LSAT Logical Reasoning Practice Test 2023

Questions 1–2 are based on the following passage:

Advertising Executive: One in every six Americans chews gum on a daily basis. Out of this number, seven out of ten choose chewing gum, two out of ten choose bubble gum, and one out of ten states no preference. Our client’s share of the market will be most increased, therefore, if we focus our television advertising campaign on our client’s chewing gum product rather than its bubble gum.

Which of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the advertising executive’s argument?

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the executive’s argument?

Beleaguered author: The future of publishing is cloudy at best, as it seems that no one cares to read books these days. Instead, everyone has turned to digital media and schlock entertainment for the instant gratification they are no longer taught to find in a book. There is even talk of the book industry itself becoming digital, with people turning to their computers and the Internet when they choose to read, instead of picking up a real, printed volume. How much of the aesthetic of the experience, indeed, the journey we know
as a book, will be lost when this change is fully complete?

Which of the following can be inferred from the beleaguered author’s statements?

Naturalist: I have examined all alternative interpretations and have concluded that baby whales form bonds with their mothers solely by following the mother throughout the ocean. My reasoning is based on the fact that baby whales do not form any noticeable bond with their fathers. Implicit in this realization is that baby whales do not follow their fathers throughout the ocean.

Oceanologist: You omit the fact that baby whales are fed by their mothers and not by their fathers. Milk is a product of the mother. I think it’s evident that even if a baby whale were to follow its father throughout the ocean, the baby would still form a stronger bond with its food provider, the mother.

The naturalist and the oceanologist are committed to disagreeing about which of the following?

A happy household is one in which all members of the family dine together at least four nights out of the week. In order for a family to dine together on such a regular basis, one of two conditions must exist: The family members must not have busy schedules, or they must each be willing to make an effort to sacrifice time for one another. No one without a busy schedule is truly happy, since human beings must work in order to be happy. And a household may not be happy if any of its members is not happy.

If the information above is accepted as true, which of the following must be true of a household in order for it to be happy?

Painters who create works of great artistic merit are often more highly valued by other artists than by the rest of the population. This is because members of the population who are not artists are often unable to appreciate the artistic merits of great paintings when compared to other paintings. For this reason, artistically great paintings often sell for less money than paintings with larger mass appeal. Therefore, if I wanted to collect a room full of paintings of great artistic merit, it would probably be less expensive than if I wanted to collect works with higher mass appeal.

Which of the following, if true, would resolve the discrepancy between cost and artistic merit noted above?

Presidential addresses are often pivotal moments in a nation’s history. These are the points when the country’s chief executive elucidates his or her plans to help the nation progress, heal its problems, and become more unified. Strangely, the same is not true of the addresses of important senators. Even though the addresses of these senators illuminate their plans to help the nation, these addresses are almost never pivotal moments in the nation’s history because the plans of the senators are much less likely to come to fruition than are the plans of the president.

Which of the following, if true, would tend to strengthen the argument?

People who walk along downtown streets late at night run the risk of being robbed. Several factors are at play here. First, people who walk along streets at night are more likely to be walking alone. And people who are walking alone are more likely to be robbed. Second, given the opportunity, robbers are more likely to rob someone at night. Third, downtown streets are higher-crime areas than other streets in the city. Based on these factors, it is apparent that someone who is walking along downtown streets at night is more likely to be robbed than someone concurrently walking anywhere else in the city.

Which of the following, if true, would most support the conclusion?

Governments that subsist by fostering cultures of fear in the population have a tighter control over their citizens. These governments’ laws are more strictly adhered to, governmental officers are given more deference by the people, and the president is viewed more as a monarch than a person of the people. Elections are not held in these tightly controlled societies, and presidents perpetually stay in office. But the average number of years that presidents are in office is less than the average number of years that monarchs rule in monarchical societies.

Which of the following resolves the discrepancy noted above?

I. Houses that have dogs get fleas.
II. People who live in houses with fleas get fleas themselves.
III. If a person does not live with fleas, then he or she does not have a cat.

Which of the following makes it logical to claim that Bill has fleas?

Mount Kilaboo will more than likely erupt this year. The fact is that it has erupted every year of the past three and every decade of the past eight. This increase in volcanic activity means that the pressure within the mountain is growing and will soon result in a monumental eruption the likes of which Mount Kilaboo has never produced before. If this occurs, then the villages that are located within 100 feet of where the lava flow reached last year will have to be evacuated before the lava pours over the village.

Which of the following is assumed by the argument?

Realtor: A great place to invest is not in the stock market; it is in Marlagos beachfront property! Past history has shown that in 10 years the beachfront properties here on Marlagos Island have quadrupled in value. What a great investment it would have been to buy these properties 10 years ago. I certainly wish I had! There is nothing to suggest that this trend of price increase will not continue for long into the future, so all people with the funds should buy, buy, buy!

Which of the following, if true, would tend to support the argument of the realtor?

Aliens have visited this world. They invaded Area 51, and they have picked up many people from farms and homes throughout the region and taken them onto their ships in order to study them. Of course the aliens have not officially announced their presence. What good would this do them? If they are going to invade, they would not want to alert us to this fact so that we could prepare. And if they just wanted to study humans, then they would not want to announce their presence because then we would change our behavior and ruin their observations.

Which of the following is assumed by the passage?

