical Reasoning : Strengthen/Support
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for LSAT Logical Reasoning
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Example Questions
Example Question #21 : Determining Which Answer Most Strengthens The Argument
The corruption in the city's government began at the very top. While the cash payoffs that were the hallmark of the scheme were only traced to lower-level officials, the payoffs were an open secret at City Hall known to everyone in the building. There is absolutely no possibility that the Mayor and the City Manager did not at least give their tacit approval.
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument?
The main official in charge of organizing the cash payoffs swore under oath that the Mayor was unaware of the scheme.
Such cash payoffs as were found in this scheme are prevalent in many different local governments.
The city has had a long history of low level corruption, beginning well before the current administration.
Quite a few recipients of the cash payoffs went against the wishes of the city goverment.
A memorandum authorizing the cash payoffs was found, with the signatures of both the Mayor and City Manager on it.
A memorandum authorizing the cash payoffs was found, with the signatures of both the Mayor and City Manager on it.
The main argument is that the corruption scheme is linked directly to the highest levels of the city government in the persons of the Mayor and City Manager. The statement that would most strengthen this argument is one that directly addresses this point. By finding a signed memorandum from the Mayor and City Manager authorizing the payoffs, the argument is reinforced by the evidence.
Example Question #22 : Determining Which Answer Most Strengthens The Argument
Video games do nothing to harm children. After being popular for three decades, there is still precious little evidence that playing video games has any negative affect on young brains. In fact, role playing and strategy games should be able to help children develop problem-solving skills better than many other traditional board games.
Which of the following statements would most strengthen the argument of the passage?
Violent video games introduce children to extreme forms of violence at an early age.
Children who play video games more often are more likely to have health problems.
Scientific research has shown that children who play video games are more successful in school.
Video games are often the means through which children learn many classic stories.
The most popular video games are those intentionally marketed to children.
Scientific research has shown that children who play video games are more successful in school.
The passage explicitly states that video games are not harmful to children, and then further speculates that video games could actually be good for children. The statement that would most strengthen this argument is one that further reinforces the good that video games can do, such as scientific evidence showing students who do better in school have played video games.
Example Question #23 : Determining Which Answer Most Strengthens The Argument
A rock band has seen recent declines in their concert attendance. To combat the decline in attendance, the rock band included more new music in their performance because a pop band recently included more new music in their live performances and saw an increase of attendance.
Which of the following most supports the rock band’s reasoning?
Rock bands are more popular than pop bands.
People who go to see pop bands also go to see rock bands.
Some of the drop in attendance was due to a pop band releasing several new songs.
People always want to hear a new song.
Rock bands and pop bands have similar patterns of attendance.
Rock bands and pop bands have similar patterns of attendance.
If rock bands and pop bands have similar patterns of attendance, then it would follow for the rock band to mimic the pop band’s means to increasing attendance. Just because people want to hear a new song does not mean they will necessarily go to a concert to hear it.
Example Question #24 : Determining Which Answer Most Strengthens The Argument
High-caloric food is quite often also the food which people most want to eat. This does not stem from a desire to be unhealthy on the part of humans, but instead reflects that humans have for the most part in history been quite active animals. A desire for calories was a necessity for any humans who would be burning large numbers of calories.
Which of the following statements most strengthens the argument presented in the passage?
Human beings like a wide array of foods, both high caloric and low caloric.
Human beings are less active today than they have ever been in recorded history.
Human activity has been largely consistent across history.
High caloric food is among the top sellers in grocery stores across America.
The highest caloric foods are not necessarily the best sellers in many restaurants.
Human beings are less active today than they have ever been in recorded history.
The argument is best stated as humans prefer high caloric food because humans traditionally burned many calories through activity. This means that anything which strengthens the argument needs to further reinforce the idea that humans were extremely active in their history. The only answer choice that appropriately does this is "Human beings are less active today than they have ever been in recorded history."
Example Question #25 : Determining Which Answer Most Strengthens The Argument
Principle: Lectures should not last longer than two hours and will only discuss topics that are relevant to the class as a whole. If none of the topics discussed during the lecture are relevant to a particular student, he or she should not be required to attend the lecture.
