Lesson One: Logical Reasoning & Logic Games

Question 1

–Logical Reasoning–

Answer 1

–First Section–

Question 2

How many questions must you answer in the logical reasoning section and how much time do you have per question?

Answer 2

35 minutes to answer 24-26 logical reasoning questions.

1 minute and 25 seconds to answer each question.

Question 3

What does the Powerscore booklet have to say about superfluous knowledge?

Answer 3

Don’t bring in superfluous (outside) knowledge when answering the questions.

It’s not your job to make assumptions based on the excerpts you’re given.

Question 4

All ______________ you need to _______________ the question(s) is in the ________________.

Answer 4

information; answer; text

Question 5

What are the small excerpts called (in the logical reasoning portion of the LSAT)?

Answer 5

Stimulus

Question 6

3 Parts to a Logical Reasoning Question

Answer 6

1) Stimulus
2) Question Stem
3) Answer Choices

Question 7

Bear in mind, many of the _______________ choices could conceivably ________________ the question. It’s your job to find the ___________ _____________ choice.

Answer 7

answer; answer; BEST; answer

Question 8

2 Types of Stimuli Questions

Answer 8

1) Arguments (Premises –> Conclusion)
2) Sets of Facts (w/ no Conclusion)

Question 9

DO NOT waste time _______________ the _________ _____________ before the _______________.

Answer 9

reading; stem question; stimulus

Question 10

Elements of Argumentation

Answer 10

Argument consists of Premises and a Conclusion

Question 11

Conclusion

Answer 11

Main Point of the argument

Question 12

Premises

Answer 12

Support for the Main Point of the Argument, such that if the premises are true, the conclusion MUST follow (has to be true).

Question 13

Do we care about the truth of an argument?

Answer 13

In a sense, no. We don’t care about whether or not the conclusion posed by the argument is TRUE TO REAL LIFE.

We’re supposed accept the author’s words as true in the context of the argument.

Question 14

Do we care about the validity of an argument?

Answer 14

Yes.

An argument is a valid argument iff. the truth of the premises guarantees the truth of the conclusion.

Question 15

Look out for words that ____________ a _______________, and those that _____________ a _________________.

Answer 15

signal; premise; signal; conclusion

Question 16

Words that signal premise

Answer 16

Because, given that, considering that, since…

Question 17

Words that signal conclusion

Answer 17

Accordingly, therefore, hence, thus…

Question 18

Remember, the ________________ and ________________ are in ________ particular ____________. You may very well face a situation in which the _____________ comes before the _______________.

Answer 18

premises; conclusion; no; order; conclusion; premises

Question 19

The importance of certain ________________ is exemplified in the _________________ ______________ of the language within a given argument. You must be able to _______________ the ______________ _______________ of certain words in the stimuli.

Answer 19

language; Logical Force; identify; logical force

Question 20

LOGICAL FORCE: Fact v. Opinion

Answer 20

Fact: Something that is indisputably true (e.g. “all animals ARE made up of the same kind of matter.”)

Opinion: Indicates a personally-held view (e.g. “censorship SHOULD be banned in all states.”)

Question 21

LOGICAL FORCE: Likelihood (3)

Answer 21

1) Certainty: has to, must, will, (100%)

2) Probability: more likely than not, probably, generally, usually, would (>50%)

3) Possibility: might, may, could (>0%)

Question 22

LOGICAL FORCE: Quantity (2)

Answer 22

• Range from “all” to “none.”
• Between these 2 extremes their may also be “some,” “most,” etc…

Question 23

LOGICAL FORCE: Time (3)

Answer 23

1) Past: The student WAS on the dean’s list.
2) Present: The student IS on the dean’s list.
3) Future: The student WILL BE on the dean’s list.

Question 24

It’s your job to _____________ the _______________, whether it’s Fact v. Opinion, Likelihood, Quantity, or Time.

E.g. An example about _____________ people cannot be used to make a determination about ______________ people.

E.g. An example of what ________________ happen cannot be used to determine what ___ the case.

Answer 24

TRACK; LANGUAGE; some; most; could; is

Question 25

13 Types of Stem Questions (MUST MEMORIZE):

Answer 25

1) Must Be True
2) Main Point
3) Point at Issue / Point of Agreement
4) Assumption
5) Justify the Conclusion
6) Strengthen / Support
7) Resolve the Paradox
8) Weaken
9) Method of Reasoning
10) Flaw in the Reasoning
11) Parallel Reasoning
12) Evaluate
13) Cannot Be True

Question 26

Each of these Stem Question types belong to a certain _____________.

