Unplugged Practice Test: Logical Reasoning Set 1, Question 21 (Resolve the Paradox)
Taking the test? Finish it first. This page shows the answer.
- These questions ask which fact best explains an apparent conflict.
- Predict what a correct answer needs to do before you read the choices.
- 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
Alder County capped storefront rents along Marrow Street so that the independent pharmacies clustered there would stay in business. A recent survey found that several nearby commercial strips, where no rent cap applies, hold substantially more independent pharmacies than comparable stretches of Marrow Street do.
21. Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the surveyors' finding?
- (A)The survey also found that the nearby strips hold substantially more independent shoe repair shops than comparable stretches of Marrow Street do.
- (B)Converting a capped storefront to a different line of business is barred on Marrow Street, and dry cleaners, far more numerous there than on the nearby strips, hold most of the deep storefronts a pharmacy's counter and stockroom require.
- (C)County licensing files record a number of pharmacies that first opened on Marrow Street; a few years later, several of those pharmacies were operating on the nearby strips.
- (D)On Marrow Street and on the strips just past its boundary, there stand the wide-windowed older buildings that independent pharmacies generally favor.
- (E)The storefront rent cap was adopted to keep open pharmacies that were then close to shutting, and some of the independent pharmacies now more numerous on the nearby commercial strips are themselves close to shutting.
BWhy (B) is correct
The cap was meant to help pharmacies stay on Marrow Street, so the real puzzle is why nearby uncapped strips still hold more of them. (B) answers it: Marrow Street won't let a capped storefront switch to a different line of business, and dry cleaners, far more common there than on the nearby strips, take up most of the deep storefronts a pharmacy needs for its counter and stockroom. So even with rents held down, a pharmacy on Marrow Street can't get the space it requires, because dry cleaners already hold it and can't be converted out.
Why the other answers are wrong
AWhy (A) is wrong
(A) notes that shoe repair shops are also more numerous on the nearby strips, which only adds a second puzzle instead of explaining the pharmacy gap.
CWhy (C) is wrong
(C) shows pharmacies that started on Marrow Street later turning up on the nearby strips, which records the pattern without explaining it.
DWhy (D) is wrong
(D) points out both areas have the older, wide-windowed buildings pharmacies favor. That erases a possible difference and makes the puzzle harder to explain, not easier.
EWhy (E) is wrong
(E) adds that some of the nearby strip's pharmacies are themselves close to shutting, a fact about instability that doesn't touch the difference in numbers.
Common questions
What type of question is this?
Resolve the Paradox. These questions ask which fact best explains an apparent conflict.
How do I get better at Resolve the Paradox questions?
Predict the answer before reading the choices. The free LSAT cheat sheet lists the wrong-answer patterns to watch for on every type.
