Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT135 S2 Q14 Explanation

Early urban societies could not

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

TopicsMost Supported

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Stimulus

Early urban societies could not have been maintained without large-scale farming nearby. This is because other methods of food acquisition, such as foraging, cannot support populations as dense as urban ones. Large-scale farming requires irrigation, which rivers or lakes until more recent times.

What this question is testing

Most Supported

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
14.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the

Answer choices

  1. Out of Scope6% picked this

    Most peoples who lived in early times lived in areas near

    Where people actually lived in early times is not discussed in the statements.

  2. Too Strong - Term Shift5% picked this

    Only if farming is possible in the absence of irrigation can societies be maintained in areas far

    This goes too far by changing the subject from urban societies to societies more generally.

  3. Correct84% picked this

    In early times it was not possible to maintain urban societies in areas far from

    Why this is right

    This follows from ~RL → ~IR combining the ~IR → ~LSF three conditional ~LSF → ~US statements. ჻ ~RL → ~US

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

  4. Contradicted4% picked this

    Urban societies with farms near rivers or lakes do not have to rely upon irrigation to

    Urban societies require SOC → RC large-scale farming and large-scale farming requires irrigation.

  5. Out of Scope - Opposite Group1% picked this

    Early rural societies relied more on foraging than on agriculture

    Early rural societies are not discussed in the statements.

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