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Movie theaters in the United States have traditionally relied on concession sales—popcorn, candy, and drinks at inflated prices—to cover the negative differential between the cost of renting films from distributors and the revenue generated at the box office. In order for a movie theater to turn a profit, at least 90 percent of all moviegoers must buy at least one concession item. However, in recent years many health-conscious moviegoers have begun to eschew the high-fat and high-sugar concession items.<br/><br/>Which one of the following conclusions is best supported by the information above?
Correct — E. Since moviegoers are beginning to avoid the current concession items, it stands to reason that movie theaters should begin to offer items more in line with moviegoers' tastes or risk losing out on the revenue required to earn a profit.<br/><br/>Choice A is incorrect because increasing the number of movies offered also increases the rental fees theaters must pay without ensuring any additional revenue.<br/><br/>Choice B's conclusion is unwarranted, because there is no guarantee that the theater will actually be able to attract enough moviegoers to fill the extra seats and generate additional ticket sales.<br/><br/>Choice D cannot be concluded, since the passage offers no information regarding moviegoers' clandestine behavior.<br/><br/>Choice E is too extreme. The passage does not suggest that theaters cannot turn a profit, but rather that they may encounter difficulty in doing so. Nothing rules out the possibility that theaters will respond to the changing tastes to successfully secure their profit margins.
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  1. LSAT

    Movie theaters in the United States have traditionally relied on concession sales—popcorn, candy, and drinks at inflated prices—to cover the negative differential between the cost of renting films from distributors and the revenue generated at the box office. In order for a movie theater to turn a profit, at least 90 percent of all moviegoers must buy at least one concession item. However, in recent years many health-conscious moviegoers have begun to eschew the high-fat and high-sugar concession items.<br/><br/>Which one of the following conclusions is best supported by the information above?

    Correct — E. Since moviegoers are beginning to avoid the current concession items, it stands to reason that movie theaters should begin to offer items more in line with moviegoers' tastes or risk losing out on the revenue required to earn a profit.<br/><br/>Choice A is incorrect because increasing the number of movies offered also increases the rental fees theaters must pay without ensuring any additional revenue.<br/><br/>Choice B's conclusion is unwarranted, because there is no guarantee that the theater will actually be able to attract enough moviegoers to fill the extra seats and generate additional ticket sales.<br/><br/>Choice D cannot be concluded, since the passage offers no information regarding moviegoers' clandestine behavior.<br/><br/>Choice E is too extreme. The passage does not suggest that theaters cannot turn a profit, but rather that they may encounter difficulty in doing so. Nothing rules out the possibility that theaters will respond to the changing tastes to successfully secure their profit margins.
  2. LSAT

    For about thirty years, government intelligence departments have spent resources equally between domestic and foreign activities. For about the same amount of time, intelligence departments have conducted covert operations in addition to intelligence gathering. This conduct has raised public concern that intelligence departments wield too much authority. In the end, though, domestic spending and covert operations may be simply a consequence of ineptness.<br/><br/>Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

    Correct — D. No answer choice provides substantial support for the author. The correct answer here, however, provides some support for the author's skepticism about whether the conduct of departments indicates that they wield too much power. If departments were more powerful before they began covert operations and domestic spending, then it is somewhat less likely that this conduct indicates too much power.
  3. LSAT

    <i>Astragalus linifolius</i>, a rare plant species that is found only in the Colorado region of the United States, reproduces when a pollinating agent like a fly or a bee carries the pollen grain from the male part of one plant to the female part of another plant of the same species. To maintain the population of this species, the use of pesticides that control grasshoppers should be banned in this region. These pesticides also often result in significant mortality among the <i>Bombylius</i> flies that are the most important pollinating agents of <i>A. linifolius</i>.<br/><br/>Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

    Correct — C. <b><u>Solution</u></b><br/><br/><b>Argument construction</b><br/><br/> The argument starts with a premise – Premise 1:<br/><br/> <i>Astragalus linifolius</i> (context-setting information: this is a rare plant species that is found only in the Colorado region of the United States) reproduces when a pollinating agent like a bee or a fly carries the pollen grain from the male part of a plant and deposits it onto the female part of another plant of the same species.<br/><br/> From this premise, it becomes clear that pollinating agents like bees and flies are necessary for the reproduction of <i>A. linifolius</i> to take place.<br/><br/> Next comes the conclusion of the argument:<br/><br/> To maintain the population of <i>Astragalus linifolius</i> (a rare legume species that is found only in the Colorado region of the United States), the use of pesticides that control grasshoppers should be banned in this region.<br/><br/> This conclusion is followed by two more premises:<br/><ul><li>Premise 2 - These pesticides result in significant mortality among the <i>Bombylius</i> flies.</li><li>Premise 3 - <i>Bombylius</i> flies are the most important pollinating agents of <i>A. linifolius</i>.</li></ul> Here is how these premises are used to draw the conclusion:<br/><br/> From Premise 1, we know that <i>A. linifolius</i> cannot reproduce without pollinating agents. From Premise 3, we know that <i>Bombylius</i> flies are the most important pollinating agents of <i>A. linifolius</i>. By combining Premises 1 and 3, we can draw a subsidiary conclusion that to conserve <i>A. linifolius</i>, it's probably important to conserve <i>Bombylius</i> flies too. A decline in the numbers of the latter is likely to result in a decline in the numbers of the former.<br/><br/> When this subsidiary conclusion is combined with Premise 2, we draw the conclusion that to maintain the population of <i>A. linifolius</i>, the use of pesticides that control grasshoppers should be banned in that region.<br/><br/> We are looking for the answer choice that provides additional information which makes this conclusion stronger than when the above two premises are used alone.<br/><br/> Let us analyze the options one by one.<br/><br/> <b>Answer choices explanation</b><br/><br/><ol style="list-style-type:upper-alpha;"><li>This option is <b>incorrect</b>. This argument is concerned with the maintenance of population of a particular species. The population of a species would be maintained if its death rate and birth rate remain in equilibrium. The life-span of a species is irrelevant to the maintenance of its population and, therefore, to this argument.</li><li>This option is <b>incorrect</b>. If there are other pollinating agents through which <i>A. linifolius</i> can reproduce, then, assuming that these pollinating agents are not impacted by pesticides that control grasshoppers, this plant species might survive even if these pesticides are not banned. Therefore, this statement actually weakens the conclusion.</li><li>This option is <b>incorrect</b>. There may be pesticides that are more toxic to the <i>Bombylius</i> flies than the pesticides mentioned in the argument, but this does not strengthen the argument that to save <i>A. linifolius</i>, the pesticides that control grasshoppers should be banned. For example, consider the statement 'to get better health, you should eat less sugar.' This statement is of the same format as the conclusion drawn in this argument: To achieve Goal A, do Action X. Does a statement that eating oily foods is even worse for your health than eating sugar strengthen the above example statement? It does not.</li><li>This option is <b>correct</b>. Suppose that <i>Bombylius</i> flies had been able to reproduce fast. Then, even if one spraying had significantly reduced the number of flies in a region from, say, 1000 to a mere 100, their fast breeding would have restored the population number to its pre-spraying level pretty soon and so there would probably not have been much adverse impact on the amount of pollination that these flies did for <i>A. linifolius</i> and, therefore, in the population of this plant species. However, this statement tells us that the populations of <i>Bombylius</i> flies do not recover for many years post a pesticide spraying. In those years, therefore, the extent of reproduction of <i>A. linifolius</i> is likely to decline, which in turn, is likely to decrease the population of this plant species.</li><li>This option is <b>incorrect</b>. That other plant species have suffered greater declines than <i>A. linifolius</i> since the spraying of pesticides that control grasshoppers started is irrelevant to the conclusion drawn for how the population of <i>A. linifolius</i> may be maintained.</li></ul>
  4. LSAT

    A football player cannot be an All-American without both superior athletic talent and an unusual work ethic. Most football players have an unusual work ethic. However, most people with superior athletic talent do not play football, but rather other sports such as basketball. Most basketball players with superior athletic talent do not have an unusual work ethic.<br/><br/>If the statements above are true, which one of the following statements must also be true?

    Correct — C. The passage specifically states two necessary conditions for being an All-American in football: 1) superior athletic talent, and 2) an unusual work ethic. Because the passage notes that most basketball players who have (1) lack (2), it logically follows that most basketball players could not qualify as All-Americans in football, under the conditions stated. Note that the passage does <em>not </em>state the conditions <em>sufficient</em> to become an All-American football player; it merely states some necessary conditions. Nor does the passage tell us anything that would allow drawing a conclusion regarding “most football players” or “at least some All-American football players.”
  5. LSAT

    A rock band has seen recent declines in their concert attendance. To combat the decline in attendance, the rock band included more new music in their performance because a pop band recently included more new music in their live performances and saw an increase of attendance.<br/><br/>Which of the following most supports the rock band’s reasoning?

    Correct — B. If rock bands and pop bands have similar patterns of attendance, then it would follow for the rock band to mimic the pop band’s means to increasing attendance. Just because people want to hear a new song does not mean they will necessarily go to a concert to hear it.
  6. LSAT

    An anthropologist was working on an archeological dig of an ancient village in a Central American country. Near the ancient village, she discovered a large circle of rocks, with larger four larger rocks carefully placed on the northern, southern, eastern, and western sides of the circle. She also found four rectangular-shaped rocks placed at other points around the circle. After a survey, the anthropologists learned that the center of the circle and the rectangular-shaped rocks were aligned with rising and setting sun on the summer solstice and with the rising and setting sun on the winter solstice. Based on this information, the anthropologist concluded, “This ancient society worshipped the sun.” What assumption does this conclusion require?

