#14 - Only Canadian films are shown at the Lac Nichoutec

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (C)

This question presents a bit of formal logic:
The Lac Nichoutec (LN) Film Festival features only Canadian Films; if a movie was featured in that festival, we know that it must have been Canadian:

• LN Film Fest Canadian

 ...and most of the prize winners at that festival were also winners at international film festivals:

• LN Film Fest Winners International Film Fest Winners

Since we have limited information about the overall group of international film fest winners, the most we can say about that group is that at least some of them were winners at the LN Film Fest:

• International Film Fest Winners LN Film Fest

In a stimulus such as this one, in which two formal logic statements are presented, it is always a good idea to link the statements if possible, as follows:

• International Film Fest Winners LN Film Fest Canadian

Based on the chain statement above, we can infer that at least some of the international film festival winners were Canadian (International fest winners Canadian)

Answer choice (A): The stimulus provides very limited information regarding Canadian international film fest winners; all we can say with confidence is that there was at least one LN film fest winner that also won an international prize. Since there is no way to know whether the majority were shown at the LN film fest, this choice cannot be confirmed by the information in the stimulus and should be ruled out of contention.

Answer choice (B): Even though the festival shows Canadian films exclusively, there is no way to know how many Canadian films were not shown at the festival (there could be a million of them). Without more information, there is no way to properly infer that the majority of all Canadian films were featured at the one specific film festival that was discussed.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice, confirmed by the chain relationship discussed above.

Answer choice (D): The term “most” includes the possibility of “all” (see discussion in the Logical Reasoning Bible), so it is entirely possible that every Lac Nichoutec film fest winner also won an international prize. Since this choice cannot be confirmed by the information in the stimulus, it fails the Fact Test and cannot be the correct answer to this Must Be True question.
Answer choice (E): Based on the information provided in the stimulus, it is possible that the Lac Nichoutec film fest featured every single international film fest winner. Since this answer is not necessarily accurate based on the limited information provided, this cannot be the right choice.

[avengingangel]

I chose the correct answer here, but I'd like to confirm m reasoning: for this answer, you didn't really need to diagram / do any type of real formal logic, right? You just had to be familiar with formal logic to the extent that you know exactly what "some" and "most" mean, and be able to make inherent inferences, right ??

[ellyb]

Hi, I have a problem with the wording of this question.

It's preptest 66 from June 2012, section 2 question 14.

"Only Canadian films are shown at the Lac Nichoutec Film Festival. This year, most of the films that won prizes at that festival also won prizes at international film festivals."
Then it asks what must be true based on the above.

The problem for me is in the unstated gap between 'shown' and 'won'.
It says only Canadian films are SHOWN at the La Nichoutec Film Festival.
Then it goes on to say, this year the only films that WON prizes at that festival also won prizes at international film festivals.
To me there is an obvious discrepancy between the verb 'shown' and 'won.' Could it not be possible that a non-Canadian film was not 'shown' at the festival but still won an award? If that was the case, it should be clearly stipulated, which it's not and completely confused me. This throws all of the answer choices out as could be trues, when in doubt about whether a non-canadian film could win an award or not. If this distinction was drawn, C would've been the painfully obvious answer (to me at least) but because that wasn't clear for me, I couldn't logically say that C could be deduced from the information available.

[David Boyle]

I chose the correct answer here, but I'd like to confirm m reasoning: for this answer, you didn't really need to diagram / do any type of real formal logic, right? You just had to be familiar with formal logic to the extent that you know exactly what "some" and "most" mean, and be able to make inherent inferences, right ??

Hello avengingangel,

More or less. You can always diagram, but if you know what "some" and "most" mean in LSAT context, you should be able to common-sense your way to the right answer without diagramming, hopefully.

Hope this helps,
David

[David Boyle]

Hi, I have a problem with the wording of this question.

It's preptest 66 from June 2012, section 2 question 14.

"Only Canadian films are shown at the Lac Nichoutec Film Festival. This year, most of the films that won prizes at that festival also won prizes at international film festivals."
Then it asks what must be true based on the above.

The problem for me is in the unstated gap between 'shown' and 'won'.
It says only Canadian films are SHOWN at the La Nichoutec Film Festival.
Then it goes on to say, this year the only films that WON prizes at that festival also won prizes at international film festivals.
To me there is an obvious discrepancy between the verb 'shown' and 'won.' Could it not be possible that a non-Canadian film was not 'shown' at the festival but still won an award? If that was the case, it should be clearly stipulated, which it's not and completely confused me. This throws all of the answer choices out as could be trues, when in doubt about whether a non-canadian film could win an award or not. If this distinction was drawn, C would've been the painfully obvious answer (to me at least) but because that wasn't clear for me, I couldn't logically say that C could be deduced from the information available.

Hello ellyb,

True, "shown" is not always synonymous with "won". Good eye. However, sometimes one can read too much into language, and in this case, maybe it's all right to assume "shown" really is more-or-less synonymous with "won". (It's sort of a judgment call, and not always clear.)
Moreover, "most of the films that won prizes at that festival also won prizes at international film festivals" lends support to the idea of Canadian films being the ones shown at the international festivals. E.g., maybe, as you say, a non-Canadian film or two could be given special mention at a Canadian festival by winning without showing, say, a "lifetime achievement award" or something. But "most of the films" implies a good number of films, maybe, not just an occasional outlier of having a film that somehow wins without even being shown, which is inherently unusual. So, it's likely that Canadian films winning prizes at the festival went on to get other prizes at international ones.

Hope this helps,
David

[ericau02]

I got this question right but I am blind reviewing and i just want to be sure why is D incorrect can you further elaborate on the explanation. My reasoning was that it was mistaken negation?? but idk if this is a correct way to view this ac. please lmk thanks!

[Brook Miscoski]

erica,

The reason (D) is wrong is that there isn't any information in the stimulus about what portion of the films are also shown at international festivals.