PT129.S2.Q19

PrepTest 129 - Section 2 - Question 19

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Team captain: Support Winning requires the willingness to cooperate, Support which in turn requires motivation. ██ ███ ████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ███ ███ ██████████

Objective: Parallel Questions

Parallel questions have a highly regimented theory and approach – even if your core logical intuitions are very strong, following a routine process specifically built around the LSAT’s unique patterns will dramatically reduce the time and mental energy required to identify the correct answer. So review these lessons. They’re important.

In short, though, our approach will be to develop an abstract model of the stimulus’ argument, preserving the structure but not the subject matter, then take a shallow dip into the answer choices looking for structural mismatches. Usually that suffices to identify the correct answer, but sometimes we’ll need a deep dive to distinguish between the (usually just two) answer choices that remain after our shallow dip.

Use Formal Logic

If thinking about this question in English is easier for you than using formal logic, you need more practice gaining fluency in formal logic. Think of English and formal logic as two closely-related tools, like a hand screwdriver and a power screwdriver. While it’s true that any job you can complete with one you could also complete with the other, they each have niche uses in which they excel. If you find yourself tackling a line of 100 wood screws with a hand screwdriver, you need to get better with the power screwdriver.

Diagramming The Argument

The first sentence combines two claims, both of which use the word requires to indicate the necessary condition:

Premise 1: Winning → Cooperate
Premise 2: Cooperate → Motivation

They make a chain:

Chain 1+2: Winning → Cooperate → Motivation

The conclusion uses if to indicate the sufficient condition:

Conclusion: /Motivation → /Winning

Making sense of the argument requires taking the contrapositive either of the Conclusion or of Chain 1+2. Remember that when we’re evaluating an argument’s structure, logically equivalent translations (like contrapositives) are, in fact, equivalent. So either of these is fine:

(CP) Chain 1+2: /Motivation → /Cooperate → /Winning
Conclusion: /Motivation → /Winning
Chain 1+2: Winning → Cooperate → Motivation
(CP) Conclusion: Winning → Motivation
Show answer
19.

The pattern of reasoning in █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████

a

Being healthy requires █████████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ████ ███ █████████

b

Learning requires making ████ █████████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████ ████████ ███████ █████ █████ █ ██████████ ████████████

c

Our political party ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ █████████ ████████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████████

d

You can repair ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ███ █████████████ ███ ██ ███ ███ █████████████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ██ ██ ███ ███ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ██████████ █████████

e

Getting a ticket ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███ ████ █████████

Confirm action

Are you sure?