LSAT PrepTest 113 - Section 3 - Question 23

Hide analysis

Town councillor: The only reason for the town to have ordinances restricting where skateboarding can be done would be to protect children from danger. █████████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ███ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███████████ ███ ██ ████████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ █████████████ ██ ███ █████

Summarize Argument

The town councillor concludes that the town shouldn’t ban skateboarding in the park. This is because if children can't skateboard in the park, they will instead skateboard in the streets, which is more dangerous.

Notable Assumptions

The premise about skateboarding in the streets versus in the park tells us that in any given case, it is more dangerous to skateboard in the streets than in the park. But we don't know how many children will skateboard in the streets versus in the park. If only 10 children start skateboarding in the streets, versus 500 in the park, then the overall danger to children might not be greater. So the councillor assumes that enough children will start skateboarding in the streets that there will be greater danger posed to children in general compared to the current state of affairs. The councillor also assumes skateboarding in the streets will not also be prohibited.

23.

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

Question Type

Parallel method of reasoning

The town councillor's argument takes this pattern: even though a certain practice is dangerous, it should not be banned, because banning it would push people to an even more dangerous activity. In other words, X is bad, but getting rid of X would lead to Y, which would be worse. So we should not get rid of X. We're looking for an answer choice that parallels this kind of reasoning.

The reason for █████████ █████████████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████ ████ █████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ████████████ ██████████ █████████████ ████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ ████████ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ███ █████████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████

Incorrect. This doesn't match the reasoning pattern we discussed: requiring environmental reviews is not a bad thing that we should not get rid of just because the alternative would be worse.

Insecticides are designed ██ ███████ █████ ███████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ██████ ███ █████ ████████████ ███████ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██ █████████████████████ ██████ █████ ██████ ██████ ██████ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████████████████████ █████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████

Correct. This follows the reasoning pattern above. While aphids already damage tomato crops, using insecticides to get rid of aphids would kill the wasps that eat insecticide-resistant pests, which damage crops more than aphids do. So we should not use insecticides to kill aphids.

84%

The purpose of ██████████ ███████████ ███ ██████████████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ███ ██████ █ ████████ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ███ ████ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███

Incorrect. (C) argues for getting rid of the compulsory smallpox vaccine because smallpox is no longer a threat. This doesn't fit the reasoning pattern we discussed above.

The function of █ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ █████████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████████ █████ ██ █ ████ ████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ ███████████████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████████ ████████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ███████

Incorrect. (D) says that a product that provides certain advantages should not be applied to a type of wood that already has those advantages. This doesn't fit the reasoning pattern above.

Traffic patterns that ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████ █████████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ███████████ ██████

Incorrect. (E) says that the advantages of a particular practice would actually be disadvantageous in a particular area, so that practice should not be implemented there. This isn't the reasoning pattern we're looking for.

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic

More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Free practice test All free LSAT resources

PrepTest 113 - Section 3 - Question 23

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action