Unplugged Practice Test: Logical Reasoning Set 1, Question 4 (Role of the Statement)
Taking the test? Finish it first. This page shows the answer.
- Role questions ask what job a single claim does in the argument.
- Find the main conclusion first. Then ask whether the claim is that conclusion, supports it, or is a point the argument pushes back on.
- Every question on this test is original, written to the same logical skeletons as real questions, and Steve checked every one himself before release.
The question
Cartographer: A sea route can be planned without a map. That is because a stored image of an entire passage can exist in a sailor's mind. Surveyors have recorded sailors on the Merenna coast who, though they have never consulted a chart of any kind, steer accurately between islands that lie 4 days apart, and these sailors are almost certainly matching the shoreline in front of them against a remembered layout of the whole passage.
4. Which one of the following most accurately describes the role played in the cartographer's argument by the assertion that a stored image of an entire passage can exist in a sailor's mind?
- (A)It is the main point that the cartographer's argument as a whole is intended to establish.
- (B)It states a hypothesis that the rest of the cartographer's argument is offered to explain.
- (C)It is inferred from the reported observations and then offered as grounds for a broader claim.
- (D)It is presented as the conclusion that the surveyors themselves reached.
- (E)It is used to cast doubt on the report that the sailors have never consulted a chart.
CWhy (C) is correct
The cartographer opens with the claim that a sea route can be planned without a map, then backs it with the Merenna coast report: sailors who have never consulted a chart steer accurately between islands 4 days apart. From that report the cartographer draws the claim that a stored image of an entire passage can exist in a sailor's mind, and that claim then does further work, it becomes the ground for the opening claim. So it sits between the evidence and the main point.
Why the other answers are wrong
AWhy (A) is wrong
(A) treats the claim as the conclusion the argument builds toward, but the main point is the opening line about planning a route without a map, and this claim supports it.
BWhy (B) is wrong
(B) makes the claim a hypothesis the rest of the argument is offered to explain, but the argument never treats it as something needing explanation, it's drawn from the report and then put to work.
DWhy (D) is wrong
(D) says the surveyors made the claim, but they only report what the sailors do; the cartographer draws the inference.
EWhy (E) is wrong
(E) has the claim casting doubt on the report that the sailors never used a chart, but the argument accepts that report and builds on it.
Common questions
What type of question is this?
Role of the Statement. Role questions ask what job a single claim does in the argument.
How do I get better at Role of the Statement questions?
Find the main conclusion first. Then ask whether the claim is that conclusion, supports it, or is a point the argument pushes back on. The free LSAT cheat sheet lists the wrong-answer patterns to watch for on every type.
