PrepTest 156

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

Question prompt

An effective acting performance Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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 first sentence is the conclusion. It's expressed with the most tone and certainty. Further, the next sentence explains why the first sentence is true. About half of these questions include "if-then" statements, so it helps to scan the premises and conclusion for "if-then" keywords. While none of these statements use common "if-then" keywords, they are all "if-then" statements. The conclusion is a universal claim — notice how we could rephrase it to "All effective acting performances do not ..." without altering the statement's meaning. By that same token, the second half of the second sentence is a universal claim. We can also rephrase that to "all effective dramatic performances do not ..." That means that "effective dramatic performance" is the "if" condition of both claims. Finally, the first half of the second sentence is a "trigger/outcome" statement. It states what would happen if a performance calls the audience's attention to the fact that it's a performance. So, we can diagram these claims as:
P1: Call the audience's attention to the performance → Difficult to empathize with the character P2: Effective dramatic performance → NOT detract from the audience's appreciation

Answer choices

  1. A
    An audience will not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    This answer choice uses the "if-denying" keyword "unless," so we can diagram it as "Audience appreciates play → Effective performances" or "NOT effective performances → NOT audience appreciate play."

    Neither is our anticipated correct answer, so we can eliminate (A). After all, if we added this to the premises, it would not make the conclusion valid:


    P2: Effective dramatic performance → NOT detract from the audience's appreciation

    (Audience appreciates play → Effective performances / NOT effective performances → NOT audience appreciate play)

    Flipside of P1: NOT difficult to empathize with the character → NOT call the audience's attention to the performance

    Conclusion: Effective dramatic performance → NOT call the audience's attention to the performance


    This answer choice's "if" condition doesn't connect to the previous "then" condition, as something that does "NOT detract from the audience's appreciation" does not mean the "Audience appreciates play." Moreover, this answer choice's "then" condition doesn't connect with the following "if" condition.

  2. B
    As long as an Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    This answer choice is a "trigger/outcome" statement since "As long as" can be replaced with "if" without altering the statement's meaning. So, we can diagram it as "NOT call the audience's attention to the performance → NOT detract from the audience's appreciation."

    This is not our anticipated correct answer, so we can eliminate (B). After all, if we added this to the premises, it would not make the conclusion valid:


    P2: Effective dramatic performance → NOT detract from the audience's appreciation

    (NOT call the audience's attention to the performance → NOT detract from the audience's appreciation)

    Flipside of P1: NOT difficult to empathize with the character → NOT call the audience's attention to the performance

    Conclusion: Effective dramatic performance → NOT call the audience's attention to the performance


    If we reversed these two conditions, we could connect it to P2 to make the conclusion valid. As it's currently written, however, this answer choice's "if" condition doesn't connect to any of the premises' "then" conditions. So, this answer choice does not change the argument.

  3. C
    If a performance by Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    This answer choice uses "if." The argument's premises don't feature "enhances the audience's appreciation" as one of their conditions, but if something "enhances the audience's appreciation," we know it does "NOT detract from the audience's appreciation." So, we can diagram it as "NOT detract from the audience's appreciation → Play is better."

    This is not our anticipated correct answer, so we can eliminate (C). After all, if we added this to the premises, it would not make the conclusion valid:


    P2: Effective dramatic performance → NOT detract from the audience's appreciation

    (NOT detract from the audience's appreciation → Play is better)

    Flipside of P1: NOT difficult to empathize with the character → NOT call the audience's attention to the performance

    Conclusion: Effective dramatic performance → NOT call the audience's attention to the performance


    This answer choice's "if" condition connects to P2's "then" condition. However, its "then" condition doesn't connect with the P1's "if" condition. It doesn't take us to the conclusion's "then" condition, either. In fact, "Play is better" isn't among the conditions in this argument, so this answer choice doesn't change the argument meaningfully.

  4. D
    An effective dramatic performance Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    This answer choice is a "universal" statement since we can change it to "all effective dramatic performances" without altering the statement's meaning. The argument's premises don't feature "enhances the audience's appreciation" as one of their conditions, but if something "enhances the audience's appreciation," we know it does "NOT detract from the audience's appreciation." So, we can diagram it as "Effective dramatic performance → NOT detract from the audience's appreciation."

    This is not our anticipated correct answer, so we can eliminate (D). After all, if we added this to the premises, it would not make the conclusion valid:


    P2: Effective dramatic performance → NOT detract from the audience's appreciation

    (Effective dramatic performance → NOT detract from the audience's appreciation)

    Flipside of P1: NOT difficult to empathize with the character → NOT call the audience's attention to the performance

    Conclusion: Effective dramatic performance → NOT call the audience's attention to the performance


    Diagrammed this way, this answer choice is identical to P2, so this answer choice doesn't add anything to this argument.

  5. E
    A dramatic performance that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    This answer choice is a "universal" statement since we can change it to "all effective dramatic performances" without altering the statement's meaning. So, we can diagram it as "Difficult to empathize with the character → Detract from the audience's appreciation."

    This is one of our anticipated correct answers, so we can confidently select (E). After all, the flipside of this answer choice ("NOT detract from the audience's appreciation → NOT difficult to empathize with the character" will make the conclusion valid:


    P2: Effective dramatic performance → NOT detract from the audience's appreciation

    (NOT detract from the audience's appreciation → NOT difficult to empathize with the character)

    Flipside of P1: NOT difficult to empathize with the character → NOT call the audience's attention to the performance

    Conclusion: Effective dramatic performance → NOT call the audience's attention to the performance


    This answer choice "if" condition connects to P2's "then" statement. And this answer choice's "then" condition connects to the flipside of P1's "if" condition. So, we can validly conclude that "If it's an effective dramatic performance, then it does not call the audience's attention to the performance."

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