Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT121 S1 Q5 Explanation

Compact discs (CDs) offer an improvement

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

TopicsMain Conclusion

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Stimulus

Compact discs (CDs) offer an improvement in artistic freedom over vinyl records. As the record needle moves in toward a vinyl record’s center, it must fight centrifugal force. Wide, shallow, or jagged grooves will cause the needle to jump; consequently, the song nearest the center—the last song on the side—cannot have especially such limitations, leaving artists free to end recordings with any song.

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
5.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of

Answer choices

  1. Correct90% picked this

    CDs provide greater artistic latitude than do

    Why this is right

    It is synonymous with our conclusion. CDs providing "greater artistic latitude" matches our conclusion that "CDs provide greater artistic freedom." So choice (A) is the correct answer.

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

  2. Premise1% picked this

    On vinyl records, the song farthest from the center can have loud, high-pitched,

    This isn't the conclusion of the argument. Instead, it provides some additional information about vinyl records that is used to support the main conclusion.

  3. Premise1% picked this

    As the record needle moves in toward the vinyl record’s center, the centrifugal force on

    This is a premise used to support the main conclusion. It isn't a conclusion in itself because it is more fact than opinion and it supports another claim without being supported by any explicit claim in the argument.

  4. Too Strong7% picked this

    CDs represent a considerable technological advance over

    This statement goes beyond what is claimed in the main conclusion. The argument does not suggest that CDs represent a "considerable technological advance" over vinyl records but only that they offer greater artistic freedom.

  5. Inference-Bait2% picked this

    CDs can have louder passages, as well as both higher-and lower-pitched passages, than

    This could be inferred from the argument, and it's true given the premises about the limitation of vinyl records, but it never comes up in the author's conclusion. The conclusion concerns artistic freedom, not volume or pitch.

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