    Correct — C. All societies that align objects to follow the summer and winter solstices worship the sun. Starting from this major premise, the anthropologist relies on the following minor premise stated in the question: the ancient village built a circle of rocks with rectangular rocks aligned to the rising and setting suns on the summer and winter solstices. Since the alignment of rocks brings the ancient village within the class of sun-worshipping societies, the anthropologist can reach her conclusion. <br/><br/>Answer B and Answer C are incorrect because they do not establish that an alignment with solstices correlates to sun-worshipping. <br/><br/>Answer D is incorrect because the conclusion could be reached without the minor premise.
  7. LSAT

    The new XYZ car produced by one automobile manufacturer has increased in reliability, breaking down or needing repairs less often than before. As a result, XYZ owners are now more likely to make service appointments for just routine maintenance, as opposed to repairs. The manufacturer expects the share of XYZ service appointments involving repairs to decline, but the annual total number of XYZ service appointments to remain about the same.<br/><br/>Which one of the following, if true, explains why the automobile manufacturer expects the scenario presented in the final sentence?

    Correct — D. We're asked to locate the choice that explains the manufacturer's prediction, and the first part of the prediction makes perfect sense: Since XYZ is more reliable, needs fewer repairs, and is more likely now to be brought in only for routine checkups, one would expect XYZ service appointments involving repairs to make up a smaller percentage of the total number of XYZ service appointments. If, for example, 50% of all appointment for this car in the past were for repairs, we'd expect less than 50% of appointments for the new version of the car to be for repairs since the new car is more sturdy and reliable. However, the second part of the prediction seems a bit odd: Why would the total number of service appointments remain the same? If the improvements have cut down on the number of repairs necessary, why does the manufacturer expect the same number of total XYZ service appointments?. <br/><br/>Choice A offers a legitimate explanation: There are simply more XYZs on the road, due to increased popularity of the new and improved model. That would explain how the repair ratio might come down while the total number of XYZ service calls remains the same.<br/><br/>Choice B is incorrect. If the routine maintenance further lowers the need for repairs, why does the manufacturer believe that total service visits will remain constant while repair visits will go down?. <br/><br/>Choice C does not address this issue either. The existence of a warranty may help XYZ owners afford certain repairs, but it doesn't tell us why one should expect the same number of total service visits for this new and improved car. The length of the different types of service visits, choice D, is irrelevant to the question at the heart of the passage. The issue is how many appointments are made, not how long they last. Also, who actually performs the different kinds of services, choice E, has no bearing on the situation at hand, which deals with an expectation of the percentage of repair visits and the total number of service visits overall. The manufacturer makes no claim as to where the services will be performed, so choice E does not help us understand the prediction.
  8. LSAT

    Contrary to the previous understanding regarding their role in nature, antibiotics do not function solely as microbe-killers. Thus, the generic name “antibiotics” should be replaced with the term “communication molecules”.<br/><br/>Which of the following statements, if true, would most strengthen the argument?

    Correct — A. You are looking for the statement that most strengthens the argument that antibiotics should be renamed because their role in nature is not what it was once thought to be. Specifically, you want to find an answer that provides evidence that antibiotics act in a way that stimulates communication of some sort.
  9. LSAT

    The anonymous administrator said the University will not tolerate any more "social clubs." Violence, drunkenness, and hatred do not represent and have never represented this institution. Secret meetings that promote such activities will be found out and eliminated by the school's administration.<br/><br/>Based on the above, which of the following statements must be true?

    Correct — E. The "anonymous administrator" only brings up one kind of group at the University, the "social clubs," and cites a pattern of problematic behavior, if obliquely, that is now being dealt with by the administration. Any statements beyond those facts require reading too much into the passage, thus the only statement that can be true is that the "social clubs" have become a serious issue.
  10. LSAT

    Various forms of plant and animal life have longer life spans than <b>Homo Sapiens</b> (for example, Galapagos turtles and Sequoia trees). While scientists do not live long enough to study the complete life-cycle of these life forms, the development of a single organism can be inferred by observing many specimens at various stages. The same principle can be applied to astronomy or geology. Scientists can learn about the evolution of deserts and rock formations by observing various specimens.<br/><br/>Which of the following is an assumption underlying the passage?

    Correct — D. For the argument to be valid, scientists must have access to examples of various developmental stages of the species under study. For example, because the passage mentions astronomy, you could look at the life cycle of the planet Saturn. This planet has remained largely unchanged for hundreds of millions of years. Therefore, a scientist can’t study its development during a lifetime.
  11. LSAT

    Which one of the following most accurately expresses the overall conclusion drawn in the argument?

    Correct — A. The statements are discussing how historians incorrectly attribute Rome’s fall to two events that were actually caused by an earlier event. Since the earlier events caused the later two events, the earlier event is the root cause of Rome’s fall.
  12. LSAT

    The orbital trajectory of the planet Pluto has been taking it further away from the Sun. Virtually all of that planet's heat comes from sunlight and less of it reaches the planet as it moves further away. Surprisingly, measurements made by astronomers indicate that Pluto's atmosphere has actually been warming slightly.<br/><br/>Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve this apparent paradox?

    Correct — E. If Pluto is warming slightly, there must be something that enables it to retain its heat despite the fact that it is moving away from its primary heat source, the sun. Since we can reasonably infer that a planet moving away from the sun will darken, choice E provides the solution to the apparent paradox.<br/><br/>Choice A is incorrect because it actually discounts a possible explanation to the mystery. If Pluto's core did generate heat, that might explain the warming. A comparison of Pluto's temperature with that of other planets, choice B, and the fate of Pluto's trajectory, choice C, tell us nothing about why Pluto is warming despite its increasing distance from the sun.<br/><br/>Choice D is incorrect because a comparison between Pluto and Earth is irrelevant to the mystery at hand.
  13. LSAT

    Many home computer hard disk drives have files containing the personal information of the computer's owner. Deleting these files prevents them from being accessed by normal means, but does not necessarily eliminate the data they contain. SaniComp software, however, "sanitizes" hard drives by completely eliminating data from them. So Liam, who just sold his computer to Francie, should use SaniComp before delivering it to her. The soundness of the recommendation above depends on each of the following assumptions EXCEPT:

    Correct — A. There are four significant gaps in this argument (represented by the four wrong choices in this EXCEPT question), but choice C is not one of them. The recommendation that Liam "sanitize" his computer does not rely on Francie's interest in his personal information. First of all, Francie may not be the only one to use this computer. Moreover, she may even sell it herself later on to someone else. If, as the author suggests, without using SaniComp Liam's info will live forever on this computer, it may remain a good idea for him to "sanitize" it whether or not Francie has any particular interest in the details of his life, since nothing ensures that that info won't become available to others.<br/><br/>So choice C need not be assumed in order to ensure the soundness of the author's advice. All of the other choices must be assumed here, because if we negate any one of them, the recommendation to sanitize seems superfluous. Beginning with the most basic thing, Liam must have used his computer in the first place in order for sanitizing to make any sense. If Liam's computer is still in the box, untouched, and he decides to sell it to Francie, there would be no sensitive information to delete. So the author must assume that Liam's computer is used, not new choice D. One step removed from this is the requirement that Liam's computer, assuming he has used it, contains some of his personal information, choice E. The author states that "many" computers contain files with personal info, but if Liam's doesn't, then there's no need to sanitize. Assuming Liam has used his computer and that it has some of his personal information on it, it also must be assumed that he cares to protect the privacy of such information, choice A. Perhaps most people would care, but it's possible that Liam doesn't, in which case sanitizing would be pointless. <br/><br/>Finally, assuming Liam's computer does contain his personal information that he wishes to protect, there would still be no evident reason to sanitize the computer if the information cannot be retrieved. Therefore, choice B must also be assumed in order to conclude that the author's recommendation is sound.
  14. LSAT

    Manny has soccer practice until 7 PM and then ballet until 9 PM. Clearly Manny will still have time to complete his homework so long as he can stay awake until 10 PM.<br/><br/>Which of the following is an assumption made by the above passage?

    Correct — A. The passage assumes that Manny has one hour or less of homework. If Many has time to complete his homework, but is only free from 9 PM until 10 PM, then he must have one hour or less of homework.
  15. LSAT

    Journalist: To reconcile the need for profits sufficient to support new drug research with the moral imperative to provide medicines to those who most need them but cannot afford them, some pharmaceutical companies feel justified in selling a drug in rich nations at one price and in poor nations at a much lower price. But this practice is unjustified. A nation with a low average income may still have a substantial middle class better able to pay for new drugs than are many of the poorer citizens of an overall wealthier nation.<br/><br/>Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the journalist’s reasoning?

