Two Notable Stimulus Scenarios

Although Cannot Be True questions are not associated with any particular type
of stimulus scenario, two concepts we have discussed appear with some
frequency: numbers and percentages, and conditional relationships. Both areas
can cause confusion, so let’s examine each in more detail:
1. Numbers and Percentages
As detailed in Chapter Fifteen, numbers and percentages can be
confusing when they appear on the LSAT, and the test makers know
how to exploit certain preconceived notions that students bring with
them to the test. In Cannot Be True questions, the stimulus will often
supply enough information for you to determine that certain outcomes
must occur (for example, increasing market share while the overall
market size remains constant results in greater sales). The correct answer
then violates this outcome.
2. Conditional Statements
Many different scenarios can occur in Cannot Be True questions
featuring conditional statements, except the following:
The sufficient condition occurs, and the necessary condition
does not occur.
Thus, when a conditional statement is made in a Cannot Be True
question stimulus, you should actively seek the answer that matches the
scenario above.
Incorrect answers often play upon the possibility that the necessary
condition occurs but the sufficient condition does not occur. Those
scenarios could occur and are thus incorrect.
Take a look at another Cannot Be True question. Please take a moment to
complete the following question:
2. Good students learn more than what their parents and
teachers compel them to learn. This requires that
these students derive pleasure from the satisfaction of
their curiosity, and one cannot experience such
pleasure unless one is capable of concentrating on a
topic so intently that one loses track of one’s own
identity.
If the statements above are true, each of the following
could also be true EXCEPT:
(A) Some people who are capable of becoming so
absorbed in a topic that they lose track of
their own identities are nevertheless
incapable of deriving pleasure from the
satisfaction of their curiosity.
(B) Most good students do not derive pleasure from
the satisfaction of their curiosity.
(C) Many people who derive pleasure simply from
the satisfaction of their curiosity are not good
students.
(D) Some people who are not good students derive
pleasure from losing track of their own
identities.
(E) Most people who are capable of becoming so
absorbed in a topic that they lose track of
their own identities are not good students.
The stimulus in this problem contains a set of interrelated conditional
statements:
GS = good student
LM = learn more than what their parents and teachers compel them to
learn
DP = derive pleasure from the satisfaction of their curiosity
CC = capable of concentrating on a topic so intently that one loses track
of one’s own identity
1. First sentence: GS------------> LM
2. Second sentence, first part: LM----------------> DP
3. Second sentence, second part: DP-------------> CC
Chain of all statements: GS----------> LM---------> DP-----------> CC
Remember, when you encounter Cannot Be True questions featuring
conditional relationships, actively seek the answer that violates the precept that
when the sufficient condition occurs the necessary condition must also occur. In
this problem, that situation is found in answer choice (B).
Answer choice (A): This answer describes a situation where the necessary
condition in the second part of the second sentence occurs and the sufficient
condition does not. Since the occurrence of the necessary condition does not
make the sufficient condition occur, this scenario could happen and this answer
is therefore incorrect. This type of answer is a frequent wrong answer in Cannot
Be True questions featuring conditional relationships.
Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer. The chain of statements in the
stimulus shows that every good student derives pleasure from the satisfaction of
their curiosity. Thus, it cannot be true that “Most good students do not derive
pleasure from the satisfaction of their curiosity.”
Answer choice (C): Like answer choice (A), this answer describes a situation
where the necessary condition occurs and the sufficient condition does not. This
time the scenario references the relationship in the first sentence.
Answer choice (D): The stimulus only offers information about good students;
no information is given about people who are not good students. Accordingly,
we can make no judgment about these individuals, and the answer is incorrect.
Answer choices that offer groups that do not meet the sufficient condition are
also popular wrong answers in Cannot Be True questions featuring conditional
reasoning.
Answer choice (E): Like answer choices (A) and (C), this answer describes a
situation where the necessary condition occurs and the sufficient condition does
not. Unlike those two answers, you must rely on your understanding of the
chain of all statements in order to understand why this answer is possible.
Because the “capable of becoming so absorbed in a topic that they lose track of
their own identities” is the necessary condition for being a good student, it is
possible that most people who meet this condition are still not good students.
Again, avoid Mistaken Reversals!
Overall, Cannot Be True questions appear infrequently but they can be
troublesome because of their unusual information structure. Whenever you
encounter a Cannot question, focus on searching for the answer that does not
follow or the answer that is disproved by the stimulus.