LSAC LSAT-TEST Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

LSAC LSAT-TEST Online Questions & Answers

• Question 1:

  If a petrochemical plant manufactures a range of hazardous chemical products and must therefore follow strict guidelines concerning each of the chemicals may interact with one another on a daily basis. The plant processes five different

  chemicals every week. Three of these chemicals can be processed on any given day. Xenon may be processed any day except for every other Monday and every other Thursday.

  Oxygen, however, can be processed only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

  Liquid Hydrogen may be processed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

  Sulfur Dioxide can't be processed on Fridays.

  Methane can't be processed on Wednesday.

  There are 3 chemicals that can be processed on a Friday. What are they?

  A. Oxygen, Methane, and Liquid Hydrogen
  B. Liquid Hydrogen, Methane, and Sulfur Dioxide
  C. Liquid Hydrogen, Methane, and Xenon
  D. Methane, Oxygen, and Xenon
  E. Liquid Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Sulfur Dioxide
  C. Liquid Hydrogen, Methane, and Xenon

• Question 2:

  Consultant: Most workers do not have every item they produce judged for quality, but each piece a freelance writer authors is evaluated. That is why freelance writers produce such high-quality work.

  The consultant's statements, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

  A. A piece authored by a freelance writer is generally evaluated more strictly than the majority of items most workers produce.
  B. By having every piece of their work evaluated, some workers are caused to produce high-quality work.
  C. No other workers produce higher quality work than do freelance writers.
  D. Only freelance writers have every item they produce evaluated for quality.
  E. Some workers produce high-quality work in spite of the fact that not every item they produce is judged for quality.
  B. By having every piece of their work evaluated, some workers are caused to produce high-quality work.

  ---

  Rather than predict anything, we can simply check each choice against the stimulus and look for that which must be true. Option [A piece authored by...] need not, since the strictness of evaluation is never mentioned and hence need not be

  the reason for freelancers' high-quality work. But option [By having every piece of...] echoes the author's overall point. The workers in this option is talking about are the freelance writers. They, at least, are always evaluated and "that is why"

  they produce (they "are caused to produce") high-quality work.

  The wise student gives at least a cursory glance at those that remain. Option [No other workers produce higher...] makes an irrelevant and unwarranted distinction between freelancers and others; for all we know, other types of workers may

  produce even better work than do freelance writers. And option [Only freelance writers have...] is a flagrant misreading of sentence 1's second clause. The statement "All freelance writers are evaluated" cannot be read to mean "Only

  freelance writers are evaluated," as option [Only freelance writers have...] would have it. Finally, the author takes no position on the quality of workers other than freelance writers; notwithstanding that most workers don't enjoy quality control,

  they still might produce plenty of high-quality work.

• Question 3:

  Exactly five cars ?Frank's, Marquitta's, Orlando's, Taishah's, and Vinquetta's ?are washed, each exactly once. The cars are washed one at a time, with each receiving exactly one kind of wash: regular, super, or premium. The following

  conditions must apply:

  The first car washed does not receive a super wash, though at least one car does.

  Exactly one car receives a premium wash. The second and third cars washed receive the same kind of wash as each other.

  Neither Orlando's nor Taishah's is washed before Vinquetta's.

  Marquitta's is washed before Frank's, but after Orlando's. Marquitta's and the car washed immediately before Marquitta's receive regular washes.

  If Vinquetta's car does not receive a premium wash, which one of the following must be true?

  A. Orlando's and Vinquetta's cars receive the same kind of wash as each other.
  B. Marquitta' s and Taishah' s cars receive the same kind of wash as each other.
  C. The fourth car washed receives a premium wash.
  D. Orlando's car is washed third.
  E. Marquitta's car is washed fourth.
  A. Orlando's and Vinquetta's cars receive the same kind of wash as each other.

  ---

  If V doesn't get a premium wash, that places us squarely in Option 1, with V resigned to regular. That means V has the same kind of wash as O, who always gets a regular wash in Option 1. Choice [Orlando's and Vinquetta's cars receive the same] has it right.

