Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT3 S2 Q7 Explanation

Those who participate in local politics

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

TopicsMust be True

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Stimulus

Those who participate in local politics include people who are genuinely interested in public service and people who are selfish opportunists. Everyone who participates in on the community’s values.

What this question is testing

Must be True

Premise 1

Among the people in local politics, you find both kinds: people who genuinely want to serve the public, and selfish opportunists.

Premise 2

Every single participant influences the community's values.

Evaluate

Combine the two. The opportunists are participants. Every participant has influence. So the opportunists have influence — at least some of them. That is guaranteed.

What we cannot say: that all influencers are participants, that influencers must be one of these two types, or that public-service folks lack influence. Those go beyond what the stimulus gives us.

Goal

Pick the modest, directly-supported claim: some opportunists have influence on the community's values.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
7.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must

Answer choices

  1. Correct83% picked this

    Some selfish opportunists have an influence on the

    Why this is right

    This follows directly. Opportunists are among the participants in local politics (premise 1). Every participant has an influence on the community's values (premise 2). So at least some selfish opportunists — namely, the ones who participate — have an influence on the community's values.

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

  2. Contradicted1% picked this

    Some persons who are interested in public service do not have an influence on

    This says some public-service participants do not have influence. But the stimulus says every participant has influence on community values, and public-service folks are participants. So all of them have influence — none lack it. This contradicts the stimulus.

  3. Too Strong2% picked this

    All those who have an influence on the community’s values participate

    This is a reversal. The stimulus says all participants have influence, not that everyone with influence participates. There could be people who influence community values without being involved in local politics — clergy, teachers, business owners, and so on. We cannot conclude all influencers are participants.

  4. Out of Scope4% picked this

    Some of those who influence the community’s values neither are interested in public service nor

    The stimulus says nothing about influencers who are neither public-service types nor opportunists. The premise about participants only tells us those two types are among the participants — it does not say they are the only kinds, and it does not address non-participants who might influence values. We cannot know whether such people exist.

  5. Too Strong10% picked this

    All those who have an influence on the community’s values are either interested in public service

    This says all influencers must be one of those two types. The stimulus does not support that. It only describes what is true of participants in local politics — it does not say the only ways to influence community values are through those two participant types. Other influencers (non-participants of any motivation) are entirely possible.

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