PrepTest 156

[lcid:3721] Prep Test 156 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S2 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

When a resource's price Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Strategy Overview

Argument or facts? Always argument, so identify premises and conclusions of argument Anticipate why the premises are not enough to show that the conclusion is true

Answer Anticipation

On Strengthen with a Sufficient Premise questions, we need to find the answer choice that would make the conclusion valid if added as another premise. Before we can figure that out, we'll need to identify the premises and conclusion. In this argument, the second part of the last sentence is the conclusion. The last sentence is a two-part sentence that begins with "since." In such sentences, the part that follows "since" is a premise, and the second part is the conclusion. So, the conclusion is that "it [sound management of a resource] also requires that the price reflect whatever unintended harm to the environment the use of that resource causes." The rest of the statements are premises. About half of these questions include "if-then" statements, so it helps to scan the premises and conclusion for "if-then" keywords. This passage features several common "if-then" keywords, like "when," "only," and "requires." Let's diagram these. The first sentence uses the "if" keyword "when," which refers to "a resource’s price reflect[ing] its full cost to society." Let's shorten that to "resource’s price reflects its cost" and put that on the left side of the arrow. The other part — that consumers pay for the resource's unintended but harmful consequences to society — will go on

Answer choices

  1. A
    Whatever constitutes unintended harm Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    As expected, this answer choice links the harm a resource causes society to the harm it causes the environment. In linking those harms, this answer choice makes the argument valid. The argument's premises establish that the sound management of a resource requires consumers to pay for the resource's unintended and harmful consequences to society. If (A) is true, these unintended and harmful consequences to society also include unintended and harmful consequences to the environment. So, (A) establishes that the sound management of a resource requires the price consumers pay to reflect the resource's unintended and harmful consequences to the environment, as the argument concludes.

    Because this answer choice is consistent with our anticipation and validates the conclusion, we can select (A) confidently and give the remaining answer choices an, at most, quick glance.

  2. B
    A resource's externalities are Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    This answer choice doesn't link the new term in the argument's conclusion ("unintended harm to the environment") to one of the premises. Because this answer choice doesn't include that new term, it doesn't fix the problem in this argument. Even if a resource's price always includes externalities, we don't know that those externalities include the resource's unintended environmental harm. After all, the premises only establish that the externalities include a resource's unintended harm to society.

  3. C
    When setting a resource's Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    This is definitely a necessary assumption in this argument. For a resource's price to reflect its unintended harm to society and the environment, we'll need to know that we can predict its effects. If we couldn't predict that, we couldn't make the price reflect those harmful effects.

    However, this isn't a sufficient assumption in this argument. This answer choice doesn't make this conclusion valid. Just because we can predict the effects of using a resource when setting its price doesn't mean we'll include its harmful consequences to the environment. We may only include the harmful consequences to society. Therefore, (C) doesn't fix the problem in this argument.

  4. D
    If a resource is Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    Like (B), this answer choice doesn't link the new term in the argument's conclusion ("unintended harm to the environment") to one of the premises. Without addressing the new term from the conclusion, this answer choice can't fix the problem in this argument. Even if we can assess the externalities in all soundly managed resources, that doesn't mean we assess the unintended harm to the environment. After all, the premises only establish that the externalities include a resource's unintended harm to society. So, soundly managed resources may not assess or include the harm to the environment in their assessments.

  5. E
    The price of a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    Like (B) and (D), this answer choice doesn't link the new term in the argument's conclusion ("unintended harm to the environment") to one of the premises. Since this answer choice doesn't tell us about this new term, it doesn't fix the problem in this argument.

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