PrepTest 113

[lcid:3550] Prep Test 113 LSAT — Logical Reasoning — S3 Logical reasoning

Question prompt

If the flowers Drew Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

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

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Sufficient & Necessary Questions / Weaken Questions

Stimulus Summary

Someone sent Drew roses without a card
Sent by someone who knew Drew → Know he likes violets better
~Sent by someone who knew Drew → Included signed card
Therefore - The florist messed up (sent the wrong flowers; forgot the card; sent them to the wrong person)

Answer Anticipation

This argument establishes two facts (Drew received roses; they didn’t have a card) and two conditionals. Those two conditionals do represent all possible sufficient conditions - the person who sent the flowers either did or did not know Drew.
From this, the argument concludes that the florist messed up, because the facts suggest that the person who sent the flowers both knows and doesn’t know Drew. Since that’s logically impossible, it must be the case that there was a mix-up somewhere.
Taking a look at those conditionals, we can see that they are related to the facts that are established. However, only one of them directly overlaps with those facts! The second conditional’s necessary condition definitely didn’t happen here - there was no signed card. That lets us conclude that the flowers were sent by someone who knew Drew (or the florist messed up, which we’ll get back to in a second).
The first conditional’s necessary condition, however, isn’t established as being missing. While Drew did receive roses, that doesn’t mean the person who sent them didn’t know that Drew preferred violets. Maybe they sent him roses because they have a special meaning, or to anger Drew that someone would send him a less preferred flower. In order to get to the conclusion that the florist messed up, we need the premises to establish a logical inconsistency with the action taken. But there isn’t here because the person sending the flowers very well may have intentionally sent roses to Drew despite knowing he likes other flowers better.
So to weaken this argument, we want an answer that raises that possibility - that the person who sent flowers to Drew intentionally didn’t send him his favorite flower.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Most people send roses Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    “Most” people do, but the argument still establishes that Drew prefers violets to roses, and anyone who knows Drew knows this, so this situation would still feature someone sending Drew flowers he doesn’t prefer. Since this general trend can’t be applied to this specific situation, it’s out of scope.
  2. B
    Some people send flowers Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    This answer raises the possibility that the person who sent Drew the flowers did so for a reason other than to please Drew. As such, they very well may have known that he preferred violets, but sent him roses because their goal wasn’t to please him. This weakens the argument because it supports an alternative hypothesis to the conclusion - the florist sent the flowers ordered, they were just flowers that didn’t match with the sender's knowledge of Drew’s preferences.
  3. C
    Someone who does not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The argument establishes facts in an attempt to show that neither of the necessary conditions are met - that the person who sent the flowers neither knew or didn’t know Drew. The relative likelihood of those two possibilities is immaterial.
  4. D
    The florist has never Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    The past doesn’t determine the present/future, so this answer is out of scope. Additionally, delivering the wrong flowers was only one potential explanation - there was also the issue of the card.
  5. E
    Some people who know Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    This doesn’t matter - everyone who doesn’t know Drew would include a signed card with flowers, so the fact that a card was missing establishes that the person didn’t know Drew (or the florist messed up).

What this tests

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