LSAT 103 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q16

LR Question 16 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Every new play that runs for more than three months is either a…

QUESTION TYPE: Parallel Reasoning

CONCLUSION: Every play last year that lasted more than three months was a commercial success.

REASONING: Each play that lasts more than three months is a critical success or a commercial success. Last year, each critically successful play was also commercially successful.

ANALYSIS: This is a good argument. If you’re not a critical success, you’re a commercial success. And if you are a critical success, then you’re also a commercial success.

The structure is: You’re either A or B. If you’re A, you’re also B. Therefore, in every case, you’re definitely B.

___________

1. This is a bad argument. It gives us necessary conditions for a restaurant’s success, then mistakes them for sufficient conditions.
2. This is a bad argument. Being well written and having beautiful photographs are necessary conditions for success. This argument treats them as sufficient.
3. CORRECT. This matches the structure. If you don’t study soups, you study desserts. And if you do study soups, then you also study desserts.
4. This is a good argument, but the structure is different. In the stimulus, a play could be both a critical and commercial success. Here, a chef has to choose between writing a book or owning his own restaurant.
5. This is a good argument, but the structure is different. In the stimulus, a play had to have at least one of two kinds of success. Here, a catering service must have both, and lack of one is used to prove the conclusion.

Recap: The question begins with “Every new play that runs for more than three months is either a”. It is a Parallel Reasoning question. Learn more about LSAT Parallel questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.