Application: Even though the lecture is only one hour long, Julia should not be required to attend today's lecture.
Which of the following, if true, best justifies the application of the principle above?
If Julia attends the lecture, different topics will be relevant to the class as a whole.
No topics relevant to Julia are relevant to the class as a whole.
If Julia attends the lecture and asks questions, the lecture will last too long.
The only questions that Julia could ask during the lecture are irrelevant to the class as a whole.
Most of the topics discussed in the lecture are not relevant to Julia.
No topics relevant to Julia are relevant to the class as a whole.
The correct answer choice needs to fulfill the following criterion in order to justify Julia not attending class: None of the topics discussed are relevant to Julia. (The application already states that the lecture is less than two hours). None of the answer choices directly state this, but the correct answer choice logically implies this. If none of the topics that are relevant to Julia are relevant to the class as a whole, then none of the topics relevant to Julia will be discussed (ONLY topics relevant to the class as a whole will be discussed). And if none of the topics relevant to Julia will be discussed, this justifies Julia not attending the lecture.
Example Question #26 : Determining Which Answer Most Strengthens The Argument
If the President of Yakistan does not get reelected, then his political party will not maintain power. If the unemployment rate continues to decline, the President of Yakistan will not get reelected. Several experts have predicted that the unemployment rate will continue to decline. Therefore, the President of Yakistan’s political party will not maintain power.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the conclusion made in the paragraph above?
The President of Yakistan’s political party is likely to select a new platform in the upcoming election.
Several economic experts have political connections with the opposition party to the President of Yakistan.
Expert predictions tend to be reliable.
Yakistan borders Kazubistan which is having economic problems.
The unemployment rate will remain stable.
Expert predictions tend to be reliable.
We are looking for an answer that strengthens the problem. One of the weaknesses of the stimulus’ argument is that we do not know for sure if we can trust the predictions of the cited experts. The correct answer confirms that the experts are reliable making it much more likely that the unemployment rate will continue to decline. The other answers either weaken the conclusion or have no relevance.
Example Question #27 : Strengthen/Support
A new government report claims that the current administration has curtailed its domestic surveillance program. However, the report maintains that specific programs within the domestic surveillance infrastructure the government maintains will remain classified. In the past when the government has kept information classified, the visible reforms the government has performed have been negated by secret expansions. Thus, we know that the current administration has failed to curtail its domestic surveillance program.
Each of the following strengthens the argument presented in the paragraph above EXCEPT
The only way to curtail the domestic surveillance program is by eliminating secrete expansions in the program.
The current report is the first the current administration has released.
The government tends to hide its most significant acts of surveillance in classified reports.
Classified reports set future precedents for expansion of surveillance.
The current administration has released several reports with classified information.
The current report is the first the current administration has released.
The correct answer does not strengthen the argument and in fact weakens the argument by showing that the relationship presented that has occurred in the past may not be applicable. The new administration has never released a report with classified information before so we do not know if it will maintain a similar strategy to past administrations. The other answers strengthen the argument presented in the stimulus.
Example Question #28 : Strengthen/Support
Intellectual property rights are essential to providing incentives for pharmaceutical companies to innovate and create new medicines. Despite this, the government should be willing to curtail some intellectual property rights. Millions of people are dying of various diseases and the fact that some pharmaceutical companies have exclusive rights to produce certain drugs means many people are unable to purchase those drugs.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument presented in the stimulus.
Many of the innovations necessary to help fight against various diseases that are killing millions of people have already occurred and have been patented.
Many pharmaceutical companies would not innovate if they did not have large monetary incentives to do so.
Many drugs that are produced by companies other than the ones that initially invented them are defective.
Some diseases have a long incubation period before they begin to show their symptoms.
Various countries across the world already violate intellectual property rights.
Many of the innovations necessary to help fight against various diseases that are killing millions of people have already occurred and have been patented.
The correct answer will help strengthen the argument presented in the stimulus. One way to strengthen this stimulus is by showing that the reduction in innovation produced by curtailing intellectual property rights will not make it harder to help the millions of people across the world dying of various diseases. The correct answer does this by showing that the innovations to help cure the disease have already occurred.
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