Logical Reasoning: A Tricky Breed of Principle Example Questions (Illustrations of Illustrations)
Principle Example questions on the logical reasoning section ask you to find an illustration (or example) of a principle given to you in the stimulus. The most straightforward of these provide an outright principle (generally stated) followed by five answer choices describing specific situations. For example, one might look like this:
It's an illustration within an illustration
‘Tis better to give than to receive.
Which of the following best illustrates the principle stated above?
(A) It is better for Jeremy to give his dad an HDTV than to give his mom a necklace.
(B) It is better for Jeremy to get a motorcycle from his dad than from his mom.
(C) It is better for Jeremy to give his sister the iPad than to keep it for himself.
(D) It is better for Jeremy’s sister to give the iPad to Jeremy than to give it to charity.
(E) It is better for Jeremy to give his girlfriend a Dr. Seuss book than to receive one from his sister.
(E) is correct.
But some Principle Example questions don’t directly state the principle for you. Rather, they give you a specific “illustration” of the principle then ask you to find another “illustration” of it in the answer choices. The question will be phrased something like, “Which of the following best illustrates the principle illustrated above?” (See? I wasn’t exaggerating about the overuse of that word.)
These require an extra step. You have to extrapolate the principle from the stimulus in order to be able to find another illustration of it in the answer choices. To use the example above again, this breed of Principle Example might look something like:
It was better for Anna to share her Pop Rocks from trick or treating with her brother Henry than for Henry to share his miniature Snickers with her.
Which of the following best illustrates the principle illustrated above?
(A) It is better for Jeremy to give his dad an HDTV than to give his mom a necklace.
(B) It is better for Jeremy to get a motorcycle from his dad than from his mom.
(C) It is better for Jeremy to give his sister the iPad than to keep it for himself.
(D) It is better for Jeremy’s sister to give the iPad to Jeremy than to give it to charity.
(E) It is better for Jeremy to give his girlfriend a Dr. Seuss book than to receive one from his sister.
(The answer is still (E).)
Notice that in this second scenario, we had to extrapolate the principle–’tis better to give than to receive–from the story about Anna and her brother.
Here are a few things to remember for this kind of Principle Example question:
(1) Like in Matching questions, substance doesn’t matter. Don’t worry about finding an answer choice that talks about candy or trick or treating. It’s the general principle that matters, not the substantive content.
(2) Take the time to articulate the principle before you read the answer choices so you know what you’re looking for. In other words, don’t just read the stimulus then jump right into the choices without asking yourself, “What’s the principle here?”
(3) Use tools for Matching questions (identify mismatches in the conclusion and premises) to eliminate answer choices