Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT6 S2 Q3 Explanation

All students at Pitcombe College

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

TopicsMust be True

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Stimulus

All students at Pitcombe College were asked to label themselves conservative, liberal, or middle-of-the- road politically. Of the students, 25 percent labeled themselves conservative, 24 percent labeled themselves liberal, and 51 percent labeled themselves middle-of-the-road. When asked about a particular set of endorsed what is generally regarded as a liberal position.

What this question is testing

Must be True

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
3.

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

Answer choices

  1. Too Strong: all6% picked this

    All students who labeled themselves liberal endorsed what is generally regarded as a liberal position on

    It's certainly possible that some of the liberals identified with the non-liberal position on the certain set of issues.

  2. Unsupported Comparison4% picked this

    More students who labeled themselves middle-of-the-road than students who labeled themselves liberal opposed what is generally regarded as a liberal position

    It's certainly possible that more liberals than moderates identified with the non-liberal position on the certain set of issues.

  3. Too Strong: all4% picked this

    The majority of students who labeled themselves middle-of-the-road opposed what is generally regarded as a liberal position on

    It's possible that less than half of the moderates identified with the non-liberal position on the certain set of issues.

  4. Correct85% picked this

    Some students who labeled themselves conservative endorsed what is generally regarded as a liberal position on

    Why this is right

    It's impossible for all the conservatives to have picked the non-liberal position on the set of issues, because 25% of the students are conservative but only only 23% picked the non-liberal position. So there has to be some "overflow"; there have to be some conservatives who picked the liberal position.

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

  5. Unsupported Distinction1% picked this

    Some students who labeled themselves liberal endorsed what is generally regarded as a conservative position on

    It's possible that all of the liberals identified with the liberal position on the certain set of issues.

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