Logical reasoning PrepTest 130 · Section 1 · Question 13

Incorrect. This is "a given" of the argument, so it's presented without evidence, thus serving as a premise.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Main Point

Stimulus Summary:
Being intriguing requires inspiring curiosity. Expanding your mind makes you a mystery to others. Therefore, expanding your mind makes you able to inspire that curiosity.

Answer Anticipation:
This stimulus is very abstract and hard to analyze, but there are some structural indicator words that make it much easier to see what's a premise and what's the conclusion here.

The first sentence starts with, "It is a given that . . . " which introduces something that the author is taken as true without presenting support for—in other words, it's a premise. The second sentence doesn't have any clear indicators and could serve as either a premise or a conclusion without knowing the context, but the following statement starts with, "For . . . " which introduces a premise. So we have a first and last sentence that are introduced with premise indicator words, leaving only the middle sentence to serve as the main point.

If you dig into the logic of the argument—as we did in the summary—you can see how those premises support the conclusion. However, if you're getting lost in the abstract language of a question like this one, fall back on those structural indicator words!

Answer Explanation:
This answer reflects the second sentence, which is supported by the other two statements and is thus the main point of the argument.

Key Takeaway:
The LSAT throws some very abstract arguments in every once in a while to see how you handle a situation where there aren't a lot of concrete ideas to anchor your thinking to. If there are structural indicator words, start there so that you can get some idea of the argument's structure, making it a lot easier to unpack the logic.

Incorrect. This statement is introduced with, "For . . . " making it a premise. It also supports the conclusion by explaining how a given action will result in a desired outcome.

Incorrect. This answer is a reversal of the conclusion—a tempting trap!

Incorrect. The stimulus is about inspiring curiosity in others, not having curiosity yourself, so this answer is out of scope.