Logical reasoning PrepTest 152 · Section 4 · Question 8

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Principle (Cannot Be True)

Stimulus Summary:
A farm wants to test its cattle for export. However, the government prohibited it because there's no evidence the meat is dangerous enough to warrant scaring the public into thinking it needs to be tested.

Answer Anticipation:
Since the question stem asks us about the government's actions, we should focus there. Here, the government prohibited something because the risk wasn't worth the cost (panic). The correct answer will run at odds to these facts, probably stating something about the government not being justified in prohibiting testing.

Answer Explanation:
A mouthful! The first half of this answer is a misdirect that doesn't apply to this question since the government in question isn't requiring testing (that's the country to which the beef is being exported). However, the second half of the answer would apply here, and since the government in this question is prohibiting a test, this answer which states a government isn't justified in prohibiting a test runs counter to the prohibition.

Key Takeaway:
Be sure to read an answer choice all the way through. There are many examples of the LSAT including a misdirect in the first half of a correct answer to get you to eliminate it ahead of shifting to the language that makes the answer correct.

If anything, this answer aligns with the actions of the government, as they determined whether the testing was warranted and let the company know that it wasn't.

This answer aligns almost exactly with the situation, and we're looking for an answer that doesn't.

This answer doesn't align with the situation described because there's no indication that the government is paying for the test. Since it doesn't apply, the prohibition can't be at odds with this statement.

There were two governments in the stimulus—the government from the importing country, and the government from the exporting country. The question is about the latter, but this answer is about the actions of the former, so it doesn't apply.