    Correct — A. The journalist states that pharmaceutical companies have both a need for profits to support future research and a moral obligation to provide medicines to those who most need them and cannot afford them. In order to balance these requirements, they have adopted a practice of selling drugs at lower prices in poorer countries. The journalist’s conclusion is that this practice is unjustified. To support this claim, the journalist points out that different individuals in the same nation have differing abilities to pay, but this consideration does not, by itself, establish that the pharmaceutical company’s policy is unjustified. The question asks you to choose the principle that would most help to justify the journalist’s reasoning.<br/><br/>The principle stated in response (C) connects the question of whether special consideration is deserved to personal, rather than societal, needs. The pharmaceutical companies’ practice provides special consideration based on the characteristics of one’s society, and not based on one’s personal needs. As a result, according to this principle, the practice tends to deny special consideration to some who deserve it (the poorer citizens of wealthier nations), while giving special consideration to some who do not deserve it (the middle class citizens of poorer nations). In this way the practice is failing to meet the pharmaceutical companies’ obligation to provide special consideration for those who most need the drugs and cannot afford them, and, in giving undeserved special consideration, failing to generate income that could have been used to support new drug research. The principle in (C) thereby provides strong support for the journalist’s reasoning that the pharmaceutical companies’ practice is unjustified. Thus, (C) is the correct response.<br/><br/>The principle stated in response (A) applies to balancing the consideration deserved by ill people and healthy people. However, the pharmaceutical companies’ practice, and the journalist’s argument against that practice, concerns only ill people (that is, people who need drugs). As a result, response (A) is not relevant to the journalist’s reasoning.<br/><br/>The principle stated in (B) requires that wealthy institutions use some of their resources to aid those in need. This tends to affirm the pharmaceutical companies’ moral imperative to provide medicines to those who need them but cannot afford them. However, this principle gives no support to the journalist’s reasoning, which contends that the pharmaceutical companies’ pricing policy is not justified by this moral imperative.<br/><br/>The principle stated in (D), that people in wealthy nations should not have better access to health care than those in poorer nations, is a principle that tends to support the companies’ practice, because the companies’ practice is one that tends to lessen the health care disparities between wealthy and poorer nations. For this reason, (D) actually runs counter to the journalist’s reasoning.<br/><br/>The principle stated in (E) concerns whether an unequal distribution of health care or an unequal distribution of wealth is more unfair. However, this is a different issue than the one the journalist is addressing. Response (E) is thus not relevant to the journalist’s reasoning.<br/><br/>This was an easy question, based on the number of test takers who answered it correctly when it appeared on the LSAT.
  16. LSAT

    Jane: Nowadays 3D effects are seen as a distracting gimmick that most people no longer appreciate. The recent trend toward producing more 3D movies is not a good financial strategy for movie studios. In fact, I and my friends refuse to attend movies in 3D, and I know many others that feel the same way.<br/><br/>Bill: But you fail to take into account the fact that 3D ticket prices are higher than 2D ticket prices. The difference in price offsets the lower attendance at 3D movies. I, for one, appreciate having the choice between 2D and 3D films.<br/><br/>The dialogue provides the most support for the claim that Jane and Bill disagree about whether

    Correct — A. Bill’s rebuttal to Jane’s argument is that studios can make up for the lower attendance at 3D films through increased ticket prices. Hence, he does not agree with Jane that producing 3D movies “is not a good financial strategy for movie studios.” The remaining answer choices do not contain statements about which Jane and Bill necessarily disagree, even though the topics may have been mentioned in the dialogue.
  17. LSAT

    Scientist: Much of the marine life has been dying along the coastline for decades. The introduction of foreign fish began thirty years ago, with a small aquaculture development in the southern part of the region. Returning the marine environment to the way it was a century ago will allow a more diverse amount of species to flourish in these waters.<br/><br/>Which of the following is a necessary assumption of the scientist’s argument?

    Correct — B. The passage's main argument is that eliminating the foreign fish species will allow native fish species to flourish in a manner that they used to be able to before the foreign fish were introduced. The assumption that the foreign fish are actually hurting the native fish is necessary for the passage's argument to make logical sense.
  18. LSAT

    Adapted from <em>Frankenstein</em> by Mary Shelley (1818)<br/><br/>The being finished speaking and fixed his looks upon me in the expectation of a reply. But I was bewildered, perplexed, and unable to arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of his proposition. He continued, "You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede."<br/><br/>The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger that had died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the cottagers, and as he said this I could no longer suppress the rage that burned within me.<br/><br/>"I do refuse it," I replied; "and no torture shall ever extort a consent from me. You may render me the most miserable of men, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes. Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world. Begone!"<br/><br/>"You are in the wrong," replied the fiend; "and instead of threatening, I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? Let man live with me in the interchange of kindness, and instead of injury I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance. But that cannot be . . . Yet mine shall not be the submission of abject slavery. I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my arch-enemy. Have a care; I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth."<br/><br/>A fiendish rage animated him as he said this; his face was wrinkled into contortions too horrible for human eyes to behold; but presently he calmed himself and proceeded—<br/><br/>"I intended to reason. What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself. Our lives will not be happy, but they will be harmless and free from the misery I now feel. Oh! My creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit!”<br/><br/>I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences of my consent, but I felt that there was some justice in his argument. His tale and the feelings he now expressed proved him to be a creature of fine sensations, and did I not as his maker owe him all the portion of happiness that it was in my power to bestow? He saw my change of feeling and continued,<br/><br/>"If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again; I will go to the vast wilds of South America. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man and will ripen our food, acorns and berries. The picture I present to you is peaceful and human, and you must feel that you could deny it only in the wantonness of power and cruelty. Pitiless as you have been towards me, I now see compassion in your eyes; let me seize the favorable moment and persuade you to promise what I so ardently desire."<br/><br/>The author most likely intended the final paragraph to show what?

    Correct — C. We can tell from the fiend's recognition and use of the change in the narrator's feelings that the paragraph is mainly showing how persuasive the fiend can be. For this reason, we cannot say if the things said are the fiend's true intentions. It is important here to pick up on the subtle notions presented by the author, such as “let me seize the favorable moment and persuade you to promise what I so ardently desire.” Here, the fiend himself admits that he is attempting to be persuasive.
  19. LSAT

    Educator: “Children will not excel at learning other languages unless they are exposed to those languages at a very young age. Grace had a babysitter who spoke Spanish to her as a young child, so she will grow up to be fluent in Spanish.”<br/><br/>Which of the following passages most closely parallels the flawed reasoning exhibited above?

    Correct — D. The passage that most closely parallels the flawed reasoning in the original passage is answer B. In the original passage, the educator falsely assumes that because an event is necessary for another event to occur, then the first event occurring is sufficient for the second to occur. In other words, if the requirement that Grace is exposed to Spanish has been met, then she will learn Spanish. <br/><br/>Answer B follows the same logic. Watering the flowers three or more times each week only establishes one of the conditions necessary for the flowers to grow well; it does not guarantee that they will.
  20. LSAT

    Adapted from <em>Mysticism, Logic, and Other Essays</em> by Bertrand Russell (1917)<br/><br/>When we try to ascertain the motives which have led men to the investigation of philosophical questions, we find that, broadly speaking, they can be divided into two groups, often antagonistic, and leading to very divergent systems. These two groups of motives are, on the one hand, those derived from religion and ethics, and, on the other hand, those derived from science. Plato, Spinoza, and Hegel may be taken as typical of the philosophers whose interests are mainly religious and ethical, while Leibniz, Locke, and Hume may be taken as representatives of the scientific wing. In Aristotle, Descartes, Berkeley, and Kant we find both groups of motives strongly present.<br/><br/>Herbert Spencer, in whose honor we are assembled today, would naturally be classed among scientific philosophers; it was mainly from science that he drew his data, his formulation of problems, and his conception of method. But his strong religious sense is obvious in much of his writing, and his ethical preoccupations are what make him value the conception of evolution—that conception in which, as a whole generation has believed, science and morals are to be united in fruitful and indissoluble marriage.<br/><br/>It is my belief that the ethical and religious motives, in spite of the splendidly imaginative systems to which they have given rise, have been, on the whole, a hindrance to the progress of philosophy, and ought now to be consciously thrust aside by those who wish to discover philosophical truth. Science, originally, was entangled in similar motives, and was thereby hindered in its advances. It is, I maintain, from science, rather than from ethics and religion, that philosophy should draw its inspiration.<br/><br/>But there are two different ways in which a philosophy may seek to base itself upon science. It may emphasize the most general results of science, and seek to give even greater generality and unity to these results. Or it may study the methods of science, and seek to apply these methods, with the necessary adaptations, to its own peculiar province. Much philosophy inspired by science has gone astray through preoccupation with the results momentarily supposed to have been achieved. It is not results, but methods that can be transferred with profit from the sphere of the special sciences to the sphere of philosophy. What I wish to bring to your notice is the possibility and importance of applying to philosophical problems certain broad principles of method which have been found successful in the study of scientific questions.<br/><br/>The opposition between a philosophy guided by scientific method and a philosophy dominated by religious and ethical ideas may be illustrated by two notions which are very prevalent in the works of philosophers, namely the notion of the universe, and the notion of good and evil. A philosopher is expected to tell us something about the nature of the universe as a whole, and to give grounds for either optimism or pessimism. Both these expectations seem to me mistaken. I believe the conception of "the universe" to be, as its etymology indicates, a mere relic of pre-Copernican astronomy, and I believe the question of optimism and pessimism to be one which the philosopher will regard as outside his scope, except, possibly, to the extent of maintaining that it is insoluble.<br/><br/>This essay could best be titled <code>________</code>.

