Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT105 S4 Q11 Explanation

On the basis of research

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

TopicsStrengthen

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

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

On the basis of research with young children, a developmental psychologist hypothesized that the skills involved in copying curves must be developed before the angles can be developed.

What this question is testing

Strengthen

Your task

Find the choice that makes the argument's conclusion more likely to be true.

Common trap

Answers that are consistent with the argument but add no real support, or that strengthen a claim the argument doesn't make.

Winning move

Locate the gap between evidence and conclusion, then pick the choice that closes it.

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

The question
11.

Which one of the following, if true, supports the developmental

Answer choices

  1. Unrelated to Goal: straight lines11% picked this

    All of the children who can copy curves can also copy

    This has nothing to do with curves-before-angles. A straight line has no angles.

  2. Correct74% picked this

    All of the children who can copy angles can also

    Why this is right

    On its face, this doesn't seem to speak of any chronological sequence. How could it help us determine our chicken before the egg riddle? Conditionally, this answer looks like this: child can copy angle ? child can copy curve When we have a conditional like A ? B, we can read that as "If A, then B" or as "A requires B". If we read this conditional as "can copy angle" requires "can copy curve", then it definitely sounds like good support for this hypothesis. In fact, that literally is what the hypothesis says: Copying angles requires first learning to copy curves. This hypothesis makes a prediction that "anyone who can copy angles can copy curves", and this answer choice matches that prediction. If we have a hypothesis that makes a prediction, and the observed data matches that prediction, then say that data adds plausibility to the prediction. If I said, "you must ace Games before you can reliably score in the 170s", then I am committed to the prediction that "anyone reliably scoring in the 170s is acing Games". If you show me someone reliably scoring in the 170s who isn't acing Games, then you've shown my hypothesis is wrong. But if we say, as this answer choice did, that "all of the students who are scoring reliably in the 170s are acing games", then we're supporting my hypothesis.

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

  3. No Impact12% picked this

    The ability to discriminate angles must be developed before angles can

    This answer could have lent some plausibility to the hypothesis if it said, "the ability to discriminate curves must be developed before one can discriminate angles". But learning the causal order of discriminating angles vs. copying angles is not helping us judge the causal order of copying curves vs. copying angles.

  4. Weakens1% picked this

    Some of the children who cannot copy curves can

    This essentially refutes the hypothesis. A kid who can copy angles but not curves refutes the notion that you must develop the skills to copy curves before you can copy angles.

  5. No Impact2% picked this

    Young children have the cognitive processes involved in

    This tells us nothing about the causal sequence of curves-before-angles vs. angles-before-curves, since this answer doesn't even bring up curves.

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free