Logical reasoning PrepTest 117 · Section 3 · Question 6

Incorrect. Presumably, Hana's mind on whether she's inviting her brothers would be changed, but the argument isn't over whether they were invited to the party, but whether they showed up to the party.

Incorrect. The argument doesn't discuss whether the brothers showed up despite not being invited; it just cares if they showed up.

Incorrect. The argument doesn't make any evaluative terms—it's about whether people were or weren't invited whether they did or didn't give Hana a gift and whether they were or weren't at the party. Those are facts not evaluations.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Errors in Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
Hana wasn't going to invite her brothers to her party.
Phenomenon — Hana received a gift her brothers were planning on giving her.
Explanation — Hana's brothers were at the party.

Answer Anticipation:
This argument brings up a phenomenon—Hana received a gift her brothers were planning to give her—and concludes an explanation for it—her brothers were at the party. Whenever the LSAT concludes a specific explanation for a phenomenon, start considering alternative possibilities.

Here, it's absolutely possible that Hana received this gift from someone other than her brothers (or even that they had the present delivered to the party by a friend). The argument assumes that no one else could have given her that specific gift, so let's find an answer describing the flaw here of failing to rule out alternatives.

Answer Explanation:
This answer speaks to one of the possible alternative explanations that the argument doesn't rule out. It fails to establish that something true (giving Hana a certain gift) of some people (her brothers) is true of only those people (no one else would have given her that gift).

Key Takeaway:
Whenever an argument sets out to explain something that happened, it usually fails to rule out all alternatives. As such, answers that discuss potential alternatives should always be considered.

Incorrect. The interest in this case is a certain recording, and that's the recording she received for her birthday, so there's no "different kind of thing."