October 2010 LSAT Section 3 Question 2

Since there is no survival value in an animal's having an organ that is able to function when all its other organs ha...

ishadoshi on August 9, 2019

Question 4

Shouldn't the choice for the main point also have something that indicates that it was wrong for Helen's brother to not tell the truth? The reason it was wrong in the first place was that he lied - so essentially the fact that he lied should be inculcated in the main point isn't it?

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Victoria on August 9, 2019

Hi @ishadoshi,

Helen concludes that "it was wrong of... Mark to tell our mother that the reason he had missed her birthday party the evening before was that he had been in a traffic accident and that by the time he was released from the hospital emergency room the party was long over."

Why? Because lying is morally wrong and "there had been no such accident - Mark had simply forgotten all about the party."

The reason this was wrong is because Mark lied but the lie is also encompassed in the conclusion. The conclusion drawn by Helen is that "it was wrong of Mark to tell his mother that he had missed her birthday party as a result of having been in a traffic accident."

In other words, it was wrong for Mark to lie to his mother regarding the reason he had missed her birthday party. The reason that it was wrong for Mark to lie to his mother is not part of the conclusion but rather is encompassed in the premise i.e. lying is morally wrong.

Not all the information in the passage needs to be included in the main point; for these questions you are simply looking for a restatement of the overall conclusion of the passage, not a restatement of everything that was said in the passage.

Hope this is helpful! Please let us know if you have any further questions.