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 LSAT LSAT Logical Reasoning Practice Questions

 

 
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This Mini-Test consists of 5 Logical Reasoning pracice questions. Select your responses by clicking on the buttons. Limit your time to 9 minutes.
.
NOTE: This page contains everything you need for this Mini-Test (including explanations). So you can save the file if you wish, then test yourself offline.
 
DIRECTIONS: For each question, select the best answer from the five lettered choices.
 
 
.LSAT Logical ReasoningQuestion 1 of 5

Answer
 
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People should be held accountable for their own behavior, and if holding people accountable for their own behavior entails capital punishment, then so be it. However, no person should be held accountable for behavior over which he or she had no control.
 
Which of the following is the most logical conclusion of the argument above?
 
(A) People should not be held accountable for the
...........behavior of other people.
(B) People have control over their own behavior.
(C) People cannot control the behavior of other people.
(D) Behavior that cannot be controlled should not be
...........punished.
(E) People have control over behavior that is subject
...........to capital punishment.

 
.LSAT Logical ReasoningQuestion 2 of 5

Answer
 
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As any economist knows, healthy people pose less of an economic burden to society than unhealthy people. Not surprisingly, then, every dollar our state government spends on prenatal care for undocumented immigrants will save taxpayers of this state three dollars.
 
Which of the following, if true, would best explain why the statistics cited above are not surprising?
 
(A) The state's taxpayers pay for prenatal care of all
...........immigrants.
(B) Babies born in this state to undocumented immigrant
...........parents are entitled to infant care benefits from
...........the state.
(C) State benefits for prenatal care serve to promote
...........undocumented immigration.
(D) Babies whose mothers did not receive prenatal care
...........are just as healthy as other babies.
(E) Pregnant women who do not receive prenatal care are
...........more likely to experience health problems than
...........other pregnant women.

 
.LSAT Logical ReasoningQuestion 3 of 5

Answer
 
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Beautiful beaches attract people, no doubt about it. Just look at this city's beautiful beaches, which are among the most overcrowded beaches in the state.
 
Which of the following exhibits a pattern of reasoning most similar to the one exhibited in the argument above?
 
(A) Moose and bear usually appear at the same drinking
...........hole at the same time of day. Therefore, moose and
...........bear must grow thirsty at about the same time.
(B) Children who are scolded severely tend to misbehave
...........more often than other children. Hence if a child is
...........not scolded severely that child is less likely to
...........misbehave.
(C) This software program helps increase the work
...........efficiency of its users. As a result, these users
...........have more free time for other activities.
(D) During warm weather my dog suffers from fleas
...........more so than during cooler weather. Therefore,
...........fleas must thrive in a warm environment.
(E) Pesticides are known to cause anemia in some people.
...........However, most anemic people live in regions where
...........pesticides are not commonly used.

 
.LSAT Logical ReasoningQuestion 4 of 5

Answer
 
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Our school district should not spend its money on the new Verbal Advantage reading program. After all, our students get all the reading practice they need by studying history and science.
 
The argument above depends on which the following assumptions?
 
(A) The Verbal Advantage program would not help the
...........students learn history and science.
(B) Other reading programs are just as effective but
...........less expensive than the Verbal Advantage program.
(C) The Verbal Advantage program involves only reading
...........practice.
(D) Teaching students history and science is more
...........important than teaching them reading skills.
(E) The students can already read well enough to
...........study history and science.

 
.LSAT Logical ReasoningQuestion 5 of 5

Answer
 
Previous

Newspaper publishers earn their profits primarily from advertising revenue, and potential advertisers are more likely to advertise in newspapers with a wide circulation — a large number of subscribers and other readers — than with other newspapers. But the circulation of the newspaper that is currently the most profitable one in this city has steadily declined during the last two years, while the circulation of one of its competitors has steadily increased.
 
Any of the following, if true, would help explain the apparent discrepancy between the two statements above EXCEPT:
 
(A) Advertisers generally switch from the most widely
...........circulated newspaper to another one only when the
...........other one becomes the most widely circulated
...........newspaper instead.
(B) Advertising rates charged by the most profitable
...........newspaper in the city are significantly higher than
...........those charged by its competitors.
(C) The most profitable newspaper in the city receives
...........revenue from its subscribers as well from advertisers.
(D) The circulation of the most profitable newspaper
...........in the city is still greater than than of any of its
...........competitors.
(E) The number of newspapers competing viably with the
...........most profitable newspaper in the city has increased
...........during the last two years.

 

Question 1 — Analysis
(Return to Question 1)
The correct response to Question 1 is (B). The argument includes the following two premises:
    Premise: People are accountable for their own behavior.
    Premise: People are not accountable for behavior they cannot control.
Here's the logical conclusion based on these two premises:
    Conclusion: People can control their own behavior.
(A) would require that people never have control over the behavior of other people. Yet the argument does not provide this premise.
 
