PrepTest 129, Section 2, Question 19
Team captain: Winning requires the willingness to cooperate,(15 more words not shown)
The pattern of reasoning in(14 more words not shown)
- ABeing healthy requires(18 more words not shown)
- BLearning requires making(23 more words not shown)
- COur political party(30 more words not shown)
- DYou can repair(34 more words not shown)
- EGetting a ticket(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Winning requires a willingness to cooperate. Notice the wording: the requirement is being willing, not necessarily actually cooperating on every occasion. And willingness itself requires motivation.
Put those requirements together. A winner must be willing to cooperate, and someone with that willingness must be motivated. Without motivation, the chain cannot reach winning. So the captain's conclusion follows: if you are not motivated, you will not win.
That does not mean motivation guarantees victory. A motivated team can still lose. We have identified something needed for winning, not everything that ensures it.
What we’re looking for
For the parallel question, look for two linked requirements and a conclusion that lacking the final requirement prevents the initial outcome. We should preserve both the direction and the endpoints of that reasoning.
Working the answers
- A
Health requires exercise, and exercise carries a risk of injury. Health corresponds to winning, exercise to willingness, and injury risk to motivation. A matching conclusion would say that avoiding all such risk rules out health under those premises. Instead, A concludes that anyone who wants health will not exercise. It introduces a desire and recommends or predicts avoiding the very activity the premise requires.
- B
Read the requirements in their connected order: improvement requires learning, and learning requires some mistakes. Improvement is the starting outcome, learning is the middle requirement, and mistakes are the final requirement. But B concludes that making mistakes ensures noticeable improvement. The premises do not promise that result. Someone could make mistakes without learning enough to improve, just as someone could be motivated without winning.
- CCorrect
Retaining the party's status requires more money, and raising more money requires increased campaigning. Status corresponds to winning, more money to willingness, and increased campaigning to motivation. Without increased campaigning, the party lacks a requirement for raising more money and therefore cannot retain its status. That matches the captain's chain and conclusion.
- D
The premises do form a similar chain: repairing the bicycle requires enthusiasm, and enthusiasm brings mechanical aptitude. Repairing corresponds to winning, enthusiasm to willingness, and aptitude to motivation. The problem is the conclusion's direction. Failing to repair the bicycle does not establish a lack of aptitude. Someone might have aptitude but lack tools or encounter a repair beyond their ability. The original starts with the absence of the final requirement and rules out the initial outcome; D starts with the absence of the initial outcome and denies the final requirement.
- E
Getting a ticket requires waiting, and waiting requires patience. Ticket, waiting, and patience match the three positions in the original chain. But the conclusion drops the ticket and claims that not waiting establishes a lack of patience. A patient person could simply choose not to wait. The matching conclusion would be that without patience, one cannot get the ticket under these rules.
More Parallel Reasoning questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Parallel Reasoning questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.