Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT16 S2 Q15 Explanation

Municipal officials originally estimated

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

TopicsParadox

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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

Municipal officials originally estimated that it would be six months before municipal road crews could complete repaving a stretch of road. The officials presumed that private contractors could not finish any sooner. However, when the job it was completed in just 28 days.

What this question is testing

Paradox

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
15.

Which one of the following, if true, does most to resolve the discrepancy between the time estimated for completion of the repaving job, and the actual time

Answer choices

  1. Trap1% picked this

    Road repaving work can only be done in the summer months of June,

  2. Trap1% picked this

    The labor union contract for road crews employed by both municipal agencies and private contractors stipulates that employees can work only eight hours a

  3. Trap1% picked this

    Many road-crew workers for private contractors have previously worked for municipal road crews,

  4. Trap2% picked this

    Private contractors typically assign 25 workers to each road-repaving job site, whereas the number assigned to municipal road

  5. Correct96% picked this

    Municipal agencies must conduct a lengthy bidding process to procure supplies after repaving work is ordered and before they can actually start work, whereas

    Why this is right

    Answer E is correct.

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

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