• Question 4:

  In the sixteenth century, an age of great marine and terrestrial exploration, Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition to sail around the world. As a young Portuguese noble, he served the king of Portugal, but he became involved in the quagmire of political intrigue at court and lost the king's favor. After he was dismissed from service to the king of Portugal, he offered to serve the future Emperor Charles V of Spain. A papal decree of 1493 had assigned all land in the New World west of 50 degrees W longitude to Spain and all the land east of that line to Portugal. Magellan offered to prove that the East Indies fell under Spanish authority. On September 20, 1519, Magellan set sail from Spain with five ships. More than a year later, one of these ships was exploring the topography of South America in search of a water route across the continent. This ship sank, but the remaining four ships searched along the southern peninsula of South America. Finally they found the passage they sought near a latitude of 50 degrees S. Magellan named this passage the Strait of All Saints, but today we know it as the Strait of Magellan. One ship deserted while in this passage and returned to Spain, so fewer sailors were privileged to gaze at that first panorama of the Pacific Ocean. Those who remained crossed the meridian we now call the International Date Line in the early spring of 1521 after ninety-eight days on the Pacific Ocean. During those long days at sea, many of Magellan's men died of starvation and disease. Later Magellan became involved in an insular conflict in the Philippines and was killed in a tribal battle. Only one ship and seventeen sailors under the command of the Basque navigator Elcano survived to complete the westward journey to Spain and thus prove once and for all that the world is round, with no precipice at the edge.

  One of Magellan's ships explored the _______________ of South America for a passage across the continent.

  A. coastline
  B. mountain range
  C. physical features
  D. islands
  E. none of the above
  C. physical features

• Question 5:

  In studying the autobiographies of Native Americans, most scholars have focused on as-told-to life histories that were solicited, translated, recorded, and edited by non-Native American collaborators ?that emerged from";bicultural composite authorship." Limiting their studies to such written documents, these scholars have overlooked traditional, preliterate modes of communicating personal history. In addition, they have failed to address the cultural constructs of the highly diverse Native American peoples, who prior to contact with non indigenous cultures did not share with Europeans the same assumptions about self, life, and writing that underlie the concept of an autobiography ?that indeed constitute the English word's root meaning.

  The idea of self was, in a number of pre-contact Native American cultures, markedly inclusive: identity was not merely individual, but also relational to a society, a specific landscape, and the cosmos. Within these cultures, the expression of life experiences tended to be oriented toward current events: with the participation of fellow tribal members, an individual person would articulate, reenact, or record important experiences as the person lived them, a mode of autobiography seemingly more fragmented than the European custom of writing down the recollections of a lifetime. Moreover, expression itself was not a matter of writing but of language, which can include speech and signs. Oral autobiography comprised songs, chants, stories, and even the process whereby one repeatedly took on new names to reflect important events and deeds in one's life. Dance and drama could convey personal history; for example, the advent of a vision to one person might require the enactment of that vision in the form of a tribal pageant. One can view as autobiographical the elaborate tattoos that symbolized a warrior's valorous deeds, and such artifacts as a decorated shield that communicated the accomplishments and aspirations of its maker, or a robe that was emblazoned with the pictographic history of the wearer's battles and was sometimes used in reenactments. Also autobiographical, and indicative of high status within the tribe, would have been a tepee painted with symbolic designs to record the achievements and display the dreams or visions of its owner, who was often assisted in the painting by other tribal members.

  A tribe would, then, have contributed to the individual's narrative not merely passively, by its social codes and expectations, but actively by joining in the expression of that narrative. Such intracultural collaboration may seem alien to the European style of autobiography, yet any autobiography is shaped by its creator's ideas about the audience for which it is intended; in this sense, autobiography is justly called a simultaneous individual story and cultural narrative. Autobiographical expressions by early Native Americans may additionally have been shaped by the cultural perspectives of the people who transmitted them.

  Which one of the following would be most consistent with the ideas about identity that the author attributes to pre-contact Native American cultures?