Exceptional football stars exit college and then enter the professional leagues with the desire to make money and also to bring about some good in the world through their stardom. If Kevin Kennedy played football, he would be this “exceptional” type of player because he entered college with the desire to bring about good.

Which of the following, if true, would undermine the conclusion of the passage?

Grass has to be mowed every week during the summer but only about once every month during the winter. This is because during the summer the days are longer and the light from the sun is more intense. Both these factors combine to allow grass to glean more energy from the summer sunlight that reaches its leaves. Plants in general react the same way as grass does during the summer—they grow longer faster for the same reasons that grass does. People just do not realize this because, unlike growing grass that needs to be mowed, the growth spurts of other plants do not require reciprocal actions.

Which of the following is assumed by the argument?

Photographers are condemned to living life vicariously through black and white, colorcoded, and panoramic still frames. Instead of enjoying special moments while and when they occur, photographers try to capture these moments. But by the effort of concentrating their sight through a small circular peephole, photographers irrevocably lose sight of the captured moment and leave themselves with no redress but the infinite opportunity to bask in a small photographic eclipse of the full moment that once occurred in a brilliant and broad range of living motion. Is an infinite ability to regard the zenith of a special moment worth more than a transitory opportunity to regard the whole timeframe in its vast living glory?

Which of the following, if true, would undermine the argument’s contention that photographers lose moments when they capture them?

My science book says that when liquid A and liquid B are mixed, liquid C is formed. When more liquid A than B is mixed, liquid C will have yellow color. When more liquid B than A is mixed, liquid C will have green color. Therefore, when our teacher mixes liquid A and B tomorrow, she will create a liquid that is either green or yellow in color.

Which of the following identifies an error of reasoning in the passage?

Due to the release of a movie version of a classic novel, the number of students checking that book out of the school library has significantly decreased.

Which one of the following conforms most closely to the principle illustrated above?

Guitars are musical instruments of diminished importance in the pop music era. Synthesizers and drumbeats have been brought to the forefront of music compilations and consequently have edged out classic rock’s staple electric guitar. Recordings now focus mainly on background noise and reverb, rather than on the eloquent sounds of the master guitarist. If classic rock is to survive, then its fans will need to find a way to bring its flagship instrument back to center stage in this decade’s new musical genres.

Which of the following, if true, would undermine the conclusion of the passage?

Historian: In order to build the pyramids, the Egyptians had to move large blocks of rock that weighed hundreds of tons over large distances. The question of how this feat was achieved puzzles the modernday historian. Some people claim that the Egyptians built the pyramids using wind power; they attached a type of kite to the block, and the force of the wind allowed a small group of people to push the block along toward its destination. However, this is impossible, because, as anyone who has visited the country today knows, Egypt is entirely devoid of wind.

Which of the following identifies a flaw in the argument?

Anthropologist: It is inevitable that a species of ant will take over the world if we let ant colonies subsist into the next evolutionary era. The facts that imply this turn of events are clear and corroborated. First, the total ant population is hundreds of times greater than the human population. Second, ants are smaller and need less food per individual and therefore will be less susceptible to overpopulation. Third, the ant’s exoskeleton will allow it to adapt to any environment. Fourth, the ant’s shorter life span causes it to evolve faster than the human population. In conclusion, there is simply no way for humans to halt a future ant takeover if we do not stop them now.

Which of the following, if true, would be the best evidence to counter the anthropologist’s final conclusion?

It has been demonstrated that people who heavily consume alcohol are more stressed than people who are less intensive drinkers. Studies show the same for cigarette smokers. People who smoke tend to have a higher incidence of stress than the population of nonsmokers. Studies show a huge overlap between groups who drink heavily and smoke. Studies also demonstrate a relationship between strained interpersonal familial relationships and drinking. Therefore, in order to curb familial problems, people should find ways to cut down on their stress levels.

A flaw of the reasoning in this passage is that it

Self-deprecating humor is the funniest kind as long as a listener is able to get the jokes. It is a type of humor that allows a comic to make commentary based on an introspective view of the wheels and cogs that turn his or her own psyche. Comedians who are unable to view their inner workings effectively are incapable of using this sort of humor, but those who have the inner awareness to be selfdeprecating gain access to stockpiles of jewels that can be brought out for a crowd at any moment. It would make sense, therefore, that audience members who are not selfknowledgeable enough to understand their own psyches are not capable of enjoying humor that is self-deprecating .

Which of the following techniques is used by the author in drawing the argument’s conclusion?

The judgment that a person is a “good” person always rests on an appraisal of the quality of a number of acts that he or she has previously engaged in. A series of virtuous acts is the only test for a person’s “goodness.” Therefore, saying that a person is “good” is only to summarize a series of his or her acts, and labeling  person as “good” provides no basis for predicting the quality of that person’s future or unknown acts.

Which of the following is logically flawed in the way most similar to the argument above?

Robert: People who invest in the stock market should be surprised when their investments suddenly diminish. After all, companies portray themselves to be safe and good investments. When it turns out that they are not, people have every reason to be astonished.

Amanda: People should be surprised only when companies make bad decisions that would have negative implications on their stock prices. It is the job of executives to prevent companies from doing this, and yet sometimes the companies still do so. Which of the following, if true, would tend to support Robert’s argument?