PrepTest 156

[lcid:3723] Prep Test 156 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S4 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

The relationship between money Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

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

Argument or Facts

Argument

Strategy Overview

Argument or facts for both speakers? Always argument Completing with a premise or conclusion? Check for the word preceding the blank space to see.
"Because," "since," "for," "as," etc. = completing with a premise.
Complete with a premise? Treat as a Strengthen question
"Therefore," "thus," "hence," "so," etc. = completing with a conclusion
Complete with a conclusion? Treat as a Must Be True question

Answer Anticipation

This Argument Completion question asks us to add the argument's conclusion. The last sentence begins with "Therefore," indicating that the conclusion will be in that last sentence. The first part of the last sentence, however, is introduced with "since," making it a premise. Therefore, the conclusion must be the second part of the last sentence. In other words, the blank space is where the argument's conclusion will go. Because we're completing this argument with a conclusion, we can treat it as a Must Be True question — the other, more common question type in which we take a set of facts and derive a valid conclusion. So, what must be true based on these facts? The argument relies on one of the most common reasoning techniques: the analogy. On the LSAT, analogies almost always take the same form. The author reasons that because X and Y are similar in one way, they must be similar in other ways, too. The author will typically assert that since X has a given characteristic, Y must have an analogous characteristic. This argument follows that argument structure. The argument reasons that tools and money are similar in one way — tools help people accomplish tasks, and money helps people buy things. The last premise introduces another fact about tools — they're useless with a task. By this reasoning, we can expect the author to conclude that money must function similarly. Since the author claims that tasks are analogous to purchases, the author will assert that money is useless without something to purchase. Let's look for an answer choice that says something to that effect.

Answer choices

  1. A
    money should be thought Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    This answer choice doesn't match our anticipation, so we can quickly discard it. After all, this answer choice is too bold to work as the conclusion of this argument. The author doesn't necessarily think money and tools have the same utility, no matter the situation. The author only wants to prove that money is useless when there isn't anything to buy, just as a tool would be useless when there aren't any tasks to complete.

  2. B
    any tool that enables Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    This answer choice doesn't match our anticipation, so we can toss it out. Moreover, this doesn't complete the argument's analogy. The author's analogy compares tools to money. The author's last premise establishes a fact about tools, so the conclusion should establish an analogous fact about money.

  3. C
    money is valueless in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    This answer choice matches our anticipation, so we can select it confidently. We anticipated that the correct answer would say that money is useless without something to purchase. This answer gets close enough, stating that money is "valueless" if "nothing is for sale." This answer choice thus completes the author's analogy, as the author's last premise says that tools are useless without a task to complete, and this answer choice establishes an analogous fact about money. Moreover, inserting this answer choice into the blank space makes the resulting paragraph sound well-written and cogent. We can justifiably select this option and advance to the following questions without reading the remaining answer choices.

  4. D
    money should be regarded Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    This answer choice doesn't match our anticipation, so we can eliminate it. After all, the author only compares the usefulness of money to that of tools. The author never says or suggests that money is nothing more than a tool. Plus, this answer choice introduces the idea of money being a "commodity," which wasn't established by any of the premises. That would make this conclusion sound strange and jarring if we inserted it at the end of this argument.

  5. E
    the value of money Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    This answer choice doesn't match our anticipation, so we can cross it off. Besides, this mixes up the argument's analogy. The author's first premise establishes that the things money can purchase are like the tasks tools allow people to accomplish. This answer choice erroneously attributes something related to tools ("the tasks it allows people to accomplish") to money.

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