Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Hard

PT148 S1 Q24 Explanation

Lucinda will soon be attending

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

TopicsParallel Flaw

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Stimulus

Lucinda will soon be attending National University as an engineering major. At National University, most residents of Western Hall are engineering majors. live in Western Hall.

What this question is testing

Parallel Flaw

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
24.

Which one of the following arguments exhibits a flawed pattern of reasoning most similar to that exhibited by

Answer choices

  1. Bad Most/Conclusion Connection34% picked this

    A major shopping mall is now being constructed in our city. Most cities with major shopping malls are regional economic hubs. Therefore, our city

    The first half of the Most claim is "major shopping malls". The second half of the conclusion is "regional economic hub". We know those two things have to match, so there's no need to read the rest of this answer.

  2. Bad Most/Conclusion Connection4% picked this

    Cities that are regional economic hubs generally experience tremendous economic growth at some point. Our city is a regional economic hub that has never

    At first it looks like this answer doesn't even have a Most claim, but the word "generally / usually / tends to / typically" means "most of the time". If X's are generally Y, we can say "Most X's are Y". So, the first half of the Most (generally) claim is "regional economic hubs", and the second half of the conclusion is "experience tremendous economic growth in the future". We know those two things have to match, so there's no need to read the rest of this answer.

  3. No "Most" Premise4% picked this

    Cities that are regional economic hubs always have excellent transportation systems. It is widely agreed that our city's transportation system is inadequate. Therefore, our

    We're not going to replicate this author's flaw of having a reversed Most premise if there's not even a Most premise!

  4. No "Most" Premise4% picked this

    A major shopping mall was built in our city ten years ago, and our city has experienced tremendous economic growth since then. Therefore, most

    We're not going to replicate this author's flaw of having a reversed Most premise if there's not even a Most premise! There's a "most" in the conclusion, but that's not the same as "most" in the premise.

  5. Correct54% picked this

    Most cities that are regional economic hubs contain major shopping malls. A major shopping mall is now being constructed in our city. Therefore, our

    Why this is right

    The first half of the Most premise is "regional economic hubs" and the second half of the conclusion is "regional economic hub". They match! This one is worth reading (and since we eliminated all the other ones, it would be a very high percentage to just pick this and move on). Premise 1: Thing A will be X. Our city is going to have a major shopping mall. Premise 2: Most Y's are X. Most regional economic hubs have a major shopping mall. Conclusion: Thing A will probably be Y. Our city will probably be a regional economic hub.

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

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