Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT136 S4 Q18 Explanation

A high-calorie diet providing

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

TopicsParadox

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Start practicing free

Free to start

Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Stimulus

A high-calorie diet providing adequate fats was a crucial requirement for the evolution of the anatomically modern human brain, a process that began among our early human ancestors. Food resources that could support such a diet were most abundant and reliable in the shore environments that were evolution took place almost exclusively in savanna and woodland areas.

What this question is testing

Paradox

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
18.

Which one of the following, if true, would most help to resolve the apparent

Answer choices

  1. Out of Scope8% picked this

    Early humans had a significantly lower metabolic rate than anatomically modern humans, allowing them to expend their

    How the early humans expended their fat reserves, does not indicate where they got those fat reserves from.

  2. Irrelevant Comparison2% picked this

    The brains of the earliest known humans were 30 percent smaller than the anatomically

    This is comparing early humans with humans today, while the right answer should explain why humans found a fatty diet in savanna and woodland areas.

  3. Irrelevant Comparison19% picked this

    Prehistoric savanna and woodland areas offered more reliable and abundant resources than

    This is comparing early humans with humans today, while the right answer should explain why humans found a fatty diet in savanna and woodland areas.

  4. Out of Scope1% picked this

    The techniques used to explore the archaeology of prehistoric shore sites have only

    The issue is why did the early human brain transform in an environment that most likely lacked the characteristics that are required of that transformation.

  5. Correct70% picked this

    Gathering food in shore environments required a significantly greater expenditure of calories by early humans than did gathering

    Why this is right

    This would explain why early humans would not have preferred the shore environment and opted to live somewhere easier to gather food.

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

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill
LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free