LSAT 7 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q13

LR Question 13 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: If you climb mountains, you will not live to a ripe old age …

QUESTION TYPE: Parallel Reasoning

CONCLUSION: If you live to a ripe old age, you’ll have been bored.

REASONING:

1. If you climb mountains, you won’t live to a ripe old age.
2. You will be bored unless you climb mountains.

ANALYSIS: This is a conditional chain that combines two conditionals to infer a third. This is the structure:

1. If A (mountains) -> not B (grow old).
2. If not A -> C (bored).
3. So, if B -> C

The correct answer choice should match this structure.

___________

1. This does not match. And it leads to a prescriptive conclusion, not a logical inference. The structure of this answer is:

   • If not A (try swim) -> not B (learn).
   • If not B (learn) -> not C (safe boats).
   • So you must do A.

2. There’s no clear inference or match to the original logic. There’s also too many variables. This structure is:

   • If not A (golf) -> not B (enjoy weekend).
   • If not C (relax) -> D (tired).
   • If B (enjoy weekend) -> A (golf).

3. CORRECT. This follows the exact same structure:

   • If A (work) -> not B (improve guitar).
   • If not A (work) -> C (neglect).
   • So, if B (guitar) -> C (neglect).

4. This creates a different inference that is logically flawed. This says:

   • If not A (train) -> not B (good).
   • If not A (train) -> C (exhausted).
   • If A (train) -> not C (exhausted).

5. This might look close, but it leads to the opposite conclusion:

   • If A (spend) -> not B (wealthy).
   • If not A (spend) -> C (hungry).
   • If B -> not C (hungry).