  A. A person who is born into one tribe but is brought up by members of another tribe retains a name given at birth.
  B. A pictograph that represents a specific person incorporates the symbol for a constellation.
  C. A similar ritual for assuming a new name is used in diverse communities.
  D. A name given to one member of a community cannot be given to another member of the same community.
  E. A decorated shield that belonged to an individual cannot be traced to a particular tribe.
  B. A pictograph that represents a specific person incorporates the symbol for a constellation.

  ---

  The author examines ideas of identity in the passage, so that's what we need to review prior to assessing each of the choices as to its fitness. You can't predict where in the passage the right answer's support will come, but you can look generally for something reflecting tribal identity, current events, and non-written forms of communication.

• Question 6:

  The folktale that claims that a rattlesnake's age can be determined from the number of sections in its rattle is false, but only because the rattles are brittle and sometimes partially or completely break off. So if they were not so brittle, one could reliably determine a rattlesnake's age simply from the number of sections in its rattle, because one new section is. formed each time a rattlesnake molts.

  Which one of the following is an assumption the argument requires in order for its conclusion to be properly drawn?

  A. Rattlesnakes molt exactly once a year.
  B. The rattles of rattlesnakes of different species are identical in appearance.
  C. Rattlesnakes molt more frequently when young than when old.
  D. The brittleness of a rattlesnake's rattle is not, correlated with the length of the rattlesnake's life.
  E. Rattlesnakes molt as often when food is scarce as they do when food is plentiful.
  E. Rattlesnakes molt as often when food is scarce as they do when food is plentiful.

  ---

  More debunking -- this time of an old rattlesnake folktale. We cannot, in fact, tell the age of a rattlesnake by the number of its rattle sections, but only because these sometimes break off. The author concludes (note the Conclusion Keyword "so") that if these sections didn't break off, we would be able to tell the age of a rattlesnake by counting its sections. This would certainly make sense if we knew the precise amount of time it takes a rattlesnake to form a new section, and this interval never changed. But notice that we're told only that a new section appears every time a snake molts. How often is that? If it's variable, then the author's claim is bogus -- we wouldn't be able to tell the age simply from the number of sections. In order for the claim in the last sentence to hold up, we need to know that the intervals at which rattlesnakes molt are consistent. Note that we don't need to know the exact time of the molting periods -- only that there is an exact timing for this and that it doesn't change. So choice [Rattlesnakes molt exactly once a year.] is a red herring whereas correct choice [Rattlesnakes molt as often when...] relates to the real issue at hand: If molting time is variable depending on food availability, then the whole theory goes out the window. The author must therefore assume that no such molting variations occur.

• Question 7:

  The Galapagos Islands are in the Pacific Ocean, off the western coast of South America. They are a rocky, lonely spot, but they are also one of the most unusual places in the world. One reason is that they are the home of some of the last giant tortoises left on earth. Weighing hundreds of pounds, these tortoises, or land turtles, wander slowly around the rocks and sand of the islands. Strangely, each of these islands has its own particular kinds of tortoises. There are seven different kinds of tortoises on the eight islands, each kind being slightly different from the other. Hundreds of years ago, thousands of tortoises wandered around these islands. However, all that changed when people started landing there. When people first arrived in 1535, their ships had no refrigerators. This meant that fresh food was always a problem for the sailors on board. The giant tortoises provided a solution to this problem. Ships would anchor off the islands, and crews would row ashore and seize as many tortoises as they could. Once the animals were aboard the ship, the sailors would roll the tortoises onto their backs. The tortoises were completely helpless once on their backs, so they could only lie there until used for soups and stews. Almost 100,000 tortoises were carried off in this way. The tortoises faced other problems, too. Soon after the first ships, settlers arrived bringing pigs, goats, donkeys, dogs and cats. All of these animals ruined life for the tortoises.

