Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT10 S4 Q21 Explanation

The proper way to plan

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

TopicsFlaw

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Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Stimulus

The proper way to plan a scientific project is first to decide its goal and then to plan the best way to accomplish that goal. The United States space station project does not conform to this ideal. When the Cold War ended, the project lost its original purpose, so another purpose was It is, therefore, abundantly clear that the space station should not be built.

What this question is testing

Flaw

Your task

Describe the reasoning error the argument actually commits.

Common trap

Answers that name a real logical flaw the argument doesn't actually make.

Winning move

Articulate the gap in the reasoning yourself, then match it to the choice that describes that 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
21.

The reasoning in the argument is flawed because

Answer choices

  1. Trap3% picked this

    attacks the proponents of a claim rather than arguing against the

  2. Trap8% picked this

    presupposes what it sets out to

  3. Trap13% picked this

    faults planners for not foreseeing a certain event, when in fact that event

  4. Trap18% picked this

    contains statements that lead to a

  5. Correct58% picked this

    concludes that a shortcoming is fatal, having produced evidence only of the existence

    Why this is right

    Answer E is correct.

    Skill tested: Flaw · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

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