LSAT Practice Questions: 10 Free Logical Reasoning Samples, by Type

Sample 1

Columnist: Employees at firms that offer nap rooms report far higher job satisfaction than employees at firms that do not. Clearly, installing a nap room is an effective way for a firm to raise its employees' job satisfaction.

The reasoning in the columnist's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument

1. Aattacks the motives of firms that have not installed nap rooms rather than addressing their stated reasons
2. Boverlooks the possibility that firms that already treat employees well are the ones most likely to install nap rooms
3. Cpresumes, without justification, that job satisfaction is the only benefit a nap room provides
4. Ddraws a conclusion about all firms from a sample consisting only of large corporations
5. Etakes for granted that employees would use a nap room if one were available

Sample 2

City auditor: Hospital Northside generated three times as many patient complaints last year as Hospital Westgate. Residents seeking care should therefore prefer Westgate, where the quality of care is evidently higher.

Which one of the following most accurately describes a flaw in the auditor's reasoning?

1. AIt relies on the testimony of patients, who are not experts in evaluating medical care.
2. BIt assumes that quality of care is the only consideration relevant to choosing a hospital.
3. CIt draws a comparative conclusion without considering how many patients each hospital treated
4. DIt presupposes that every complaint filed at Northside was justified.
5. EIt generalizes from complaints about one department to the hospital as a whole.

Sample 3

Transit planner: Once the harbor bridge opens next spring, the average commute from Eastport to downtown will get shorter, because commuters will no longer have to wait for the ferry.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the planner's argument depends?

1. AMost Eastport residents commute to downtown every working day.
2. BCrossing the new bridge will take no time at all.
3. CThe ferry will stop operating once the bridge opens.
4. DAt least some Eastport-to-downtown commuters currently travel by ferry
5. ENo other bridge project in the region has ever failed to shorten commutes.

Sample 4

Nutritionist: The berries sold at Hollow Farm's stand this week are safe to eat. The farm sprayed its berry fields with pesticide three weeks ago, and that pesticide fully breaks down within ten days of application.

The nutritionist's conclusion follows logically only if which one of the following is assumed?

1. AThe fields have not been sprayed with that pesticide again within the past ten days
2. BNo pesticide of any kind is ever safe for human consumption.
3. CHollow Farm's berries are more thoroughly inspected than berries from other farms.
4. DThe pesticide in question breaks down faster on berries than on other crops.
5. EBerries sprayed with pesticide are unsafe to eat for exactly ten days after spraying.

Sample 5

Archaeologist: The pottery unearthed at the Kestrel Valley site bears the distinctive spiral glaze of the coastal Amaran culture. This shows that the valley's inhabitants traded with the Amarans rather than developing the glaze on their own.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the archaeologist's argument?

1. ASpiral patterns appear in the artwork of many unrelated ancient cultures.
2. BThe glaze on the Kestrel Valley pottery is chemically identical to clay deposits found only on the Amaran coast
3. CThe Kestrel Valley site also contained tools made from locally quarried stone.
4. DAmaran pottery has been found at several other inland sites.
5. EThe Kestrel Valley inhabitants were skilled potters in their own right.

Sample 6

Mayor: In the six months since we installed speed cameras on Grand Avenue, traffic accidents there have fallen by twenty percent. The cameras are clearly making the avenue safer.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the mayor's argument?

1. ASome drivers who received camera tickets have contested them in court.
2. BAccidents on Grand Avenue had already been declining slowly for two years before the cameras were installed.
3. CA new highway bypass opened the same month the cameras were installed, diverting most through traffic away from Grand Avenue
4. DSeveral nearby cities have reported mixed results from their own speed camera programs.
5. EThe cameras cost substantially more to operate than they generate in fines.

Sample 7

Essayist: People say a city's history is written in its architecture. But a city is more like a palimpsest — a manuscript scraped clean and written over, on which traces of every earlier text still show through. New buildings never fully erase the streets, property lines, and habits laid down by the old ones.

The essayist's argument proceeds by

1. Aoffering a series of counterexamples to a widely accepted generalization
2. Breplacing one analogy with another that, it is claimed, better captures the phenomenon being described
3. Cshowing that a popular view leads to a logical contradiction
4. Dappealing to the authority of historians of urban development
5. Earguing that because two things share one property, they must share several others

Sample 8

Rhea: No animal that lacks vocal cords can communicate detailed information to others of its kind.
Sam: That can't be right. Honeybees have no vocal cords, yet a returning forager's dance tells the hive the direction and distance of a food source with remarkable precision.

Sam responds to Rhea's claim by

1. Apresenting a counterexample that the claim, if true, could not allow
2. Bshowing that Rhea's claim rests on an ambiguous use of the word "communicate"
3. Carguing that Rhea is not qualified to make claims about animal behavior
4. Dproposing an alternative explanation for the phenomenon Rhea describes
5. Edemonstrating that Rhea's claim is inconsistent with other claims Rhea has made

Sample 9

Whenever the museum receives a major donation, it holds a gala. The museum held a gala last Saturday. Therefore, the museum must have received a major donation.

The reasoning above is flawed because it

1. Atreats an event that guarantees a gala as if it were the only thing that could lead to one
2. Bconcludes that a gala occurred without adequate evidence that it did
3. Cassumes that major donations are the museum's only source of funding
4. Dtakes for granted that the museum holds galas regularly
5. Efails to define what counts as a major donation

Sample 10

Agricultural bulletin: A wheat field cannot produce a high yield unless it receives adequate nitrogen. The Harlow field received adequate nitrogen this season. Its yield will therefore be high.

Which one of the following arguments exhibits flawed reasoning most similar to that in the bulletin's argument?

1. AA team cannot win the championship unless it qualifies for the playoffs. The Rovers qualified for the playoffs, so they will win the championship
2. BEvery guest who attended the reception signed the register. Kim's signature is not in the register, so Kim did not attend the reception.
3. CA bridge is safe only if it is inspected annually. This bridge was not inspected annually, so it is not safe.
4. DAll of the bakery's croissants are made with butter. This pastry is made with butter, so it is one of the bakery's croissants.
5. EIf the alarm is set, the door locks automatically. The alarm was set, so the door locked automatically.