Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT154 S2 Q1 Explanation

Activist: The average CEO

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

TopicsPrinciple-Strengthen

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Stimulus

Activist: The average CEO is paid many times more than the average worker is paid at the same company. But it is certain that no CEO works many times harder than pay of CEOs is wholly unjustified.

What this question is testing

Principle-Strengthen

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
1.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the reasoning in

Answer choices

  1. Correct98% picked this

    At any given company, people’s pay should be proportional to how

    Why this is right

    This strengthens the argument by connecting the premise about how hard a CEO works to the conclusion about their pay.

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

  2. No Impact: overall success1% picked this

    At any given company, people’s pay should be proportional to how much they contribute to the overall

    While the overall success of a company might be influenced by how hard the employees work, these are two separate concepts. The overall success of a company does not play a role in the argument that we're given.

  3. No Impact: lifestyle0% picked this

    At any given company, people’s pay should be proportional to how much they need to sustain

    This answer choice is trying to get your brain to make a natural connection between pay and lifestyle. It might be trying to trick you into thinking that the argument is somehow justified by comparing a CEO's lifestyle to the average worker's lifestyle. But the argument that we're given is strictly about the connection between pay and how hard one works. Lifestyle is outside the scope of this particular argument.

  4. No Impact: same work1% picked this

    At any given company, people who perform the same work should

    The argument never states or assumes that a CEO and the average worker do the same work. The argument is based on how hard people work, not the actual tasks that they perform.

  5. No Impact: able, obligation0% picked this

    People who are able to work hard have an obligation to

    Like the other incorrect answers, this one is trying to trick us with concepts that are related to those in the argument but are not part of the actual argument that we're given. This argument is not based on an obligation to work hard, or even on someone's ability to work hard. It's strictly comparing how hard a CEO actually works to how hard the average worker does.

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