Answer 26

family

Question 27

Family #1: Prove

Answer 27

• Types: 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11
• Used to prove the correct answer choice.

Stimulus
↓
Answer Choices

Question 28

Family #4: Disprove

Answer 28

• Type: 13
• Used to disprove the correct answer choice.

Stimulus
⤈
Answer Choices

Question 29

Family #2: Help

Answer 29

• Types: 4, 5, 6, 7
• used to help prove why stimulus follows from answer choice.

Stimulus
↑
Answer Choices

Question 30

Family #3: Hurt

Answer 30

• Type: 8
• used to help prove why stimulus doesn’t follow from answer choice.

Stimulus
⤉
Answer Choices

Question 31

Family #1 & Family #4
v.
Family #2 & Family #3

Answer 31

Families #1 and 4 show how the answer choices follow from the stimulus.

Families #2 and 3 show how the stimuli follow from the answer choices.

Question 32

Prephrasing Answers

Answer 32

Quick speculation of what you believe the answer choices should look like given the stimuli.

Question 33

How to Sort Through the Answer Choices:

1. ______________ all ___ answer choices. (There will be questions that are SO carefully constructed to seem like the right answer, but is not the best response. These answer choices are usually placed right next to the right answer choice).
2. Separate answer choices into ______________ and _____________.
   - (Contenders:)
   - (Losers:)
3. For all _____________, write an _________ next to them and ____________ them out.
4. For all _____________, write a ______ next to them.

Answer 33

Read; 5; contenders; losers; losers; L; cross; contenders; C

Contenders: answers that follow from the stimulus.
Losers: answers that don’t follow from the stimulus.

Question 34

Must Be True Question

Answer 34

• Family #1: Prove
• Question stem that asks you to choose the answer that directly follows from information in the stimulus.
• Can’t bring in new / outside information.
• Can’t select answers that could / are likely to be true.
• Pretty easy to identify: Must be True Questions stems are ALWAYS preceded by a stimulus that does not have a conclusion.

Question 35

With ___________ ______ _____________ Questions, you must choose the answer choice that is _____________ supported by the stimuli.

Answer 35

Must Be True; BEST

Question 36

What does the Fact Test tell us?

Answer 36

The correct answer choice can be most simply found by referring to the facts stated in the stimuli.

Question 37

Must Be True: Incorrect Answers
Could Be True / Likely to Be True Answers

Answer 37

Answer choices that COULD conceivably be true, but doesn’t HAVE to be true.

Question 38

Must Be True: Incorrect Answers
Exaggerated Answers

Answer 38

Answer choices that entail something much broader than what’s stated in the stimulus.

Question 39

Must Be True: Incorrect Answers
“New” Information Answers

Answer 39

Answer choices that introduce information that’s not explicitly stated in the stimuli.

Question 40

Must Be True: Incorrect Answers
The Shell Game

Answer 40

When the facts in an answer choice to a stimulus are very similar yet SLIGHTLY ALTERED to be incorrect.

Question 41

Must Be True: Incorrect Answers
The Reverse Answer

Answer 41

An answer choice with all the elements in the stimuli, but rearranges these elements to reverse their relationship.

Question 42

Must Be True: Incorrect Answers
Opposite Answer

Answer 42

Answer choice directly opposes the facts of the stimulus.

Question 43

Main Point Question

Answer 43

• Family #1: Prove
• Question stem asks you to choose the answer choice that summarizes the author’s viewpoint.
• If the information in the answer is correct, but it doesn’t summarize the author’s viewpoint, the answer’s incorrect.

Question 44

–LOGIC GAMES–

Answer 44

–Second Section–

Question 45

How many questions must you answer in the logic games section and how much time do you have per question?

Answer 45

22-24 questions that need to be answered in 35 minutes.

Section of this exam is divided into 4 Games (w/ around ~5 questions per each game).

You have 8 minutes & 45 seconds per game.

Question 46

3 Parts to a Logic Game

Answer 46

1. Scenario
   
   • Easy-to-understand activity w/ a relationship between a set of variables.
2. Rules
   
   • Outlines the relationship between variables.
3. Questions
   
   • test your understanding of
     1) relationship between variables,
     2) structure of the game,
     3) relationship of variables as conditions change their relationship.

Question 47

Make sure you ______________ the _____________ game scenario. This will help you…
1) ________________ what ___________ of game you’re dealing with.
2) How to __________ _____________ the game.
3) _____________ having to _____ - __________________.

