Unplugged Practice Test: Logical Reasoning Set 2, Question 6 (Resolve the Paradox)
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- These questions ask which fact best explains an apparent conflict.
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The question
A music store that takes pre-owned pianos on consignment tried an experiment with 400 instruments. Half of the pianos carried a printed tag summarizing the instrument's condition. The other half carried the same summary plus a line naming each piano's known faults, such as a sticking key or worn hammers. More pianos from the second half were purchased, and among comparable instruments that sold, the ones from the second half commanded higher prices.
6. Which one of the following, if true, most helps to account for the better results of the second half of the pianos?
- (A)Shoppers as a rule doubt anything a store says about an instrument it is trying to sell.
- (B)Shoppers tend to assume that a piano whose tag names no faults has had a more attentive owner and so plays better.
- (C)Shoppers often fail to notice a fault that appears partway through a long summary of an instrument's condition.
- (D)Because so many pianos were on the floor, shoppers read only a small share of the tags all the way through.
- (E)A tag that names a piano's faults leads shoppers to conclude that nothing serious about the instrument has been left unsaid.
EWhy (E) is correct
200 pianos got a plain condition tag, and 200 got that tag plus a list of specific faults, and the second group sold more often and, among comparable pianos, sold for more. (E) supplies the reason: when a tag names a piano's faults, shoppers conclude nothing serious was left unsaid. That reading builds trust the plain tags don't earn, and trust explains both the extra sales and the higher prices.
Why the other answers are wrong
AWhy (A) is wrong
(A) has shoppers doubting anything the store says, but that suspicion would apply equally to both halves of pianos, so it can't explain why the fault-listing half did better.
BWhy (B) is wrong
(B) has shoppers reading a tag with no listed faults as a sign of a more attentive owner, which favors the first half and deepens the puzzle rather than solving it.
CWhy (C) is wrong
(C) has shoppers missing a fault buried in a long summary, which would mean the added detail changed nothing, not that it helped sales.
DWhy (D) is wrong
(D) says shoppers read only a small share of the tags all the way through, which would blunt whatever effect the added fault list had rather than explain why it worked.
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.