  Donkey and goats ate all the plants that the tortoises usually fed on, while the pigs. Dogs and cats consumed thousands of baby tortoises each year. Within a few years, it was hard to find any tortoise eggs-or even any baby tortoises. By the early 1900s, people began to worry that the last of the tortoises would soon die out. No one, however, seemed to care enough to do anything about the problem. More and more tortoises disappeared, even though sailors no longer needed them for food. For another fifty years, this situation continued. Finally, in the 1950s, scientist decided that something must be done. The first part of their plan was to get rid of as many cats, dogs and other animals as they could. Next, they tried to make sure that more baby tortoises would be born. To do this, they started looking for wild tortoise eggs. They gathered the eggs and put them in safe containers. When the eggs hatched, the scientists raised the tortoises in special pens. Both the eggs and tortoises were numbered so that the scientists knew exactly which kinds of tortoises they had-and which island they came from. Once the tortoises were old enough and big enough to take care of themselves, the scientists took them back to their islands and set them loose. This slow, hard work continues today, and, thanks to it, the number of tortoises is now increasing every year. Perhaps these wonderful animals will not disappear after all.

  When did people start to do something to save the tortoises?

  A. in the 1500s
  B. in the 1950s
  C. in the early 1900s
  D. in the 1960s
  E. in the 1400s
  B. in the 1950s

• Question 8:

  In the 1920s, surveys of factory workers who painted watch dials with luminous paint found an alarming incidence of anemia, loss of teeth, bone fractures and death from cancer. This paint contained radium, a radioactive element. As a result, the industrial use of radioactive luminous paint was completely stopped by 1960. However, radium stays active for hundreds of years. Therefore, those watch-collectors who own watches that have luminous dials and were made before 1960 should either bury these watches in the ground or store them in thick lead boxes to protect themselves and the people around them from anemia, loss of teeth, bone fractures and death from cancer.

  Which one of the following, if true, LEAST strengthens the argument above?

  A. The surveys also found that the incidence of anemia, loss of teeth, bone fractures and death from cancer among factory workers who painted watch dials with non-luminous paint was not greater than that among the general population.
  B. The surveys also found that factory workers who painted watch dials with luminous paint, the extent of their health problems was directly proportional to the cumulative number of hours for which they had worked with luminous paint till then.
  C. Barriers of lead or earth provide adequate protection to human beings from harmful radioactive substances.
  D. People who wear watches that have luminous dials and were made before 1960 for more than a decade have an alarming incidence of anemia.
  E. Most chemists and laboratory workers who worked with radium for more than a year in the first decade after its discovery in 1898 did not have, for the rest of their lives, a greater incidence of anemia, loss of teeth, bone fractures and death from cancer than the general population.
  E. Most chemists and laboratory workers who worked with radium for more than a year in the first decade after its discovery in 1898 did not have, for the rest of their lives, a greater incidence of anemia, loss of teeth, bone fractures and death from cancer than the general population.

  ---

  Argument construction

  Premise 1:

  In the 1920s, surveys of factory workers who painted watch dials with luminous paint (WDLP workers) found an alarming incidence of anemia, loss of teeth, bone fractures and death from cancer (HP = Health Problems).

  This premise tells us that 'WDLP workers' had 'HP.'

  Premise 2:

  This paint contained radium, a radioactive element.

  WDLP would presumably have had many ingredients, one of which was radium ?a radioactive element.

  Subsidiary Conclusion drawn from Premises 1 and 2:

  As a result, the industrial use of radioactive luminous paint was completely stopped by 1960.

  The fact that this is a conclusion is suggested by the phrase 'as a result.' This conclusion also implies that those who had the power to decide what kind of paint was to be used on watch dials (the watch dial manufacturers, the government

  authorities etc.) assumed that 'WDLP workers' had 'HP' due to 'the radium in WDLP.'

  Also note that Premise 1 was only concerned with WDLP workers. However, the subsidiary conclusion extends to all industrial use of LP. So, the decision-makers mentioned in the above paragraph also assumed that if radium caused HP in

  WDLP workers, then it would also cause HP in other industrial workers.

  Premise 3:

  However, radium stays active for hundreds of years.

  So, the radium in the watches that were made before 1960 would still be active today, and, assuming the causal link between 'the radium in WDLP' and the 'HP of WDLP workers,' can cause HP even today.

  Main Conclusion:

  Therefore, those watch-collectors who own watches that have luminous dials and were made before 1960 should either bury these watches in the ground or store them in thick lead boxes to protect themselves and the people around them

  from anemia, loss of teeth, bone fractures and death from cancer.