    Correct — E. When asked to determine the best title for an essay, you are mostly being asked if you understand the primary motivation and thesis of the passage. Many of these answer choices are part of the argument, but only one represents an accurate portrayal of the thesis. The following answer choices are deficient: "On Results-Based and Method-Based Scientific Philosophical Inquiry" is incorrect because it does not convey the author's support of method-based scientific philosophical inquiry whereas another the correct answer does; “In Praise of Herbert Spencer” is incorrect because the author only mentions Spencer in passing, and indeed is as much critical (although in a veiled manner) as he is effusive with praise; “In Defense of Scientific Inquiry and Exploration” is incorrect because it covers only part of the argument and does not transcend the whole of the essay; and “On the Overwhelming Influence of Religion on the Development of Philosophical Thought” is incorrect because this is discussed only in passing to reinforce part of the author’s argument against religious motivations. The best answer choice is “On the Positive Applications of Scientific Method to Philosophy” because it captures the primary motivation of the author, to urge his audience to embrace scientific method in their pursuit of philosophical truth.
  21. LSAT

    Adapted from “Times of Erasmus and Luther” in <em>Short Studies on Great Subjects</em> by James Anthony Froude (1867)<br/><br/>Every single department of intellectual or practical life was penetrated with the beliefs, or was interwoven with the interests, of the clergy; and thus it was that, when differences of religious opinion arose, they split society to its foundations. The lines of cleavage penetrated everywhere, and there were no subjects whatever in which those who disagreed in theology possessed any common concern. When men quarreled, they quarreled altogether. The disturbers of settled beliefs were regarded as public enemies who had placed themselves beyond the pale of humanity, and were considered fit only to be destroyed like wild beasts, or trampled out like the seed of a contagion.<br/><br/>Three centuries have passed over our heads since the time of which I am speaking, and the world is so changed that we can hardly recognize it as the same. The secrets of nature have been opened out to us on a thousand lines, and men of science of all creeds can pursue side by side their common investigations. Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Calvinists contend with each other in honorable rivalry in arts, and literature, and commerce, and industry. They read the same books. They study at the same academies. They have seats in the same senates. They preside together on the judicial bench, and carry on, without jar or difference, the ordinary business of the country. Those who share the same pursuits are drawn in spite of themselves into sympathy and good-will. When they are in harmony in so large a part of their occupations, the points of remaining difference lose their venom. Those who thought they hated each other unconsciously find themselves friends, and as far as it affects the world at large, the acrimony of controversy has almost disappeared.<br/><br/>Imagine, if you can, a person being now put to death for a speculative theological opinion. You feel at once, that in the most bigoted country in the world such a thing has become impossible, and the impossibility is the measure of the alteration which we have all undergone. The formulas remain as they were on either side—the very same formulas which were once supposed to require these detestable murders. But we have learned to know each other better. The cords which bind together the brotherhood of mankind are woven of a thousand strands. We do not any more fly apart or become enemies, because, here and there, in one strand out of so many, there are still unsound places. If I were asked for a distinct proof that Europe was improving and not retrograding, I should find it in this phenomenon. It has not been brought about by controversy. Men are fighting still over the same questions which they began to fight about at the Reformation. Protestant divines have not driven Catholics out of the field, nor Catholics, Protestants. Each polemic writes for his own partisans, and makes no impression on his adversary.<br/><br/>Controversy has kept alive a certain quantity of bitterness, and that, I suspect, is all that it would accomplish if it continued till the day of judgment. I sometimes, in impatient moments, wish the laity in Europe would treat their controversial divines as two gentlemen once treated their seconds, when they found themselves forced into a duel without knowing what they were quarreling about. As the principals were being led up to their places, one of them whispered to the other, “If you will shoot your second, I will shoot mine."<br/><br/>What is the primary function of the opening paragraph?

    Correct — C. The primary function of the opening paragraph is to serve as an example of what the author is seemingly cautioning against and celebrating the relative absence of throughout the rest of the essay. The clearest indication of the function can be seen by considering the manner in which the following paragraph begins: “Three centuries have passed over our heads since the time of which I am speaking, and the world is so changed that we can hardly recognize it as the same.” The author wishes to “highlight the degree of discord that once raged among disparate religions in European society” so that he can go on to talk about how that situation has changed in the last three hundred years.
  22. LSAT

    Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory, or more broadly by the politics of feminism. Its history has been widespread and varied, from classic works of nineteenth-century women authors such as George Eliot and Margaret Fuller, to cutting-edge theoretical work in women's studies and gender studies by "third-wave" authors. In the most general and simple terms, feminist literary criticism before the 1970s—in the first and second waves of feminism—was concerned with the politics of women's authorship and the representation of women's condition within literature, including the depiction of fictional female characters. In addition, feminist criticism was further concerned with the exclusion of women from the western literary canon – an exclusion that most feminist critics suggest is due to the views of women authors not being considered universal.<br/><br/>Since the development of more complex conceptions of gender and subjectivity and third-wave feminism, modern feminist literary criticism has taken a variety of new routes, namely in the tradition of the Frankfurt School's critical theory. It has considered gender in the terms of Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, as part of the deconstruction of existing relations of power, and as a concrete political investment. It has also been closely associated with the birth and growth of gay studies. The more traditionally central feminist concern with the representation and politics of women's lives has continued to play an active role in criticism. More specifically, modern feminist criticism deals with those issues related to the patriarchal programming within key aspects of society including education, politics, and the work force.<br/><br/>Recently, Lisa Tuttle has defined feminist theory as asking "new questions of old texts." Consequently she cites the following as the primary goals of feminist criticism: <br/><br/> to uncover a female tradition of writing; to interpret symbolism of women's writing so that it will not be lost or ignored by the male point of view; to analyze women writers and their writings from a female perspective; to examine sexism in literature; and to increase awareness of the sexual politics of language and style. Only through such analysis, she argues, can a proper view of feminist criticism be framed moving forward.<br/><br/>According to the passage, all of the following would likely be a concern for feminist critics during the first and second waves of feminism EXCEPT:

    Correct — C. Explanation: All of the information required to answer the question comes in the first paragraph. The passage states explicitly that criticism in that era was concerned with “the politics of women's authorship”, “the depiction of fictional female characters” so "the politics relating to female authorship" and "the behavior of fictional female characters" are both concerns. For "the working conditions of several female characters", the passage states categorically that criticism in that era was concerned with “the representation of women's condition within literature” "the male domination of the literary world" is also a little difficult to find but is at the end of the first paragraph. The passage states that feminists were “concerned with the exclusion of women from the western literary canon” - which can be expressed as the male domination of the literary world. "the lack of important female characters in several popular novels" is correct as there is absolute nothing in the passage to suggest that feminist critics were concerned with several novels that did not happen to contain important female characters. <br/><br/>Answer is "the lack of important female characters in several popular novels".
  23. LSAT

    Adapted from <em>Moby Dick; or, The Whale</em> by Herman Melville (1851)<br/><br/>Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.<br/><br/>There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs—commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.<br/><br/>Circumambulate the city of a dreamy Sabbath afternoon. Go from Corlears Hook to Coenties Slip, and from thence, by Whitehall, northward. What do you see?—Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries. Some leaning against the spiles; some seated upon the pier-heads; some looking over the bulwarks of ships from China; some high aloft in the rigging, as if striving to get a still better seaward peep. But these are all landsmen; of week days pent up in lath and plaster—tied to counters, nailed to benches, clinched to desks. How then is this? Are the green fields gone? What do they here?<br/><br/>But look! here come more crowds, pacing straight for the water, and seemingly bound for a dive. Strange! Nothing will content them but the extremest limit of the land; loitering under the shady lee of yonder warehouses will not suffice. No. They must get just as nigh the water as they possibly can without falling in. And there they stand—miles of them—leagues. Inlanders all, they come from lanes and alleys, streets and avenues—north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither?<br/><br/>Once more. Say you are in the country; in some high land of lakes. Take almost any path you please, and ten to one it carries you down in a dale, and leaves you there by a pool in the stream. There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water, if water there be in all that region. Should you ever be athirst in the great American desert, try this experiment, if your caravan happen to be supplied with a metaphysical professor. Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.<br/><br/>But here is an artist. He desires to paint you the dreamiest, shadiest, quietest, most enchanting bit of romantic landscape in all the valley of the Saco. What is the chief element he employs? There stand his trees, each with a hollow trunk, as if a hermit and a crucifix were within; and here sleeps his meadow, and there sleep his cattle; and up from yonder cottage goes a sleepy smoke. Deep into distant woodlands winds a mazy way, reaching to overlapping spurs of mountains bathed in their hill-side blue. But though the picture lies thus tranced, and though this pine-tree shakes down its sighs like leaves upon this shepherd's head, yet all were vain, unless the shepherd's eye were fixed upon the magic stream before him. Go visit the Prairies in June, when for scores on scores of miles you wade knee-deep among Tiger-lilies—what is the one charm wanting?—Water—there is not a drop of water there! Were Niagara but a cataract of sand, would you travel your thousand miles to see it? Why did the poor poet of Tennessee, upon suddenly receiving two handfuls of silver, deliberate whether to buy him a coat, which he sadly needed, or invest his money in a pedestrian trip to Rockaway Beach? Why is almost every robust healthy boy with a robust healthy soul in him, at some time or other crazy to go to sea? Why upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now out of sight of land? Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.<br/><br/>Based on this passage, what role does the sea play for Ishmael?

    Correct — B. The author writes that Ishmael takes to the sea whenever he finds himself "growing grim about the mouth" and "involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet." In other words, the sea provides a welcome relief from the mundane and often depressing realities of Ishmael's daily existence.
  24. LSAT

