Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT112 S3 Q3 Explanation

Muscular strength is a limited resource,

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

TopicsMain Conclusion

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Stimulus

Muscular strength is a limited resource, and athletic techniques help to use this resource efficiently. Since top athletes do not differ greatly from each other in muscular strength, it follows that a requirement for is a superior mastery of athletic techniques.

What this question is testing

Main Conclusion

Conclusion

The author's headline: to become a champion, an athlete needs superior mastery of athletic techniques.

Evidence

The reason is a chain: strength is limited, technique stretches it efficiently, and top athletes are roughly equal in strength. So at the very top, what separates champions from also-rans isn't more strength — it's better technique.

Evaluate

For Main Conclusion questions, scan for indicator words. "It follows that" introduces the conclusion; everything that precedes it is supporting evidence. The main claim is the requirement — that becoming a champion requires superior technique.

Watch for answers that just restate one of the supporting facts (strength is limited, top athletes have equal strength) or that flip the relationship — those are tempting because they're true, but they're not the conclusion.

Goal

An answer that says: technique mastery is necessary for championship status.

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.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of

Answer choices

  1. Bad Conclusion Match5% picked this

    Only champion athletes have a superior mastery of

    This claims that only champions have superior technique mastery. The argument's claim runs the other direction — superior technique is required for being a champion (i.e., champions all have it), but it doesn't say only champions have it. Plenty of non-champions might also have superior technique. This reverses the relationship.

  2. Bad Conclusion Match14% picked this

    Superior muscular strength is a requirement for an athlete to become

    This says superior strength is required to become a champion. The argument runs the opposite way — top athletes don't differ much in strength, so strength isn't what differentiates champions. The differentiator is technique. (B) misidentifies the requirement.

  3. Correct71% picked this

    No athlete can become a champion without a superior mastery of

    Why this is right

    This restates the conclusion. The argument said "a requirement for an athlete to become a champion is a superior mastery of athletic techniques." (C) says "no athlete can become a champion without a superior mastery of athletic techniques." Logically equivalent — both express that technique mastery is necessary for championship status.

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

  4. Bad Conclusion Match1% picked this

    The differences in muscular strength between top athletes are

    "Top athletes don't differ greatly in muscular strength" is a premise — one of the supporting facts that leads to the conclusion. It's not the conclusion itself. The author isn't arguing for this claim; it's offered as evidence for the technique-mastery requirement.

  5. Bad Conclusion Match9% picked this

    Athletic techniques help athletes use limited

    This is also a premise — a stated fact about what techniques do (help use a limited resource efficiently). It's offered as evidence en route to the conclusion, not the conclusion itself. The conclusion is the championship-requirement claim.

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