Logical Reasoning

PT142 · S1 · Q13 Community organizations wanting to enhance

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

Start practicing free

Community organizations wanting to enhance support for higher education programs need to convince the public that such programs benefit society as a whole.

Conclusion

Community organizations wanting to enhance support for higher education programs need to convince the public that such programs benefit society as a whole.

Intermediate Conclusion

Taking the approach of "this'll benefit society as a whole" makes the public more receptive.

Evidence

It's easier to get people to support road building (which is seen as benefiting all) than to get support for programs seen as benefiting only a small segment of society.

Evaluate

Whenever we do Main Conclusion or Role questions, we prime our brains before reading the paragraph with the reminder that the conclusion on these questions will be earlier than the support, the vast majority of the time.

In particular, we read the argument listening for - 1st sentence conclusion - Attribution followed by rebuttal conclusion

When we read the first sentence here, we're actively asking ourselves,

Yes! It's saying "community organizations need to do X", which in this context is the same as saying "they should do X". So it's expressing the author's opinion. Do we feel like the following ideas try to lend support to this opinion?

Yes. The 2nd sentence is already a reason why we should believe the advice offered in the first sentence: .

Goal

Once we've correctly identified the conclusion, the hard work is done. Now we just need to find an answer that matches the meaning of the first sentence.

13.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the overall conclusion drawn in the argument?

  1. Correct

    Community organizations seeking to encourage

    Why this is right

    This matches the meaning of the 1st sentence very well. We can appreciate the care they took to use their thesaurus and integrate some synonyms in here. "wanting to enhance support" vs. "seeking to encourage" "need to convince the public" vs. "must persuade the public"

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

    74% picked this

  2. It is easier to get

    Premise Last Claim Trap

    This was a supporting detail, which is indicated by the fact that it was prefaced by for example. We should always feel suspicious of ourselves if we're picking an answer on Main Conclusion that matches the final claim of the paragraph, since the conclusion usually isn't found there on Main Conclusion but they always have a trap answer for people who will just assume the last claim is the conclusion.

    7% picked this

  3. It is easy to get

    Relative vs. Absolute Unrelated to Goal

    This looks nothing like the first sentence, so we can reject it without reading it. If we did read it, we would see that it's not even correctly reproducing any claim from the argument. We were told that "it is easier" (relative) to get people to support stuff that seems to benefit society as a whole, not that "it is easy" (absolute).

    0% picked this

  4. Convincing the public that higher

    Intermediate Conclusion

    This answer replicates the meaning of the 2nd sentence, which was an intermediate conclusion. We're looking for an answer that matches the 1st sentence, which is the main conclusion

    19% picked this

  5. Higher education is similar to

    Unstated Claim Unrelated to Goal

    This looks nothing like the first sentence, so we can reject it as soon as we make that assessment. It also is not a claim from the argument, so it couldn't be citing our main conclusion, because our main conclusion is a claim in the argument. This answer is trying to temp people by saying something that feels like an Inference or Assumption (in other words, they're hoping people will pick it because it feels like a correct answer, on a different question type).

    0% picked this

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