PT14 S2 Q7 Explanation
A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.
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
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.
Find the choice that makes the argument's conclusion more likely to be true.
Answers that are consistent with the argument but add no real support, or that strengthen a claim the argument doesn't make.
Locate the gap between evidence and conclusion, then pick the choice that closes it.
Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.
All zebras have stripes, and the most widespread subspecies has the best-defined stripes. The stripes must therefore be of importance to the species. Since among these grassland grazers
The subspecies of zebras with the best-defined stripes is also characterized by exceptional
This reinforces the idea that stripes are correlated with being a successful zebra. but this does nothing to support the idea that stripes send some sort of signal to other zebras.
In certain tall grasses zebras can be harder to spot than grazing animals with a
This does nothing to support the idea that stripes send some sort of signal to other zebras. It's just saying that in some grasses, a zebra's stripes have some camouflage value, compared to having no coloration at all.
A visual signal transmitted among the members of a species can consist of a temporary change of color perceptible to
This answer is lovably about signaling, but is it about stripes? Is it even about zebras? It would be a huge speculative leap for us to read this answer saying "a given species can have a visual signal that involves a temporary change of color" and think that this answer is telling us that zebras subtly change the color of their stripes to transmit a visual signal to fellow zebras.
Zebras react much faster to moving shapes that have stripes than they do to moving shapes that are
Why this is right
This answer demonstrates that stripes have an effect on zebras. Since zebras perk up and pay attention to fast-moving striped shapes, that might be so they notice when their herd is suddenly running away from danger (or running to a food source). If the stripes were about camouflage, they likely wouldn't have any effect on fellow zebras, just their predators. The fact that stripes have this attention-getting effect on zebras means they probably send the signal, "Hey, pay attention to me. You're in this herd. We're moving to a different location. Come with." But even without us knowing specifically what signal the stripes send, we can still support the idea that stripes send a signal, because zebras clearly have heightened sensitivity to stripes.
Skill tested: Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
Zebras have a richer repertoire of vocal signals than do similar species
The fact that zebras have lots of vocal signals makes it seem like they do indeed signal each other, so this very mildly strengthens the plausibility of the conclusion by establishing that. But "vocal signals" has no connection to "stripes". We're trying to find an answer that supports the idea that "stripes" signal something to other zebras.
Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.
Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.