Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT135 S4 Q20 Explanation

When teaching art students

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

TopicsNecessary Assumption

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Stimulus

When teaching art students about the use of color, teachers should use colored paper rather than paint in their demonstrations. Colored paper is preferable because it readily permits a repeated use of exactly the same color in different compositions, which allows for a precise comparison of that color's impact in varying contexts. the applied paint can interfere with the pure effect of the color itself.

What this question is testing

Necessary Assumption

Your task

Find the assumption the argument requires in order for its conclusion to hold.

Common trap

Answers that would help the argument but aren't strictly required (sufficient, not necessary).

Winning move

Negate each choice — the right one breaks the argument when negated.

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.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by

Answer choices

  1. Too Strong21% picked this

    Two pieces of paper of exactly the same color will have the same effect in a given context, even if

    We know that the author thinks that colored paper allows a teacher to exactly reproduce the same color, but it would be too strong to say the author assumes that "it will have the same effect, even if different textures". Since she believes that different textures on which paint is painted can make for a different effect, she may certainly believe that paper with different textures could produce different effects.

  2. Unknown Comparison9% picked this

    A slight difference in the color of two pieces of paper is more difficult to notice than a similar difference in the

    We never got granular enough with differences between paper and paint to know how the author would judge this comparison. The author thinks it's harder to achieve the same color in paint, but this is saying it's easier to detect a difference in paint color than paper color. Who knows? It could be equally hard, but it's irrelevant.

  3. Unknown Comparison5% picked this

    Changing light conditions have less of an effect on the apparent color of a piece of paper than on the apparent color

    We never talked about lighting conditions, so we don't know whether it has more / less / same effect with paper as it does with paint.

  4. Correct62% picked this

    Observing the impacts of colors across varying contexts helps students to learn about the

    Why this is right

    This sounds like our prephrase: "when teaching color, it's important that the students can make precise comparisons between the same color across varying contexts". If we negated this, and observing the impact across varying contexts didn't help students to learn, then it would make no difference to art teachers that paint is more variable when it comes to reproducing the exact same color in different contexts. That would badly weaken the argument.

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

  5. Out of Scope3% picked this

    It is important that art students understand how the effects of using colored paper in various compositions differ from those of

    Out of Scope: effects of using paper vs. paint The argument was about the effect of using paper vs. paint when it came to allowing students to measure the same color in different contexts. But this answer is talking about teaching students about the difference between art projects that use colored paper and those that use paint. Even though this sounds like a very reasonable thing an art teacher would believe, this is not integral to the author's argument. This answer would be more a lesson about materials. The author's argument was regarding a lesson about color, and she was arguing that colored paper is a better way to learn about color than is colored paint.

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