LSAT 148 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q12

LR Question 12 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: On average, cats fed canned cat food eat fewer ounces…

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

1. Cats fed canned food eat a smaller amount of it, as compared to dry food. There are more calories per ounce in canned food.
2. Feeding a cat using canned food costs more, despite the lower amount of food required.

ANALYSIS: It sounds as though canned food is a fair bit more expensive than dry food, per ounce. That’s the only way that it could cost more despite the fact that you need less of it to feed a cat.

Frankly, I think this deduction is fairly obvious. This question in part tests your ability to get through four wrong answers without getting bogged down. The LSAT sometimes places relatively more obvious answers at the end as a test.

___________

1. We don’t know this. There are more calories per ounce in canned food, but cats require fewer ounces of canned food. We don’t know which way that balances out.
2. The stimulus says nothing about what cats usually eat.
3. This isn’t supported at all. And frankly, it’s an insane statement. It would mean, for example, that you could put caviar in cat food, but that wouldn’t affect cost as long as the calories per ounce were the same. Which is obviously wrong, and also isn’t supported by the stimulus.
4. This….is crazy. It means that if one cat with a small appetite eats 3 ounces of canned food, that won’t cost less than feeding a cat with a large appetite who eats 7 ounces of the same canned food. I would like to know about this magic cat food that costs the same regardless of amount.
5. CORRECT. This more or less has to be true. If cats eat less canned food, but the cost is higher, then canned food must cost more per ounce.

Recap: The question begins with “On average, cats fed canned cat food”. It is a Most Strongly Supported question. To practice more Most Strongly Supported questions, have a look at the LSAT Questions by Type page.