    Adapted from <em>The Diary Of Samuel Pepys </em>(1893) by Samuel Pepys.<br/><br/>September 1st. Up and at the office all the morning, and then dined at home. Got my new closet made mighty clean against to-morrow. Sir W. Pen and my wife and Mercer and I to "Polichinelly," but were there horribly frighted to see Young Killigrew come in with a great many more young sparks; but we hid ourselves, so as we think they did not see us. By and by, they went away, and then we were at rest again; and so, the play being done, we to Islington, and there eat and drank and mighty merry; and so home singing, and, after a letter or two at the office, to bed.<br/><br/>2nd (Lord's day). Some of our maids sitting up late last night to get things ready against our feast to-day, Jane called us up about three in the morning, to tell us of a great fire they saw in the City. So I rose and slipped on my nightgowne, and went to her window, and thought it to be on the backside of Marke-lane at the farthest; but, being unused to such fires as followed, I thought it far enough off; and so went to bed again and to sleep. About seven rose again to dress myself, and there looked out at the window, and saw the fire not so much as it was and further off. So to my closet to set things to rights after yesterdays cleaning. By and by Jane comes and tells me that she hears that above 300 houses have been burned down to-night by the fire we saw, and that it is now burning down all Fish-street, by London Bridge. So I made myself ready presently, and walked to the Tower, and there got up upon one of the high places, Sir J. Robinson's little son going up with me; and there I did see the houses at that end of the bridge all on fire, and an infinite great fire on this and the other side the end of the bridge; which, among other people, did trouble me for poor little Michell and our Sarah on the bridge. So down, with my heart full of trouble, to the Lieutenant of the Tower, who tells me that it begun this morning in the King's baker's' house in Pudding-lane, and that it hath burned St. Magnus's Church and most part of Fish-street already. So I down to the water-side, and there got a boat and through bridge, and there saw a lamentable fire. Poor Michell's house, as far as the Old Swan, already burned that way, and the fire running further, that in a very little time it got as far as the Steeleyard, while I was there. Everybody endeavouring to remove their goods, and flinging into the river or bringing them into lighters that layoff; poor people staying in their houses as long as till the very fire touched them, and then running into boats, or clambering from one pair of stairs by the water-side to another. And among other things, the poor pigeons, I perceive, were loath to leave their houses, but hovered about the windows and balconies till they were, some of them burned, their wings, and fell down. Having staid, and in an hour's time seen the fire: rage every way, and nobody, to my sight, endeavouring to quench it, but to remove their goods, and leave all to the fire, and having seen it get as far as the Steele-yard, and the wind mighty high and driving it into the City; and everything, after so long a drought, proving combustible, even the very stones of churches, and among other things the poor steeple by which pretty Mrs.————lives, and whereof my old school-fellow Elborough is parson, taken fire in the very top, an there burned till it fell down: I to White Hall (with a gentleman with me who desired to go off from the Tower, to see the fire, in my boat); to White Hall, and there up to the Kings house in the Chappell, where people come about me, and did give them an account dismayed them all, and word was carried in to the King. So I was called for, and did tell the King and Duke of Yorke what I saw, and that unless his Majesty did command houses to be pulled down nothing could stop the fire. They seemed much troubled, and the King commanded me to go to my Lord Mayor—[Sir Thomas Bludworth.]—from him, and command him to spare no houses, but to pull down before the fire every way. The Duke of York bid me tell him that if he would have any more soldiers he shall; and so did my Lord Arlington afterwards, as a great secret.<br/><br/>Here meeting, with Captain Cocke, I in his coach, which he lent me, and Creed with me to Paul's, and there walked along Watlingstreet, as well as I could, every creature coming away laden with goods to save, and here and there sick people carried away in beds. Extraordinary good goods carried in carts and on backs. At last met my Lord Mayor in Canningstreet, like a man spent, with a handkerchief about his neck. To the King's message he cried, like a fainting woman, "Lord! What can I do? I am spent: people will not obey me. I have been pulling down houses; but the fire overtakes us faster than we can do it." That he needed no more soldiers; and that, for himself, he must go and refresh himself, having been up all night. So he left me, and I him, and walked home, seeing people all almost distracted, and no manner of means used to quench the fire. The houses, too, so very thick thereabouts, and full of matter for burning, as pitch and tar, in Thames-street; and warehouses of oil, and wines, and brandy, and other things. Here I saw Mr. Isaake Houblon, the handsome man, prettily dressed and dirty, at his door at Dowgate, receiving some of his brothers' things, whose houses were on fire; and, as he says, have been removed twice already; and he doubts (as it soon proved) that they must be in a little time removed from his house also, which was a sad consideration.<br/><br/>Which one of the following statements describes an example of the function accorded to London Bridge?

    Correct — C. We can tell that the bridge had housing as the author states: “I did see the houses at that end of the bridge all on fire, and an infinite great fire on this and the other side the end of the bridge; which, among other people, did trouble me for poor little Michell and our Sarah on the bridge.” “Michell and our Sarah's” houses being on the bridge. This takes careful examination to infer although, again, elimination can be used as the author does not mention it being a highway of the city.
  25. LSAT

    Adapted from the Introduction to <em>Letters from an American Farmer </em>(Crèvecoeur; 1782) by Warren Barton Blake (1912)<br/><br/>Except by naturalization, the author of <em>Letters from an American Farmer</em> was not an American, and he was no ordinary farmer. Yet why quarrel with him for the naming of his book, or for his signing it "J. Hector Saint-John," when the "Hector" of his title-pages and American biographers was only a <em>prenom de faintaisie</em>? We owe some concessions to the author of so charming a book, to the eighteenth-century Thoreau. His life is certainly more interesting than the real Thoreau's—and would be, even if it did not present many contradictions. Our records of that life are in the highest degree inexact; he himself is wanting in accuracy as to the date of more than one event. The records, however, agree that Crèvecoeur belonged to the petite noblesse of Normandy. The date of his birth was January 31, 1735, the place was Caen, and his full name (his great-grandson and biographer vouches for it) was Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crèvecoeur. The boy was well enough brought up, but without more than the attention that his birth gave him the right to expect; he divided the years of his boyhood between Caen, where his father's town-house stood, and the College du Mont, where the Jesuits gave him his education. A letter dated 1785 and addressed to his children tells us all that we know of his school-days; though it is said, too, that he distinguished himself in mathematics. "If you only knew," the reminiscent father of a family exclaims in this letter, "in what shabby lodging, in what a dark and chilly closet, I was mewed up at your age; with what severity I was treated; how I was fed and dressed!" Already his powers of observation, that were so to distinguish him, were quickened by his old-world milieu.<br/><br/>"From my earliest youth," he wrote in 1803, "I had a passion for taking in all the antiques that I met with: moth-eaten furniture, tapestries, family portraits, Gothic manuscripts (that I had learned how to decipher) had for me an indefinable charm. A little later on, I loved to walk in the solitude of cemeteries, to examine the tombs and to trace out their mossy epitaphs. I knew most of the churches of the canton, the date of their foundation, and what they contained of interest in the way of pictures and sculptures."<br/><br/>The boy's gift of accurate and keen observation was to be tested soon by a very different class of objects; there were to be no crumbling saints and canvases of bed-chamber grooms for him to study in the forests of America, no reminders of the greatness of his country's past, and the honor of his family.<br/><br/>From school, the future woodsman passed over into England. A distant relative was living near Salisbury; for one reason or another the boy was sent thither to finish his schooling. From England, with what motives we know not, he set out for the New World, where he was to spend his busiest and happiest days. In the Bibliotheca Americana Nova Rich makes the statement that Crèvecoeur was but sixteen when he made the plunge, and others have followed Rich in this error. The lad's age was really not less than nineteen or twenty. According to the family legend, his ship touched at Lisbon on the way out; one cannot decide whether this was just before or immediately after the great earthquake. Then to New France, where he joined Montcalm. Entering the service as cadet, he advanced to the rank of lieutenant; was mentioned in the Gazette; shared in the French successes; drew maps of the forests and block-houses that found their way to the king's cabinet; served with Montcalm in the attack upon Fort William Henry. With that the record is broken off: we can less definitely associate his name with the humiliation of the French in America than with their brief triumphs. Yet it is quite certain, says Robert de Crèvecoeur, his descendant, that he did not return to France with the rag-tag of the defeated army. Quebec fell before Wolfe's attack in September 1759; at some time in the course of the year 1760 we may suppose the young officer to have entered the British colonies, to have adopted his family name of "Saint John" (Saint-Jean), and to have gradually worked his way south, probably by the Hudson. The reader of the <em>Letters</em> hardly supposes him to have enjoyed his frontier life; nor is there any means of knowing how much of that life it was his fortune to lead. In time, he found himself as far south as Pennsylvania. He visited Shippensburg and Lancaster and Carlisle; perhaps he resided at or near one of these towns. Many years later, when his son Louis purchased a farm of two hundred acres from Chancellor Livingstone, at Navesink, near the Blue Mountains, Crèvecoeur the elder was still remembered, and it may have been at this epoch that he visited the place. During the term of his military service under Montcalm, Crèvecoeur saw something of the Great Lakes and the outlying country; prior to his experience as a cultivator, and, indeed, after he had settled down as such, he "travelled like Plato," even visited Bermuda, by his own account. Not until 1764, however, have we any positive evidence of his whereabouts; it was in April of that year that he took out naturalization papers at New York. Some months later, he installed himself on the farm variously called Greycourt and Pine-Hill, in the same state; he drained a great marsh there, and seems to have practiced agriculture upon a generous scale. The certificate of the marriage of Crèvecoeur to Mehitable Tippet, of Yonkers is dated September 20, 1769, and of this union three children were the issue. And more than children: for with the marriage ceremony once performed by the worthy Tetard, a clergyman of New York, formerly settled over a French Reformed Church at Charleston, South Carolina, Crèvecoeur is more definitely than ever the "American Farmer"; he has thrown in his lot with that new country; his children are to be called after their parent's adopted name, Saint-John; the responsibilities of the adventurer are multiplied; his life in America has become a matter more easy to trace and richer, perhaps, in meaning.<br/><br/>The primary purpose of the passage is most likely to <code>________</code>.