  The Main Conclusion makes use of some assumptions (unstated premises):

  Burying a radioactive material in ground or storing it in thick lead boxes is enough to protect humans from it.

  While Premise 1 presented an observation for WDLP workers, the main conclusion is drawn for watch-collectors. The author of the argument has assumed that what is true for WDLP workers would also be true for collectors of the

  watches made by these workers. This is a questionable extrapolation, as it might be expected that a worker who painted watch dials with WDLP day-in and day-out would have had a much higher exposure to radium than a watch-collector

  who only looks at his watch-collection occasionally and for only a few minutes per watch at a time.

  The Main Conclusion applies to a group of people (watch-collectors) in the present-time and the reason why watches made decades ago are still thought to pose a health hazard today is given in Premise 3, which states that radium stays

  active for hundreds of years. The main conclusion therefore depends on the assumption that it was the radium in the LP that caused the HP of WDLP workers. This assumption need not be correct. LP would have had many ingredients, one

  of which was Radium; no direct evidence is presented in the argument to indicate that it was Radium and not another ingredient of the LP that caused the HP of WDLP workers.

  Note that this is a Strengthen-Except question (If one option 'least' strengthens the argument, it follows that the other four options strengthen the argument). We are looking for the one answer choice that does not strengthen the argument.

  Let us analyze the options one by one.

  Answer choices explanation

  [The surveys also found that the incidence of anemia, loss of teeth, bone fractures and death from cancer ...] This option is incorrect. The group of workers mentioned in this option statement are the opposite of WDLP. These people did not

  use LP and, as per this option statement, they had no HP; the incidence of diseases mentioned in the argument among this group was the same as in the general population. So, 'the WD painters who used LP' had HP while 'the WD painters

  who did not use LP' did not have HP. This option statement strengthens the assumption that it was the LP that caused the HP in WDLP workers.

  [The surveys also found that factory workers who painted watch dials with luminous paint, the extent of their ...] This option is incorrect. The more LP that a WDLP worker was exposed to, the more HP he had. The less LP that a WDLP worker

  was exposed to, the less HP he had. This clearly strengthens the assumption that it was the LP that caused the HP in WDLP workers.

  [Barriers of lead or earth provide adequate protection to human beings from harmful radioactive substances.] This option is incorrect. This statement strengthens the main conclusion by validating an assumption on which it depends.

  [People who wear watches that have luminous dials and were made before 1960 for more than a decade have an alarming incidence of anemia.] This option is incorrect. This statement strengthens the main conclusion by providing evidence

  that under certain circumstances (when the antique watches are worn for more than a decade), watch-collectors too can suffer from at least some of the HP (anemia) that the WDLP workers of Premise 1 suffered from. Thus, this option

  statement validates an assumption on which the main conclusion depends.

  [Most chemists and laboratory workers who worked with radium for more than a year in the first decade...] This option is correct. This statement weakens the main conclusion because it provides evidence that there is a group of people who

  handled radium but who did not have HP. This suggests that an assumption on which the Main Conclusion depends - that the HP of the WPLD were caused by the radium in the LP ?is probably incorrect.

• Question 9:

