Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT6 S3 Q16 Explanation

An ancient Pavonian text describes

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

TopicsFlaw

Keep going in LSAT Lab

  • Save & drill this skill build targeted practice sets from questions like this one

  • Video walkthroughs watch every question solved step by step

  • 81 official LSATs as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

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

An ancient Pavonian text describes how an army of one million enemies of Pavonia stopped to drink at a certain lake and drank the lake dry. Recently, archaeologists discovered that water-based life was suddenly absent just after the event was alleged by the text to have occurred. On the basis of reading some students concluded that the events described really took place.

What this question is testing

Flaw

Your task

Describe the reasoning error the argument actually commits.

Common trap

Answers that name a real logical flaw the argument doesn't actually make.

Winning move

Articulate the gap in the reasoning yourself, then match it to the choice that describes that 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
16.

Which one of the following is a questionable technique used by the students to

Answer choices

  1. Trap8% picked this

    making a generalization about historical events on the basis of a single instance of that

  2. Trap12% picked this

    ignoring available, potentially useful

  3. Trap0% picked this

    rejecting a hypothesis because it is

  4. Trap3% picked this

    considering people and locations whose existence cannot be substantiated by

  5. Correct77% picked this

    taking evidence that a text has correctly described an effect to show that the text has

    Why this is right

    Answer E is correct.

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

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free