Historically, monetary systems have developed

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsMust be True

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Stimulus

Historically, monetary systems have developed only in population centers with marketplaces. Through the fourth century B.C., Mesopotamian cities engaged in trade, but had never had marketplaces. By that period, however, Greek cities all had marketplaces, or agorae. The Greek cities’ traded there either for money or for commodities.

What this question is testing

Must be True

Your task

Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.

Common trap

Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.

Winning move

Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence gap.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question

14.

If all of the statements in the passage are true, then which one of the following must

Answer choices

Trap5% picked this
In the fourth century B.C., Greek cities were the only population centers
5%
Trap6% picked this
The development of monetary systems has historically led to the development
6%
Trap3% picked this
In the fourth century B.C., the Greeks and the Mesopotamians traded
3%
Trap2% picked this
After the fourth century B.C., Mesopotamian cities had marketplaces and
2%
Correct84% picked this
The Mesopotamian cities of the fourth century B.C. did not have
Why this is right
Answer E is correct.
Skill tested: Must be True · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
84%

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