Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT108 S3 Q3 Explanation

The local fair held its

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

TopicsParadox

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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 local fair held its annual photography contest and accepted entries from both amateurs and professionals. The contest awarded prizes in each of several categories. As it turned out, the contest were won by amateurs.

What this question is testing

Paradox

Setup

A photo contest open to both amateurs and pros, and most of the prizes went to amateurs. Why? Four of the answers should give a sensible reason. One won't — that's the right answer.

Evaluate

To explain "amateurs won more prizes than pros," an answer needs to tell us something about how amateurs and pros stacked up against each other in this contest. More amateur entries, judge bias, pros not submitting their best work, more amateur-only categories — those all explain.

What would not explain it? Something that doesn't address the amateur-vs-pro dynamic. A change in amateur entry numbers from previous years, by itself, doesn't tell us anything about how amateurs compared to professionals this year.

Goal

Find the answer that doesn't address why amateurs beat pros in this specific contest.

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

The question
3.

Each of the following, if true, could by itself constitute an explanation of the outcome of the

Answer choices

  1. Could Resolve2% picked this

    Many more of the entries in the contest were from amateurs than

    If many more entries came from amateurs than from professionals, then even if amateurs were no more likely individually to win, the sheer volume of amateur submissions would lead to more amateur prizes. This explains the outcome.

  2. Could Resolve2% picked this

    The judges in the contest were amateurs, and amateurs tend to prefer photographs taken

    If the judges were amateurs and amateurs prefer photographs by other amateurs, then amateur work would be favored in judging. This is a direct explanation for why amateurs won most prizes.

  3. Could Resolve7% picked this

    Amateurs tend to enter their best photographs while professionals tend to save their best work

    If amateurs entered their best work but professionals saved their best for paying clients, then the entries judged were skewed in quality — amateur best vs. professional second-tier. That would explain why amateurs won most prizes.

  4. Could Resolve5% picked this

    Each category in the contest was restricted to amateurs only or professionals only, and there were more

    If categories were segregated by amateur or professional, and there were more amateur-only categories, then there were more amateur prizes available to be won — full stop. That structurally explains why most prizes went to amateurs.

  5. Correct83% picked this

    Three times as many amateurs entered the contest as had entered in

    Why this is right

    This is the answer that does NOT explain the outcome. The fact that three times as many amateurs entered as in previous years tells us how amateur entries changed year-over-year. It says nothing about how amateurs compared to professionals this year — which is what we'd need to explain why amateurs won most prizes this year. Maybe pros also entered in much greater numbers; maybe pros submitted higher-quality work. Without comparing amateurs to professionals in this contest, the year-over-year amateur surge doesn't resolve the paradox.

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

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