LSAT 156 – Section 4 – Question 13

LSAT 156 - Section 4 - Question 13

July 2020

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT156 S4 Q13	+LR	Sufficient assumption +SA	A 8% 149 B 6% 147 C 4% 151 D 43% 160 E 39% 156	143 162 180	+Hardest	147.09 +SubsectionMedium

If the natural history museum stays within this year’s budget, it will be unable to stay within next year’s budget, for renovating next year will make the museum’s expenditures exceed next year’s very tight budget. After all, the museum will have to renovate next year if it does not do so this year, because work from previous renovations is deteriorating rapidly.

Summary

If the museum stays within this year’s budget, it won’t stay within next year’s budget. To support this conclusion, we’re given two conditional premises:
(1) If the museum doesn’t renovate this year, it must renovate next year.
(2) If the museum renovates next year, it won’t stay within next year’s budget.

Missing Connection

The conclusion is a conditional claim involving this year’s budget, but this year’s budget doesn’t appear anywhere in the premises. Rather, the premises are all about how renovations will affect next year’s budget. So the correct answer must connect this year’s budget to those premises.
Specifically, we can reach the author’s conclusion if we assume that to stay within this year’s budget, the museum must not renovate this year. (Contrapositive: If the museum renovates this year, it must not stay within this year’s budget.)

The museum will stay within this year’s budget.

This fails to show that this year’s budget affects next year’s. Because the premises don’t raise the subject of this year’s budget, staying within that budget has no effect on the argument. We still have no reason to think this year’s budget has any impact on next year’s.

This year’s budget is less than next year’s budget.

This compares the two budgets but fails to show that this year’s has any effect on next year’s. Because the premises don’t raise the subject of this year’s budget in any way, the relative value of that budget has no effect on the argument.

The museum will not renovate next year.

This fails to introduce this year’s budget to the argument. Even if we assume (C), the premises remain completely silent on the subject of this year’s budget. So we’re given no reason to think that this year’s budget has any effect on renovations or to next year’s budget.

The museum will exceed this year’s budget if it renovates this year.

Contrapositive: if the museum doesn’t exceed this year’s budget (i.e., if it stays within budget), it must not renovate this year. And from the premises, if the museum doesn’t renovate this year, it must renovate next year, meaning it won’t stay within next year’s budget.

The museum will stay within this year’s budget if it does not renovate this year.

This gets the sufficient and necessary conditions reversed. To reach the conclusion, we want an assumption that makes staying within this year’s budget sufficient for exceeding next year’s. But according to (E), staying within this year’s budget isn’t sufficient for anything.

LSAT 156 – Section 4 – Question 13

LSAT 156 - Section 4 - Question 13

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Review Results

LSAT PrepTest 156 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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