Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT133 S1 Q20 Explanation

Council member: The profits

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

TopicsMust be True

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Stimulus

Council member: The profits of downtown businesses will increase if more consumers live in the downtown area, and a decrease in the cost of living in the downtown area will guarantee that the number of consumers living there will will not increase unless downtown traffic congestion decreases.

What this question is testing

Must be True

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
20.

If all the council member's statements are true, which one of the following

Answer choices

  1. Reversal11% picked this

    If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the number of consumers living in the downtown

    This reverses the inference ?C ? ?P that can be made from the ?P ? ?TC first and third statements. ? ?C ? ?TC

  2. Correct69% picked this

    If the cost of living in the downtown area decreases, the profits of downtown

    Why this is right

    This follows from ?CL ? ?C he first and ?C ? ?P second statements. ?CL ? ?P

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

  3. Wrong Trigger4% picked this

    If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the cost of living in the downtown

    If downtown traffic ~?TC ? ~?P congestion increases, ~?P ? ~?C the cost of living in ?C ? ?CL the downtown area ? ~?TC ? ~?CL will increase.

  4. Reversal10% picked this

    If downtown traffic congestion decreases, the cost of living in the downtown

    This reverses the ?CL ? ?C inference that can ?C ? ?P be made from all ?P ? ?TC three statements. ? ?CL ? ?TC

  5. Reversal7% picked this

    If the profits of downtown businesses increase, the number of consumers living in the downtown

    This reverses the first ?P ? ?C statement.

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