    Correct — E. We can tell from the author's first paragraphs that the passage is designed to be an introduction to a greater piece by another author, namely Crèvecoeur. As the author states, “We owe some concessions to the author of so charming a book, to the eighteenth-century Thoreau.” The author names Crèvecoeur's book numerous times and makes a point of ending the passage with some finality. It is obvious also from the brief descriptions of Crèvecoeur's life that the author does not intend to elaborate on his musings more than in an introductory manner. The naming of Crèvecoeur's great-grandson as his biographer also suggests that the author does not intend to take up this role.
  26. LSAT

    Adapted from <em>A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge </em>by George Berkeley (1710)<br/><br/>1. OBJECTS OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. It is evident to anyone who takes a survey of the objects of human knowledge, that they are either IDEAS actually imprinted on the senses; or else such as are perceived by attending to the passions and operations of the mind; or lastly, ideas formed by help of memory and imagination—either compounding, dividing, or barely representing those originally perceived in the aforesaid ways. By sight I have the ideas of light and colors, with their several degrees and variations. By touch I perceive hard and soft, heat and cold, motion and resistance, and of all these more and less either as to quantity or degree. Smelling furnishes me with odors; the palate with tastes; and hearing conveys sounds to the mind in all their variety of tone and composition. And as several of these are observed to accompany each other, they come to be marked by one name, and so to be reputed as one thing. Thus, for example, a certain color, taste, smell, figure and consistence having been observed to go together, are accounted one distinct thing, signified by the name APPLE. Other collections of ideas constitute a stone, a tree, a book, and the like sensible things, which as they are pleasing or disagreeable excite the passions of love, hatred, joy, grief, and so forth.<br/><br/>2. MIND--SPIRIT--SOUL. But, besides all that endless variety of ideas or objects of knowledge, there is likewise something which knows or perceives them, and exercises diverse operations as willing, imagining, and remembering about them. This perceiving, active being is what I call MIND, SPIRIT, SOUL, or MYSELF, by which words I do not denote any one of my ideas, but a thing entirely distinct from them, WHEREIN THEY EXIST, or, which is the same thing, whereby they are perceived—for the existence of an idea consists in being perceived.<br/><br/>3. HOW FAR THE ASSENT OF THE VULGAR CONCEDED. That neither our thoughts, nor passions, nor ideas formed by the imagination, exist WITHOUT the mind, is what EVERYBODY WILL ALLOW. And it seems no less evident that the various sensations or ideas imprinted on the sense, however blended or combined together (that is, whatever objects they compose), cannot exist otherwise than IN a mind perceiving them. I think an intuitive knowledge may be obtained of this by any one that shall attend to WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM "EXIST," when applied to sensible things. The table I write on I say exists—that is, I see and feel it—and if I were out of my study I should say it existed, meaning thereby that if I were in my study I might perceive it, or that some other spirit actually does perceive it. There was an odor, that is, it was smelt; there was a sound, that is, it was heard; a color or figure, and it was perceived by sight or touch. This is all that I can understand by these and the like expressions. For as to what is said of the absolute existence of unthinking things without any relation to their being perceived, that seems perfectly unintelligible. Their ESSE is PERCIPI, nor is it possible they should have any existence out of the minds or thinking things which perceive them.<br/><br/>4. THE VULGAR OPINION INVOLVES A CONTRADICTION. It is indeed an opinion STRANGELY prevailing amongst men, that houses, mountains, rivers, and in a word all sensible objects, have an existence, natural or real, distinct from their being perceived by the understanding. But, with how great an assurance and acquiescence soever this principle may be entertained in the world, yet whoever shall find in his heart to call it in question may, if I mistake not, perceive it to involve a manifest contradiction. For, what are the fore-mentioned objects but the things we perceive by sense? And what do we PERCEIVE BESIDES OUR OWN IDEAS OR SENSATIONS? And is it not plainly repugnant that any one of these, or any combination of them, should exist unperceived?<br/><br/>5. CAUSE OF THIS PREVALENT ERROR. If we thoroughly examine this tenet it will, perhaps, be found at bottom to depend on the doctrine of ABSTRACT IDEAS. For can there be a nicer strain of abstraction than to distinguish the existence of sensible objects from their being perceived, so as to conceive them existing unperceived? Light and colors, heat and cold, extension and figures—in a word, the things we see and feel—what are they but so many sensations, notions, ideas, or impressions on the sense? And is it possible to separate, even in thought, any of these from perception? For my part, I might as easily divide a thing from itself. I may, indeed, divide in my thoughts, or conceive apart from each other, those things which, perhaps, I never perceived by sense so divided. Thus, I imagine the trunk of a human body without the limbs, or conceive the smell of a rose without thinking on the rose itself. So far, I will not deny, I can abstract—if that may properly be called ABSTRACTION which extends only to the conceiving separately such objects as it is possible may really exist or be actually perceived asunder. But my conceiving or imagining power does not extend beyond the possibility of real existence or perception. Hence, as it is impossible for me to see or feel anything without an actual sensation of that thing, so is it impossible for me to conceive in my thoughts any sensible thing or object distinct from the sensation or perception of it.<br/><br/>Which one of the following most accurately states the main point of the passage?

    Correct — C. The passage quite clearly states at the beginning that we perceive things, then other parts which may be called “mind, body, or spirit” “[exercise] diverse operations as willing, imagining, and remembering about them.” We can say this continues on to the end of the passage as the author discusses in more detail the “imagining” portion of our perceptions. We cannot say that the statement “Human thinking is mostly sensing things and only sometimes assessing them” is correct, as the word “sometimes” nullifies it. Likewise, the statement “The process of thought does not allow things to exist when we are not near them” is nullified by being a simplified, perhaps inaccurate, argument of a part of the passage, not of the whole passage.
  27. LSAT

    The passage suggests that Leacock would agree with which of the following?

    Correct — C. Leacock is mentioned at the beginning of the second paragraph. Here’s the relevant sentence: “Whereas some anthropologists, such as Leacock, argue that there are or have been truly egalitarian societies, and all agree that there are societies in which women have achieved considerable social recognition and power, none has so far observed a society in which women have publicly recognized power and authority surpassing that of men.” The specific claim attributed to Leacock, then, is that some societies have held women as equal to men. <br/><br/>Choice (C) correctly represents that viewpoint.
  28. LSAT

    The phrase 'reined in,' as mentioned in sentence 23, means which one of the following?

    Correct — C. The context in which the phrase 'reined in' is used us: <i>"As kingdoms and empires became powerful, they reined in communities and the level of violence decreased."</i><br/><br/>The clue to answer to the phrase is the word 'powerful.' This means that as the state became more powerful, it used its power to control the communities and, thus, reduce violence.<br/><br/>Of the given choices, the best synonym of the phrase is <i>controlled</i>.<br/><br/>While manage is a close call, it is not always associated with using 'power.'.
  29. LSAT

    Passage adapted from<em> The Untroubled Mind </em>(1915) by Herbert J. Hall.<br/><br/>When I go about among my patients, most of them, as it happens, “nervously” sick, I sometimes stop to consider why it is they are ill. I know that some are so because of physical weakness over which they have no control, that some are suffering from the effects of carelessness, some from willfulness, and more from simple ignorance of the rules of the game. There are so many rules that no one will ever know them‌ all, but it seems that we live in a world of laws, and that if we transgress those laws by ever so little, we must suffer equally, whether our transgression is a mistake or not, and whether we happen to be saints or sinners. There are laws also which have to do with the recovery of poise and balance when these have been lost. These laws are less well observed and understood than those which determine our downfall.<br/><br/>The more gross illnesses, from accident, contagion, and malignancy, we need not consider here, but only those intangible injuries that disable people who are relatively sound in the physical sense. It is true that nervous troubles may cause physical complications and that physical disease very often coexists with nervous illness, but it is better for us now to make an artificial separation. Just what happens in the human economy when a “nervous breakdown” comes, nobody seems to know, but mind and body cooperate to make the‌ patient miserable and helpless. It may be nature’s way of holding us up and preventing further injury. The hold-up is severe, usually, and becomes in itself a thing to be managed.<br/><br/>The rules we have wittingly or unwittingly broken are often unknown to us, but they exist in the All-Wise Providence, and we may guess by our own suffering how far we have overstepped them. If a man runs into a door in the dark, we know all about that,—the case is simple,—but if he runs overtime at his office and hastens to be rich with the result of a nervous dyspepsia—that is a mystery. Here is a girl who “came out” last year. She was apparently strong and her mother was ambitious for her social progress. That meant four nights a week for several months at dances and dinners, getting home at 3 a.m. or later. It was gay and delightful while it lasted, but it could not last, and the girl went to pieces suddenly; her back gave out because it was not strong enough to stand the dancing and the long-continued physical strain. The nerves gave out because she did not give her faculties time to rest, and perhaps because of a love affair that supervened. The result was a year of invalidism, and then, because the rules of recovery were not understood, several years more of convalescence. Such common rules should be well enough understood, but they are broken everywhere by the wisest people.<br/><br/>As used in the passage, the word "transgression" most nearly means <code>________</code>.

    Correct — C. The author uses "transgression" in the first paragraph, while discussing the ways in which the rules of society are often broken when someone has a nervous breakdown. This linkage indicates that a transgression is in some way a violation of accepted social conventions.
  30. LSAT

    Museum Director: “The City Council’s vote to close the Natural History Museum on January 1<sup>st</sup> was foolish and will harm the city. Our museum is the premier natural history museum in the country; every year it attracts tourists and researchers, bringing their spending power into the city. It is an excellent place for our city’s children to learn about the world around them. And finally, the museum’s operating budget is completely paid for by private donations and admission tickets.”<br/><br/>Which of the following is the main point of the Museum Director's argument?

    Correct — E. The main point of the Museum Director’s argument is that closing the museum was not a wise decision. The other choices are supporting arguments made to justify the assertion that closing the museum was a poor choice.
Sample questions

LSAT sample questions

Tap any question below to reveal the answer and a plain-English explanation.

Logical Reasoning Movie theaters in the United States have traditionally relied on concession sales—popcorn, candy, and drinks at inflated prices—to cover the negative differential between the cost of renting films from distributors and the revenue generated at the box office. In order for a movie theater to turn a profit, at least 90 percent of all moviegoers must buy at least one concession item. However, in recent years many health-conscious moviegoers have begun to eschew the high-fat and high-sugar concession items. Which one of the following conclusions is best supported by the information above?

