LSAT 88, Logical Reasoning II, Q4, LSATHacks

QUESTION TEXT: A rare Roman bronze helmet was recently discovered…

QUESTION TYPE: Necessary Assumption

CONCLUSION: The law is inadequate in giving the English people access to their archaeological heritage.

REASONING: The English law didn’t apply to a Roman helmet because it wasn’t prehistoric nor made of precious metals. Thus, it was sold to a private collector instead of to an English museum.

ANALYSIS: For this argument to work, we need to assume that this Roman helmet was a part of English people’s archaeological heritage.

Otherwise, if we negate this, we’d get:

If the helmet WASN’T part of English people’s heritage ? law ISN’T inadequate in giving English people access to their heritage.

Another possible answer is that if the helmet is sold to a private collector, then the English people wouldn’t have access. But I think the first prephrase is stronger.

___________

1. What most English people want is irrelevant. When negated, “most” on necessary assumption questions becomes 49% of a population. We don’t care if it’s 49% or 51% of the English people who want this.
2. CORRECT. The Roman helmet must be a part of the English people’s archaeological heritage if not giving people access to it would be denial of their archaeological heritage.
3. We don’t care about what’s more valuable since the stimulus doesn’t cite value as a reason why the helmet should be in a public museum.
4. How much the two parties paid is irrelevant.
5. We don’t know this. Also, this answer choice is too extreme.

Recap: The question begins with “A rare Roman bronze helmet was recently discovered”. It is a Necessary Assumption question. Learn more about LSAT Necessary questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.

---