Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT102 S2 Q7 Explanation

Generations of European-history

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

TopicsMain Conclusion

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Stimulus

Generations of European-history students have been taught that a political assassination caused the First World War. Without some qualification, however, this teaching is bound to mislead, since the war would not have happened without the treaties and alliances that were already in effect and the military force that was already amassed. These spark that happens to ignite a conflagration that was, in the prevailing conditions, inevitable.

What this question is testing

Main Conclusion

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
7.

Which one of the following most accurately restates the main point of

Answer choices

  1. Trap16% picked this

    The assassination did not cause the war, since the assassination was only the last in a chain of events leading up to the war,

  2. Trap4% picked this

    The war was destined to happen, since the course of history up to that point could

  3. Correct73% picked this

    Though the statement that the assassination caused the war is true, the term “cause” more fundamentally applies to the conditions that made it possible

    Why this is right

    Answer C is correct.

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

  4. Trap2% picked this

    If the assassination had occurred when it did but less military force had at that time been amassed, then the war’s outbreak might have

  5. Trap4% picked this

    Although the conditions prevailing at the time the war started made war inevitable, if the war had not been triggered by the assassination it

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