Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT18 S4 Q2 Explanation

Zoo director: The city is in a financial crisis

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

TopicsMain Conclusion

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Stimulus

Zoo director: The city is in a financial crisis and must reduce its spending. Nevertheless, at least one reduction measure in next year’s budget, cutting City Zoo’s funding in half, is false economy. The zoo’s current budget equals less than 1 percent of the city’s deficit, so withdrawing support from the zoo the city’s cultural climate and thus makes the city an attractive place for business to locate.

What this question is testing

Main Conclusion

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
2.

Which one of the following is the main conclusion of the zoo

Answer choices

  1. Background5% picked this

    Reducing spending is the only means the city has of responding to the

    This resembles the 1st sentence, which was not supported and thus can't be the Main Conclusion. We're looking for an answer that matches the 2nd sentence.

  2. Correct85% picked this

    It would be false economy for the city to cut the zoo’s

    Why this is right

    This matches the 2nd sentence.

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

  3. Premise5% picked this

    City Zoo’s budget is only a very small portion of the

    This matches the 3rd sentence, which was part of how the author supports her conclusion in the 2nd sentence.

  4. Premise2% picked this

    The zoo will be forced to close if its budget

    This matches the 4th sentence, which was part of how the author supports her conclusion in the 2nd sentence.

  5. Unstated4% picked this

    The city’s educational and cultural climate will be irreparably damaged if the zoo is

    This somewhat matches the 5th sentence, which was part of how the author supports her conclusion in the 2nd sentence. But this answer actually goes beyond anything stated in the argument ("the city's educational climate will be irreparably damaged?")

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