(C) would require that people should not be held accountable for the behavior of other people. Yet the argument does not provide this premise.
 
(D) is not a conclusion; (D) simply reiterates one of the argument's premises (the second sentence).
 
(E) is not inferable. The argument allows for the possibility that a person might not have control over another person's behavior which is subject to capital punishment.

 

Question 2 — Analysis
(Return to Question 2)
The correct response to Question 2 is (E). The argument relies on the unstated assumption that prenatal care results in better health and therefore less cost to society. (E) helps affirm this assumption.
 
(A) is irrelevant to the argument, which makes no distinction between undocumented immigrants and other immigrants.
 
(B) describes benefits that might decrease the overall tax burden, but only if the prenatal care program serves to reduce the amount of infant-care benefits paid. The argument does not inform us whether this is the case. Thus it is impossible to assess the extent to which (B) would explain how the prenatal care would save the taxpayers money.
 
(C) actually renders the statistics more surprising, by providing evidence that prenatal care will add to society's economic burden.
 
(D) also renders the statistics more surprising, by providing evidence that the cost of the prenatal care program will not be offset by a particular health benefit — a benefit which would lessen the taxpayers' economic burden.

 

Question 3 — Analysis
(Return to Question 3)
The correct response to Question 3 is (D). The original argument bases a conclusion that one phenomenon causes another on an observed correlation between the two phenomena. The argument boils down to the following:
    Premise: X (beautiful beach) is correlated with Y (crowd of people).
    Conclusion: X (beautiful beach) causes Y (crowd of people).
Answer choice (D) demonstrates the same pattern of reasoning:
    Premise: X (warm weather) is correlated with Y (fleas).
    Conclusion: X (warm weather) causes Y (fleas).
(A) demonstrates a different pattern of reasoning than the original argument:
    Premise: X (moose at the drinking hole) is correlated with Y (bears at the drinking hole).
    Conclusion: X (moose) and Y (bear) are both caused by Z (thirst).
(B) demonstrates a different pattern of reasoning than the original argument:
    Premise: X (scolding children) is correlated with Y (misbehavior among children).
    Assumption: Either X causes Y, or Y causes X.
    Conclusion: Not X (no scolding) will be correlated with not Y (no misbehavior).
(C) demonstrates a different pattern of reasoning than the original argument:
    Premise: X (software program) causes Y (efficiency).
    Assumption: Y (efficiency) causes Z (free time).
    Conclusion: X (software program) causes Z (free time).
(E) demonstrates a different pattern of reasoning than the original argument. In fact, (E) is not a complete argument; it contains two premises but no conclusion:
    Premise: X (pesticides) causes Y (anemia).
    Premise: Not X (pesticide-free regions) is correlated with Y (anemia).

 

Question 4 — Analysis
(Return to Question 4)
The correct response to Question 4 is (C). The argument boils down to the following, including the unstated assumption provided by (C):
    Premise: Students get enough reading practice already.
     
    Unstated assumption (C): The reading program provides only reading practice.
     
    Conclusion: The reading program is unnecessary.
(A) is not a necessary assumption. The argument is not concerned with whether improved reading skills would help the students learn history and science. Rather, the argument involves whether the new program would help improve reading skills.
 
(B) is not a necessary assumption. The argument is that no additional reading practice is needed, regardless of which program provides that practice.
 
(D) is not a necessary assumption. The argument does not aim to compare the importance of one discipline over another.
 
(E) is not a necessary assumption. The argument is not concerned with whether improved reading skills would help the students learn history and science. Rather, the argument involves whether the new program would help improve reading skills.

 

Question 5 — Analysis
(Return to Question 5)
The correct response to Question 5 is (E). Assuming the number of viable competitors has increased during the last two years, the likely result would be to draw circulation away from already viable newspapers, including the most profitable one. Given that profitability depends primarily on advertising revenues and therefore on circulation, (E) actually exacerbates the discrepancy between the two statements.
 
(A) and (D) help explain why the most profitable newspaper remains most profitable even though its circulation is declining: Advertisers have not yet begun to switch because the most profitable newspaper is still the most widely circulated.
 
(B) helps explain the discrepancy. Although the argument provides that advertisers are more likely to advertise with widely circulated newspapers than with others, it is entirely possible that other factors, such as advertising rates that a newspaper charges, also affect which newspapers advertisers choose.
 
(C) helps explain the discrepancy, by identifying another source of revenue and therefore another means of enhancing profitability. Simply stated, the more sources of revenue the more profitable a newspaper is likely to be. This in turn helps explain why the most profitable newspaper in the city remains the most profitable one, despite declining circulation. Admittedly, as circulation decreases so does subscriber revenue, and thus overall profitability. Yet the newspaper's profitability is still greater than it would be without revenue from its subscribers.
 

 

 

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