Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT142 S2 Q6 Explanation

Over the last five years

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

TopicsStrengthen

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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

Over the last five years, every new major alternative­ energy initiative that initially was promised government funding has since seen that funding severely curtailed. In no such case has the government come even close to providing the level of funds initially earmarked for these projects. Since large corporations have made it likely that the corporations' actions influenced the government's funding decisions.

What this question is testing

Strengthen

Your task

Find the choice that makes the argument's conclusion more likely to be true.

Common trap

Answers that are consistent with the argument but add no real support, or that strengthen a claim the argument doesn't make.

Winning move

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.

The question
6.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the

Answer choices

  1. Out of Scope2% picked this

    For the past two decades, most alternative­ energy initiatives have received little or

    The phenomenon that is being explained occurred over the past five years, while this answer describes the situation over the past two decades.

  2. Weaken2% picked this

    The funding initially earmarked for a government project is always subject to change, given the mechanisms by which

    This provides an alternative explanation to the one offered in the argument.

  3. Correct93% picked this

    The only research projects whose government funding has been severely curtailed are those that large corporations have made

    Why this is right

    This strengthens the correlation between the corporations and those projects that received less funding.

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

  4. Weaken2% picked this

    Some projects encouraged by large corporations have seen their funding severely curtailed over the

    This weakens the correlation between the projects opposed by corporations and those which had their funding severely curtailed.

  5. Out of Scope1% picked this

    All large corporations have made it a point to discourage some

    The argument is about projects, while this is about research.

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