LNAT Technical Skills & Application 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A passage concludes: 'Banning social media would improve teen mental health.' Which of the following, if true, most strengthens this argument?
- Teens spend an average of five hours daily on social media
- Studies show teen anxiety decreased significantly in regions that restricted social media access (Correct answer)
- Social media companies profit from teen engagement
- Mental health professionals disagree about the causes of teen anxiety
Correct answer: Studies show teen anxiety decreased significantly in regions that restricted social media access
Evidence of decreased anxiety following social media restrictions directly supports the causal claim that banning it improves mental health.
Question 2: A court must interpret the word 'child' in a Victorian-era statute. The mischief rule would direct the court to:
- Apply the ordinary modern meaning of 'child'
- Identify the gap in the common law the statute was designed to remedy (Correct answer)
- Choose the interpretation that avoids an absurd result
- Look at dictionary definitions contemporary to the statute
Correct answer: Identify the gap in the common law the statute was designed to remedy
The mischief rule requires courts to identify what problem (mischief) the legislature intended to cure and interpret the statute to suppress that mischief.
Question 3: Which of the following best illustrates an ad hominem fallacy?
- The witness is unreliable because she was convicted of perjury
- The defendant cannot be guilty because many people like him
- The expert's evidence should be discounted because he is a biased advocate, not because his data is flawed (Correct answer)
- The law is unjust because it was passed quickly
Correct answer: The expert's evidence should be discounted because he is a biased advocate, not because his data is flawed
Ad hominem attacks the person rather than their argument; dismissing expert data solely because of who the expert is constitutes this fallacy.
Question 4: A judge reads a statute that lists 'dogs, cats, hamsters, and other animals.' A claimant argues a python is an 'other animal.' Applying ejusdem generis, the court should:
- Include the python because it is biologically an animal
- Exclude the python because it is not of the same kind as the listed domestic pets (Correct answer)
- Apply the golden rule to avoid an unjust result
- Refer to Parliamentary debates to determine intent
Correct answer: Exclude the python because it is not of the same kind as the listed domestic pets
Ejusdem generis limits 'other animals' to the same class as the specific examples listed — domestic pets — so a python would be excluded.
Question 5: Two premises: 'Either the defendant was at the scene or he has an alibi. He was not at the scene.' What validly follows?
- He committed the crime
- He has an alibi (Correct answer)
- He may or may not have an alibi
- No conclusion can be drawn
Correct answer: He has an alibi
Disjunctive syllogism: when one option in an 'either/or' is ruled out, the other must be true.
Question 6: A LNAT passage argues that 'jury trials should be abolished because juries are susceptible to emotional manipulation.' The underlying assumption is:
- Professional judges are never emotionally influenced
- Emotional reasoning always leads to wrong verdicts
- Decisions influenced by emotion are less legally valid than purely rational ones (Correct answer)
- Jury trials are more expensive than bench trials
Correct answer: Decisions influenced by emotion are less legally valid than purely rational ones
The argument only holds if emotional influence is assumed to undermine legal validity, which is the unstated premise linking susceptibility to the need for abolition.
Question 7: A legislature enacts a statute after a report identifying widespread exploitation of gig workers. When a court later interprets an ambiguous clause, which source is MOST useful under the purposive approach?
- The Oxford English Dictionary entry for each disputed word
- The parliamentary report that preceded the statute (Correct answer)
- Case law predating the statute
- The literal text of the clause in isolation
Correct answer: The parliamentary report that preceded the statute
The purposive approach uses external aids like parliamentary reports to understand the social mischief and legislative intent the statute sought to address.
LNAT Technical Skills & Application 3
A passage concludes: 'Banning social media would improve teen mental health.' Which of the following, if true, most strengthens this argument?