Among small- to medium-sized

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

TopicsMust be False

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Stimulus

Among small-to medium-sized marine mammals such as seals and dolphins, the longer an animal can stay submerged during a dive, the greater the depth the animal can reach. Dolphins can dive to greater depths than northern can stay submerged longer than Weddell seals can.

What this question is testing

Must be False

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

25.

If the information above is accurate, then each of the following statements could

Answer choices

Compatible7% picked this
Dolphins can dive to greater depths than Weddell seals can, but not to depths as great
The relationships in answer choice give us elephant seal > dolphins > Weddell seal That's compatible with our original relationships. I'll award 1st through 4th prize, so we can see how it works with both the answer and the original relationships. elephant seal > dolphins 1st 2nd Weddell seal > (northern fur seals seal) 3rd 4th dolphins > northern fur seals seal 2nd 4th elephant seal > Weddell seal 1st 3rd
7%
Compatible7% picked this
Weddell seals can stay submerged longer than northern fur seals can, but dolphins can dive to greater depths
The relationships in answer choice give us dolphins > Weddell seal > northern fur seal That's compatible with our original relationships. I'll award 1st through 4th prize, so we can see how it works with both the answer and the original relationships. dolphins > Weddell seal 1st 3rd northern fur seals > (elephant seal) 4th 2nd dolphins > northern fur seals 1st 4th elephant seal > Weddell seal 2nd 3rd
7%
Compatible11% picked this
Weddell seals can dive to greater depths than dolphins can and can stay submerged longer than
The relationships in answer choice give us Weddell seal > dolphins Weddell seal > northern fur seal That's compatible with our original relationships. I'll award 1st through 4th prize, so we can see how it works with both the answer and the original relationships. Weddell seal > dolphins 2nd 3rd Weddell seal > northern fur seal 2nd 4th dolphins > northern fur seal 3rd 4th elephant seal > Weddell seal 1st 2nd
11%
Correct67% picked this
Northern fur seals can stay submerged longer than elephant seals can, but Weddell seals can dive to greater
Why this is right
The relationships in answer choice give us Northern Fur seals > Elephant seal Weddell seals > Dolphins We were originally told Dolphins > Northern Fur seals So if we copied the new relationships from this answer choice onto that original relationship, we'd have this continuum. W seals > Dolph > NF seals > Eleph seals But we were also originally told Eleph seals > W seals And that is contradicting what we have here.
Skill tested: Must be False · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
67%
Compatible8% picked this
Northern fur seals can stay submerged longer than Weddell seals can, but elephant seals can dive to greater depths
The relationships in answer choice give us elephant seals > northern fur seals > Weddell seals That's compatible with our original relationships. I'll award 1st through 4th prize, so we can see how it works with both the answer and the original relationships. elephant seals > northern fur seals 2nd 3rd Weddell seal > (dolphins) 4th 1st dolphins > northern fur seals 1st 3rd elephant seals > Weddell seals 2nd 4th
8%

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