  One of the most intriguing stories of the Russian Revolution concerns the identity of Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II. During his reign over Russia, the Czar had planned to revoke many of the harsh laws established by previous czars. Some workers and peasants, however, clamored for more rapid social reform. In 1918 a group of these people, known as Bolsheviks, overthrew the government. On July 17 or 18, they murdered the Czar and what was thought to be his entire family. Although witnesses vouched that all the members of the Czar's family had been executed, there were rumors suggesting that Anastasia had survived. Over the years, a number of women claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia. Perhaps the best 璳nown claimant was Anastasia Tschaikovsky, who was also known as Anna Anderson. In 1920, eighteen months after the Czar's execution, this terrified young woman was rescued from drowning in a Berlin river. She spent two years in a hospital, where she attempted to eclaim her health and shattered mind. The doctors and nurses thought that she resembled Anastasia and questioned her about her background. She disclaimed any connection with the Czar's family. Eight years later, though, she claimed that she was Anastasia. She said that she had been rescued by two Russian soldiers after the Czar and the rest of her family had been killed. Two brothers named Tschaikovsky had carried her into Romania. She had married one of the brothers, who had taken her to Berlin and left her there, penniless and without a vocation. Unable to invoke the aid of her mother's family in Germany, she had tried to drown herself. During the next few years, scores of the Czar's relatives, ex-servants, and acquaintances interviewed her. Many of these people said that her looks and mannerisms were evocative of the Anastasia that they had known. Her grandmother and other relatives denied that she was the real Anastasia, however. Tried of being accused of fraud, Anastasia immigrated to the United States in 1928 and took the name Anna Anderson. She still wished to prove that she was Anastasia, though, and returned to Germany in 1933 to bring suit against her mother's family. There she declaimed to the court, asserting that she was indeed Anastasia and deserved her inheritance. In 1957, the court decided that it could neither confirm nor deny Anastasia's identity. Although we will probably never know whether this woman was the Grand Duchess Anastasia, her search to establish her identity has been the subject of numerous books, plays, and movies.

  She was unable to ___________ the aid of her relative.

  A. locate
  B. speak about
  C. call upon
  D. identify
  E. know
  C. call upon

• Question 10:

  The price of a full-fare coach ticket from Toronto to Dallas on Breezeway Airlines is the same today as it was a year ago, if inflation is taken into account by calculating prices in constant dollars. However, today 90 percent of the Toronto-to-Dallas coach tickets that Breezeway sells are discount tickets and only 10 percent are full-fare tickets, whereas a year ago half were discount tickets and half were full-fare tickets. Therefore, on average, people pay less today in constant dollars for a Breezeway Toronto-to-Dallas coach ticket than they did a year ago.

  Which one of the following, if assumed, would allow the conclusion above to be properly drawn?

  A. A Toronto-to-Dallas full-fare coach ticket on Breezeway Airlines provides ticket-holders with a lower level of service today than such a ticket provided a year ago.
  B. A Toronto-to-Dallas discount coach ticket on Breezeway Airlines costs about the same amount in constant dollars today as it did a year ago.
  C. All full-fare coach tickets on Breezeway Airlines cost the same in constant dollars as they did a year ago.
  D. The average number of coach passengers per flight that Breezeway Airlines carries from Toronto to Dallas today is higher than the average number per flight a year ago.
  E. The criteria that Breezeway Airlines uses for permitting passengers to buy discount coach tickets on the Toronto-to-Dallas route are different today than they were a year ago.
  B. A Toronto-to-Dallas discount coach ticket on Breezeway Airlines costs about the same amount in constant dollars today as it did a year ago.

  ---

  This is a tricky Assumption question. And it looks like we're going to have to do a little math on this one. Let's start with what we know. We know that the price of a full fare coach ticket from Toronto to Dallas is the same as last year. We also know that this year, 90 percent of Toronto to Dallas coach tickets are discount tickets, and 10 percent are full-fare tickets. This compares with last year's breakdown of 50 percent discount tickets, and 50 percent full-fare tickets. Based on this evidence, the author concludes that on average, people are paying less for a coach ticket than a year ago. Well, what seems to be missing here? The price of a discount ticket. You have to know what the price of a discount ticket was last year, and what the price is this year, to make an effective comparison. Let's put in some numbers to see why this is so. If the discount tickets were half the price of full fare tickets last year, and half the price this year, then you can see how the author's conclusion would be valid: 90 percent of people would be getting half-off fares this year, as compared to only 50 percent getting half off fares a year ago. So, on average, passengers would be paying less this year. But what if last year the discount tickets were half off, and this year, the "discount" tickets are only 5 percent off? Now, even though most people are getting "discount" tickets, most people are still paying practically full fare, and the author's conclusion that on average people are paying less would be invalid. So now let's get back to the question. You had to find what the author was assuming for the conclusion to be valid. As we just saw, the author must be assuming that there isn't a big difference between the cost of last year's discount tickets and the cost of this year's discount tickets. And that's exactly what correct answer choice [A Toronto-to-Dallas discount coach ticket on Breezeway Airlines costs about the same amount in] says.