A. Some moviegoers have begun bringing their own snacks into movie theaters.

B. Movie theaters should increase the number of movies they offer in order to generate higher box office revenue.

C. If movie theaters increased the number of seats per theater, they would be able to cover the negative differential.

D. Movie theaters cannot turn a profit in today's entertainment market.

E. Movie theaters should offer concession items more in line with current demand or they will suffer financial losses. ✓

Correct — E. Since moviegoers are beginning to avoid the current concession items, it stands to reason that movie theaters should begin to offer items more in line with moviegoers' tastes or risk losing out on the revenue required to earn a profit. Choice A is incorrect because increasing the number of movies offered also increases the rental fees theaters must pay without ensuring any additional revenue. Choice B's conclusion is unwarranted, because there is no guarantee that the theater will actually be able to attract enough moviegoers to fill the extra seats and generate additional ticket sales. Choice D cannot be concluded, since the passage offers no information regarding moviegoers' clandestine behavior. Choice E is too extreme. The passage does not suggest that theaters cannot turn a profit, but rather that they may encounter difficulty in doing so. Nothing rules out the possibility that theaters will respond to the changing tastes to successfully secure their profit margins.

Reading Comprehension Adapted from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) The being finished speaking and fixed his looks upon me in the expectation of a reply. But I was bewildered, perplexed, and unable to arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of his proposition. He continued, "You must create a female for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede." The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger that had died away while he narrated his peaceful life among the cottagers, and as he said this I could no longer suppress the rage that burned within me. "I do refuse it," I replied; "and no torture shall ever extort a consent from me. You may render me the most miserable of men, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes. Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world. Begone!" "You are in the wrong," replied the fiend; "and instead of threatening, I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? Let man live with me in the interchange of kindness, and instead of injury I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance. But that cannot be . . . Yet mine shall not be the submission of abject slavery. I will revenge my injuries; if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly towards you my arch-enemy. Have a care; I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth." A fiendish rage animated him as he said this; his face was wrinkled into contortions too horrible for human eyes to behold; but presently he calmed himself and proceeded— "I intended to reason. What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself. Our lives will not be happy, but they will be harmless and free from the misery I now feel. Oh! My creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit!” I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences of my consent, but I felt that there was some justice in his argument. His tale and the feelings he now expressed proved him to be a creature of fine sensations, and did I not as his maker owe him all the portion of happiness that it was in my power to bestow? He saw my change of feeling and continued, "If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again; I will go to the vast wilds of South America. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man and will ripen our food, acorns and berries. The picture I present to you is peaceful and human, and you must feel that you could deny it only in the wantonness of power and cruelty. Pitiless as you have been towards me, I now see compassion in your eyes; let me seize the favorable moment and persuade you to promise what I so ardently desire." The author most likely intended the final paragraph to show what?

A. The misunderstanding of the narrator

B. The humanity of the fiend

C. The persuasiveness of the fiend ✓

D. The pitiful situation of the fiend

E. The intentions of the fiend

Correct — C. We can tell from the fiend's recognition and use of the change in the narrator's feelings that the paragraph is mainly showing how persuasive the fiend can be. For this reason, we cannot say if the things said are the fiend's true intentions. It is important here to pick up on the subtle notions presented by the author, such as “let me seize the favorable moment and persuade you to promise what I so ardently desire.” Here, the fiend himself admits that he is attempting to be persuasive.

Logical Reasoning For about thirty years, government intelligence departments have spent resources equally between domestic and foreign activities. For about the same amount of time, intelligence departments have conducted covert operations in addition to intelligence gathering. This conduct has raised public concern that intelligence departments wield too much authority. In the end, though, domestic spending and covert operations may be simply a consequence of ineptness. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

A. Intelligence departments have conducted fewer covert operations over the last fifteen years than they did over the fifteen years prior to that

B. Intelligence departments must be powerful in order to address international threats

C. The public has been concerned that intelligence departments are too powerful for more than thirty years

D. Intelligence departments have been less powerful over the last thirty years than they were previously ✓

E. Intelligence departments were inept before they began covert operations or spending on domestic intelligence

Correct — D. No answer choice provides substantial support for the author. The correct answer here, however, provides some support for the author's skepticism about whether the conduct of departments indicates that they wield too much power. If departments were more powerful before they began covert operations and domestic spending, then it is somewhat less likely that this conduct indicates too much power.

Reading Comprehension Educator: “Children will not excel at learning other languages unless they are exposed to those languages at a very young age. Grace had a babysitter who spoke Spanish to her as a young child, so she will grow up to be fluent in Spanish.” Which of the following passages most closely parallels the flawed reasoning exhibited above?

A. Flowers grow best when they are watered three or more times per week. Grace’s flowers grow well, so she must water them at least three times per week.

B. Flowers cannot grow well unless they are watered at least three times a week. Grace’s flowers did not grow well, so she must have forgotten to water them.

C. Flowers grow best when they are watered three or more times per week. Grace watered her flowers once per week, so her flowers will not grow well.

D. Flowers cannot grow well unless they are watered at least three times a week. Grace watered her flowers four times a week, so her flowers will grow well. ✓

E. Flowers will not grow unless they are watered at least three times each week. Grace always takes great care of her flowers, so they will grow well.

Correct — D. The passage that most closely parallels the flawed reasoning in the original passage is answer B. In the original passage, the educator falsely assumes that because an event is necessary for another event to occur, then the first event occurring is sufficient for the second to occur. In other words, if the requirement that Grace is exposed to Spanish has been met, then she will learn Spanish. Answer B follows the same logic. Watering the flowers three or more times each week only establishes one of the conditions necessary for the flowers to grow well; it does not guarantee that they will.

Logical Reasoning Astragalus linifolius, a rare plant species that is found only in the Colorado region of the United States, reproduces when a pollinating agent like a fly or a bee carries the pollen grain from the male part of one plant to the female part of another plant of the same species. To maintain the population of this species, the use of pesticides that control grasshoppers should be banned in this region. These pesticides also often result in significant mortality among the Bombylius flies that are the most important pollinating agents of A. linifolius. Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

A. A. linifolius is also pollinated, though to a much-lesser degree, by some local species of bees.

B. A. linifolius has a short life-span.

C. Bombylius flies do not reproduce very fast and their populations do not recover for many years after one spraying of a pesticide that controls grasshoppers. ✓

D. The pesticides that control insect herbivores other than grasshoppers are even more toxic to Bombylius flies.

E. The populations of some other plant species in the Colorado region have decreased to an even greater extent than the population of A. linifolius since the spraying of pesticides that control grasshoppers first started in the region.

Correct — C. Solution Argument construction The argument starts with a premise – Premise 1: Astragalus linifolius (context-setting information: this is a rare plant species that is found only in the Colorado region of the United States) reproduces when a pollinating agent like a bee or a fly carries the pollen grain from the male part of a plant and deposits it onto the female part of another plant of the same species. From this premise, it becomes clear that pollinating agents like bees and flies are necessary for the reproduction of A. linifolius to take place. Next comes the conclusion of the argument: To maintain the population of Astragalus linifolius (a rare legume species that is found only in the Colorado region of the United States), the use of pesticides that control grasshoppers should be banned in this region. This conclusion is followed by two more premises: Premise 2 - These pesticides result in significant mortality among the Bombylius flies.Premise 3 - Bombylius flies are the most important pollinating agents of A. linifolius. Here is how these premises are used to draw the conclusion: From Premise 1, we know that A. linifolius cannot reproduce without pollinating agents. From Premise 3, we know that Bombylius flies are the most important pollinating agents of A. linifolius. By combining Premises 1 and 3, we can draw a subsidiary conclusion that to conserve A. linifolius, it's probably important to conserve Bombylius flies too. A decline in the numbers of the latter is likely to result in a decline in the numbers of the former. When this subsidiary conclusion is combined with Premise 2, we draw the conclusion that to maintain the population of A. linifolius, the use of pesticides that control grasshoppers should be banned in that region. We are looking for the answer choice that provides additional information which makes this conclusion stronger than when the above two premises are used alone. Let us analyze the options one by one. Answer choices explanation This option is incorrect. This argument is concerned with the maintenance of population of a particular species. The population of a species would be maintained if its death rate and birth rate remain in equilibrium. The life-span of a species is irrelevant to the maintenance of its population and, therefore, to this argument.This option is incorrect. If there are other pollinating agents through which A. linifolius can reproduce, then, assuming that these pollinating agents are not impacted by pesticides that control grasshoppers, this plant species might survive even if these pesticides are not banned. Therefore, this statement actually weakens the conclusion.This option is incorrect. There may be pesticides that are more toxic to the Bombylius flies than the pesticides mentioned in the argument, but this does not strengthen the argument that to save A. linifolius, the pesticides that control grasshoppers should be banned. For example, consider the statement 'to get better health, you should eat less sugar.' This statement is of the same format as the conclusion drawn in this argument: To achieve Goal A, do Action X. Does a statement that eating oily foods is even worse for your health than eating sugar strengthen the above example statement? It does not.This option is correct. Suppose that Bombylius flies had been able to reproduce fast. Then, even if one spraying had significantly reduced the number of flies in a region from, say, 1000 to a mere 100, their fast breeding would have restored the population number to its pre-spraying level pretty soon and so there would probably not have been much adverse impact on the amount of pollination that these flies did for A. linifolius and, therefore, in the population of this plant species. However, this statement tells us that the populations of Bombylius flies do not recover for many years post a pesticide spraying. In those years, therefore, the extent of reproduction of A. linifolius is likely to decline, which in turn, is likely to decrease the population of this plant species.This option is incorrect. That other plant species have suffered greater declines than A. linifolius since the spraying of pesticides that control grasshoppers started is irrelevant to the conclusion drawn for how the population of A. linifolius may be maintained.

