Exam LSAT Section 1 Logical Reasoning topic 1 question 256 discussion

Actual exam question from Test Prep's LSAT Section 1 Logical Reasoning

Question #: 256
Topic #: 1

[All LSAT Section 1 Logical Reasoning Questions]

It is impossible to do science without measuring. It is impossible to measure without having first selected units of measurement. Hence, science is arbitrary, since the selection of a unit of measurementkilometer, mile, fathom, etc.is always arbitrary.
The patteni of reasoning in which one of the following is most similar to that in the argument above

A. Long hours of practice are necessary for developing musical skill. One must develop one's musical skill in order to perform difficult music. But long hours of practice are tedious. So performing difficult music is tedious.
B. You have to advertise to run an expanding business, but advertising is expensive. Hence, it is expensive to run a business.
C. It is permissible to sit on the park benches. To si ton the park benches one must walk to them. One way to walk to them is by walking on the grass. So it is permissible to walk on the grass.
D. It is impossible to be a manager without evaluating people. The process of evaluation is necessarily subjective. Thus, people resent managers because they resent being evaluated subjectively.
E. Some farming on the plains requires irrigation. This irrigation now uses water pumped from aquifers. But aquifers have limited capacity and continued pumping will eventually exhaust them. Thus, a new source of water will have to be found in order for such farming to continue indefinitely.

Show Suggested Answer

Suggested Answer: A 🗳️
The most efficient way through this Parallel Reasoning question is to recognize the kinds of statements that comprise the original argument, and then to search for the argument that contains not only the same types of statements, but the same number of them as well. Hopefully you recognized the first two sentences as statements of necessity: Paraphrasing, these boil down to "science requires measuring" and "measuring requires selecting units." These of course can be combined(science requires selecting units), another feature we’ll be looking for in the correct choice. Moving on, let’s hold the conclusion(signaled by "hence") for last and finish with the evidence: "Selecting units is always arbitrary"—that’s a simple statement of fact—and that brings us to the conclusion that science is therefore arbitrary. So what do we have here? Two linked statements of necessity, a fact and a conclusion. Thats certainly enough to go on.

by [deleted] at March 9, 2025, 1:37 p.m.

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