Answer 47

read; entire; understand; kind; best; solve; avoid; re-diagram

Question 48

You need to know _____________ ideal ____________ for a game so you don’t ____________ time during the exam wondering what _______________ to take to the Logic Game portion.

Answer 48

every; setup; waste; approach

Question 49

Steps to Initial Setup of a Game: You need…

1) A __________ of _____________ and their ______________.
- E.g. 1) J, 2) K, 3) L …

2) Identification of any ______________ _________________ that aren’t affected by the rules of the game.

3) A ____________ of the ___________ sets.

4) A ____________ of each one of the rules.

5) A list of _____________.

Answer 49

1) list; variables; number

2) random variables

3) diagram; variable

4) diagram

5) inferences

Question 50

Global Questions

Answer 50

Questions derived from the initial rules of the game.

These questions often follow the template of
- “Which one of the following is true?”
- “Who can finish first?”

Question 51

Local Questions

Answer 51

Questions derived from new conditions presented in the questions (and initial rules).

These questions usually start with “If,” “when,” or “suppose.”

Question 52

4 Characteristics that Each Logic Game Question Has

Answer 52

1) What cannot be true.
2) What could be true.
3) What is not necessarily true.
4) What must be true.

Question 53

Pure Sequencing:

Answer 53

Ordering and Ranking of variables.

Question 54

Guidelines to Setting up Pure Sequencing Game:

1. Dash “⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻”

Answer 54

Represents relationship between variables.

E.g. F is faster than T: F⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻T

Question 55

Guidelines to Setting up Pure Sequencing Game:

2. Double Dash “═══════”

Answer 55

Represents relationship between variables where two variables are equal.

E.g. F is not faster than T: T ═══════ F
- Either T is faster than F.
OR
- T and F are equally fast.

Question 56

Guidelines to Setting up Pure Sequencing Game:

3. _____________ variables that are apart of _________ than one rule together.

E.g. “Jahru is not faster than Miles. Miles is slower than Noguchi.” (write out what this would look like, and underline the variable that connects the two rules).

Answer 56

Link; more

J, M, N

J is not faster than M: M ═══════ J
M is slower than N: N ⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻ M
= N ⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻ M ═══════ J

Question 57

Guidelines to Setting up Pure Sequencing Game:

4. Always ____________ the ______________ of the game (test the ____________ on either side of the dash).

E.g. “Who is the fastest [one extreme] and who is the slowest [another extreme].”

Answer 57

test; limits; extremes

Question 58

Guidelines to Setting up Pure Sequencing Game:

5. Multibranch
   ╱
   ? ━━
   ╲

Answer 58

Represents variables that have an uncertain relationship (not governed by the same rules).

Question 59

Guidelines to Setting up Pure Sequencing Game:

6. Use dashes to represent __________________ _______________.

E.g.
P is faster than T and slower than S.
N is slower than T.
J is not faster than M.
M is slower than N.

(represent the ordering of this [answer is on the other side]).

Answer 59

sequential ordering

S ━━ P ━━ T
T ━━ N
M ═══ J
N ━━ M

S ━━ P ━━ T ━━ N ━━ M ═══ J

Question 60

Guidelines to Setting up Pure Sequencing Game:

7. Watch for rules that create ________________ _____________ possibilities.

E.g. “B is faster than D, or else C is faster than D, but not both.” (write out both possibilities)

Keep in mind, on the exam, if you’re given a question like this, you have to write out _____________ possibilities separately.

Answer 60

mutually exclusive;

B ━━ D ━━ C
OR
C ━━ D ━━ B;

BOTH

Question 61

Guidelines to Setting up Pure Sequencing Game:

8. Track the appearance of ______________ _______________ on variables (made by the rules), by ____________ the variable.

E.g.
V, W, Z are all faster than T.
W cannot be the fastest (<– there’s an outer restriction), and there are no ties.

V
╲
ⓦ ━━ T
╱
Z

Answer 61

outer restrictions; circling

Question 62

Guidelines to Setting up Pure Sequencing Game:

9. Don’t make ________________ about the relationship between _______________ based on ______________ ______________ between the variables.

Explain this rule using the below Sequencing Game:

R ━━ V
╲
T
╱
W

Answer 62

assumptions; variables; physical proximity

From the sequencing game below, physically, yes, it appears as though R is ahead of W. But remember, they’re on separate branches. We can’t infer a relationship between the two variables. R could be faster than W. W could be faster than R. Or, R and W could be equally fast. These same rules apply to V and W.