Reading Comprehension Adapted from Mysticism, Logic, and Other Essays by Bertrand Russell (1917) When we try to ascertain the motives which have led men to the investigation of philosophical questions, we find that, broadly speaking, they can be divided into two groups, often antagonistic, and leading to very divergent systems. These two groups of motives are, on the one hand, those derived from religion and ethics, and, on the other hand, those derived from science. Plato, Spinoza, and Hegel may be taken as typical of the philosophers whose interests are mainly religious and ethical, while Leibniz, Locke, and Hume may be taken as representatives of the scientific wing. In Aristotle, Descartes, Berkeley, and Kant we find both groups of motives strongly present. Herbert Spencer, in whose honor we are assembled today, would naturally be classed among scientific philosophers; it was mainly from science that he drew his data, his formulation of problems, and his conception of method. But his strong religious sense is obvious in much of his writing, and his ethical preoccupations are what make him value the conception of evolution—that conception in which, as a whole generation has believed, science and morals are to be united in fruitful and indissoluble marriage. It is my belief that the ethical and religious motives, in spite of the splendidly imaginative systems to which they have given rise, have been, on the whole, a hindrance to the progress of philosophy, and ought now to be consciously thrust aside by those who wish to discover philosophical truth. Science, originally, was entangled in similar motives, and was thereby hindered in its advances. It is, I maintain, from science, rather than from ethics and religion, that philosophy should draw its inspiration. But there are two different ways in which a philosophy may seek to base itself upon science. It may emphasize the most general results of science, and seek to give even greater generality and unity to these results. Or it may study the methods of science, and seek to apply these methods, with the necessary adaptations, to its own peculiar province. Much philosophy inspired by science has gone astray through preoccupation with the results momentarily supposed to have been achieved. It is not results, but methods that can be transferred with profit from the sphere of the special sciences to the sphere of philosophy. What I wish to bring to your notice is the possibility and importance of applying to philosophical problems certain broad principles of method which have been found successful in the study of scientific questions. The opposition between a philosophy guided by scientific method and a philosophy dominated by religious and ethical ideas may be illustrated by two notions which are very prevalent in the works of philosophers, namely the notion of the universe, and the notion of good and evil. A philosopher is expected to tell us something about the nature of the universe as a whole, and to give grounds for either optimism or pessimism. Both these expectations seem to me mistaken. I believe the conception of "the universe" to be, as its etymology indicates, a mere relic of pre-Copernican astronomy, and I believe the question of optimism and pessimism to be one which the philosopher will regard as outside his scope, except, possibly, to the extent of maintaining that it is insoluble. This essay could best be titled ________.

A. "In Defense of Scientific Inquiry and Exploration"

B. "On Results-Based and Method-Based Scientific Philosophical Inquiry"

C. "In Praise of Herbert Spencer"

D. "On the Importance of Religious Philosophical Inquiry"

E. "On the Positive Applications of Scientific Method to Philosophy" ✓

Correct — E. When asked to determine the best title for an essay, you are mostly being asked if you understand the primary motivation and thesis of the passage. Many of these answer choices are part of the argument, but only one represents an accurate portrayal of the thesis. The following answer choices are deficient: "On Results-Based and Method-Based Scientific Philosophical Inquiry" is incorrect because it does not convey the author's support of method-based scientific philosophical inquiry whereas another the correct answer does; “In Praise of Herbert Spencer” is incorrect because the author only mentions Spencer in passing, and indeed is as much critical (although in a veiled manner) as he is effusive with praise; “In Defense of Scientific Inquiry and Exploration” is incorrect because it covers only part of the argument and does not transcend the whole of the essay; and “On the Overwhelming Influence of Religion on the Development of Philosophical Thought” is incorrect because this is discussed only in passing to reinforce part of the author’s argument against religious motivations. The best answer choice is “On the Positive Applications of Scientific Method to Philosophy” because it captures the primary motivation of the author, to urge his audience to embrace scientific method in their pursuit of philosophical truth.

Logical Reasoning A football player cannot be an All-American without both superior athletic talent and an unusual work ethic. Most football players have an unusual work ethic. However, most people with superior athletic talent do not play football, but rather other sports such as basketball. Most basketball players with superior athletic talent do not have an unusual work ethic. If the statements above are true, which one of the following statements must also be true?

A. Most football players with superior athletic talent could be All-Americans.

B. At least some basketball players with an unusual work ethic could be All-Americans if they played football.

C. Most basketball players with superior athletic talent, if they played football, could not be All-Americans. ✓

D. Most football players could not be All-Americans.

E. At least some All-American football players also play basketball.

Correct — C. The passage specifically states two necessary conditions for being an All-American in football: 1) superior athletic talent, and 2) an unusual work ethic. Because the passage notes that most basketball players who have (1) lack (2), it logically follows that most basketball players could not qualify as All-Americans in football, under the conditions stated. Note that the passage does not state the conditions sufficient to become an All-American football player; it merely states some necessary conditions. Nor does the passage tell us anything that would allow drawing a conclusion regarding “most football players” or “at least some All-American football players.”

Reading Comprehension Adapted from “Times of Erasmus and Luther” in Short Studies on Great Subjects by James Anthony Froude (1867) Every single department of intellectual or practical life was penetrated with the beliefs, or was interwoven with the interests, of the clergy; and thus it was that, when differences of religious opinion arose, they split society to its foundations. The lines of cleavage penetrated everywhere, and there were no subjects whatever in which those who disagreed in theology possessed any common concern. When men quarreled, they quarreled altogether. The disturbers of settled beliefs were regarded as public enemies who had placed themselves beyond the pale of humanity, and were considered fit only to be destroyed like wild beasts, or trampled out like the seed of a contagion. Three centuries have passed over our heads since the time of which I am speaking, and the world is so changed that we can hardly recognize it as the same. The secrets of nature have been opened out to us on a thousand lines, and men of science of all creeds can pursue side by side their common investigations. Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Calvinists contend with each other in honorable rivalry in arts, and literature, and commerce, and industry. They read the same books. They study at the same academies. They have seats in the same senates. They preside together on the judicial bench, and carry on, without jar or difference, the ordinary business of the country. Those who share the same pursuits are drawn in spite of themselves into sympathy and good-will. When they are in harmony in so large a part of their occupations, the points of remaining difference lose their venom. Those who thought they hated each other unconsciously find themselves friends, and as far as it affects the world at large, the acrimony of controversy has almost disappeared. Imagine, if you can, a person being now put to death for a speculative theological opinion. You feel at once, that in the most bigoted country in the world such a thing has become impossible, and the impossibility is the measure of the alteration which we have all undergone. The formulas remain as they were on either side—the very same formulas which were once supposed to require these detestable murders. But we have learned to know each other better. The cords which bind together the brotherhood of mankind are woven of a thousand strands. We do not any more fly apart or become enemies, because, here and there, in one strand out of so many, there are still unsound places. If I were asked for a distinct proof that Europe was improving and not retrograding, I should find it in this phenomenon. It has not been brought about by controversy. Men are fighting still over the same questions which they began to fight about at the Reformation. Protestant divines have not driven Catholics out of the field, nor Catholics, Protestants. Each polemic writes for his own partisans, and makes no impression on his adversary. Controversy has kept alive a certain quantity of bitterness, and that, I suspect, is all that it would accomplish if it continued till the day of judgment. I sometimes, in impatient moments, wish the laity in Europe would treat their controversial divines as two gentlemen once treated their seconds, when they found themselves forced into a duel without knowing what they were quarreling about. As the principals were being led up to their places, one of them whispered to the other, “If you will shoot your second, I will shoot mine." What is the primary function of the opening paragraph?

A. To accentuate the role that religion and the clergy have played in promoting peace and stability in Europe

B. To remonstrate with those who suggest that religion is the primary force for peace and prosperity in Christian Europe

C. To highlight the degree of discord that once raged among disparate religions in European society ✓

D. To lament the impact of religion on the peace of Renaissance Europe

E. To undermine the role of Christianity in ensuring the progress of European society

Correct — C. The primary function of the opening paragraph is to serve as an example of what the author is seemingly cautioning against and celebrating the relative absence of throughout the rest of the essay. The clearest indication of the function can be seen by considering the manner in which the following paragraph begins: “Three centuries have passed over our heads since the time of which I am speaking, and the world is so changed that we can hardly recognize it as the same.” The author wishes to “highlight the degree of discord that once raged among disparate religions in European society” so that he can go on to talk about how that situation has changed in the last three hundred years.

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Questions

LSAT test FAQ

Is the LSAT hard?
The LSAT is very passable when you study with realistic practice questions. Most people only find it tricky because the wording is unfamiliar. Practise in the real question format until you score consistently above the pass mark and you'll walk in confident.
How many questions are on the LSAT?
The exact number depends on the version of the LSAT you sit. LSAT Exam Prep 2026 Test includes a large bank of practice questions covering every topic, plus full-length mock exams set up to mirror the real test format and pass mark.
Can I practise the LSAT for free?
Yes. You can practise a free sample of LSAT questions on TheoryPractice in your browser, with answers and explanations. A web unlock adds the full question bank and unlimited timed mock exams for this exam.
Does LSAT Exam Prep 2026 Test work offline?
The web practice works in your browser. If you prefer offline study, use the downloadable PDF or the mobile app where available, then return to the web version for timed mock exams and progress tracking.
Is LSAT practice available in other languages?
Several of our apps support more than one language. Open the LSAT Exam Prep 2026 Test listing on the App Store or Google Play to see the exact languages available for the LSAT.
How many LSAT questions are there?
This bank covers 30 LSAT practice questions, each with a plain-English explanation for the correct answer.
Is LSAT practice free?
Yes — the sample questions on this page are free to practice. Unlock the full bank and timed mock exams when you're ready to go further.
Where can I practice the LSAT online?
Right here on TheoryPractice, in your browser — no download required.