Episode 23 picks up right where 22 left off: with Jon and Dave continuing last week’s discussion of conditional reasoning! Specifically, they ramp up the complexity and outline how to handle unusual language like “unless” statements and “either/or” constructions, make conditional chains and spot the inferences they provide, tackle scenarios with multiple sufficient and necessary […]
Conditional Reasoning 101: Circular Reasoning and the Contrapositive
A student once asked me on our LSAT Forum about the existence of circular reasoning in a question that appeared to use the contrapositive. And, from appearances, the question did use the contrapositive but the reasoning was still flawed, precisely because of the way it was used. Because so many people become used to the contrapositive and […]
The Most Dangerous Conditional Rule on the LSAT
On our LSAT Discussion Forum recently, I’ve been running into a recurrent question about a conditional reasoning rule. These questions revolve around a really tricky phrasing, one that has devastated test takers when it has appeared on previous LSATs. But if you can learn the idea, it takes something the test makers expect to be very difficult and […]
How to Handle “Even If” in Conditional Reasoning (Even If it Doesn’t Matter)
Most students confront conditional reasoning very early on in their LSAT preparation. They spend hours mastering the logic of conditional rules in Logical Reasoning stimuli and answer choices, and in Logic Games as well. To this end, students must memorize a number of common conditional reasoning keywords and phrases that help indicate the presence of this logic. […]
Conditional Reasoning 101: The Domino Effect
In my previous blog post I talked about the basics of conditional reasoning on the LSAT, and dealt with fairly simple statements involving a single sufficient condition and a single necessary condition. You’ll find that post here: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/lsat-conditional-reasoning-easy-as-falling-off-a-log On the LSAT, though, things are not always that simple! Sometimes (often, really) you will encounter conditional chains, […]
Conditional Reasoning 101: As Easy as Falling Off a Log
Conditional reasoning – argumentation based on “if…then” statements – is a prominent feature of the LSAT. While the numbers vary from test to test and year to year, you can expect something in the neighborhood of 10 questions in the Logical Reasoning sections that involve conditional reasoning, and at least half of the Logic Games […]
Can You Diagram These Conditional Reasoning Phrases?
Conditional reasoning appears throughout the LSAT, in the arguments presented within the Logical Reasoning sections of the test, in the grouping games that are featured in every Logic Games section, and even (to a lesser extent) in the Reading Comprehension section of the test. This type of logic classifies conditions as Sufficient or Necessary, depending on whether […]
Dealing with Negatives (Particularly Unless) in Conditional Reasoning
Today’s LSAT Forum Post of the Day is a response to a student with two common questions regarding conditional reasoning statements containing negative language, like the words “unless” or “without”: (1) how are those specific phrases best diagrammed, and (2) when is it possible to diagram negatively-worded statements in the affirmative? PowerScore VP of Development Jon Denning […]
Negating Compound and Conditional Statements
The ability to logically negate a statement—whether conditional, causal, etc.—is critical to your success on the LSAT. It comes up most commonly in the Logical Reasoning section of the test, although any question stem using the word “EXCEPT” (always capitalized) will require you to logically negate that stem. The list does not stop here: every […]
Conditional Reasoning Practice: Test Your Skills
The other day I came across an apparently famous logic puzzle called The Wason Selection Task. I say “apparently” famous because I for one had never heard of it, but I was instantly struck by the conditional nature of the process in question. If you’re reading this I presume you’ve got some experience with LSAT […]