You will see logical reasoning questions on the LSAT. These questions give you a short passage and expect you to choose the best answer from the options. Try a few sample questions.
Logical reasoning sample questions
Forcing businesses to furnish employees with paid leave for family concerns, such as paternity leave or leave to care for a sick child, is a terrible idea. If a business allows employees to take this time off, the workers will take advantage of the privilege and come to work as little as possible. This will destroy productivity and workplace morale.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
(A) European countries guarantee employees generous family leave and paid vacation time, but the European standard of living is slightly below that of the United States.
(B) Most male workers refuse to take paternity leave even though it is allowed under federal law and their employers encourage it; they fear they may anger co-workers and harm their chances for promotion if they take time off for what is still seen as a frivolous reason.
(C) The FMLA requires employers to grant employees 12 weeks a year of unpaid leave for family purposes; although employers save money because the leave is unpaid, they often must spend money to find a replacement for the employee who takes time off.
(D) In some workplaces, the loss of a single employee at a busy time of year can be devastating, even if that employee plans to return after a few weeks; allowing family leave can overwhelm the employees who stay on the job.
(E) Allowing employees to take leave for family matters reduces absenteeism, improves morale, and surprisingly increases productivity because the employees who are granted leave tend to work much harder and more efficiently when they come back to work.
Casino gambling tends to be detrimental to individuals who live in the county where the casino is located, but paradoxically, it benefits businesses in those same counties. Individual bankruptcy rates in counties with casinos are more than double the national average. Bankruptcy rates for businesses in the same counties are 35 percent lower than the national average.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain this apparent paradox?
(A) Businesses profit from casino gambling because they take in money from local and visiting gamblers, whereas local individuals have more opportunities to lose money gambling.
(B) Casinos are known to take advantage of gamblers by setting odds in such a way that the casino always makes a profit.
(C) Counties with casinos have many business opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to open hotels, restaurants, and other service businesses.
(D) Gambling functions as an addictive disease in many people; they find themselves unable to stop gambling even when they're seriously in debt and must borrow money to continue.
(E) Counties that vote to allow casinos to open generally are poor counties with high unemployment and low levels of education.
Alberto: We should eradicate mosquitoes from the earth. Mosquitoes cause a great deal of harm to humans, transmitting serious diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and encephalitis, and they don't do anything desirable. Ecologists have found that the loss of a single species from an ecosystem doesn't usually harm the rest of the ecosystem, so eradicating mosquitoes wouldn't harm the environment, which of course would be undesirable.
Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken Alberto's argument?
(A) Mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria are responsible for millions of deaths and millions of dollars of lost productivity every year.
(B) One inevitable consequence of restoring wetlands to their original state is an increase in mosquito populations.
(C) Mosquitoes have historically kept human and other animal populations down by spreading disease among them.
(D) Many animals eat mosquitoes and other flying insects.
(E) The only substances that could eradicate all mosquitoes would also kill off many birds and beneficial insects.
Public parks are intended for use by all citizens equally. But when groups such as schools or churches use a park for parties or other organized events, they bring large numbers of people to the park at one time. Therefore, there should be strict rules against large groups using public parks.
The argument's reasoning is vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument takes for granted that
(A) large groups of people may be noisy or become violent
(B) individuals have complained about large groups of people using public parks
(C) public parks are designed with use by organized groups in mind
(D) members of organized groups, like other individuals, pay taxes that support public parks
(E) large numbers of people coming to a park prevent individuals from enjoying use of the park
Answers
E. Allowing employees to take leave for family matters reduces absenteeism, improves morale, and surprisingly increases productivity because the employees who are granted leave tend to work much harder and more efficiently when they come back to work.
A. Businesses profit from casino gambling because they take in money from local and visiting gamblers, whereas local individuals have more opportunities to lose money gambling.
E. The only substances that could eradicate all mosquitoes would also kill off many birds and beneficial insects.
E. large numbers of people coming to a park prevent individuals from enjoying use of the park