266 comments

  • Sunday, Apr 12

    5/5 lessgetit

    2
  • Tuesday, Apr 7

    For #2, I understand the idea, but why is it flipped so the second part comes first: /not want to learn to ski → over 40, and then want to learn to ski → /over 40? In the other examples, the answer is pulled from the 1st part of the sentence rather than the second part.

    1
    Wednesday, Apr 8

    @isabellagirjikian

    "if" indicates the sufficient condition so "he were over 40" goes first since it directly follows "if"

    over 40 -> /want to learn to ski

    Then the last step is to do the contrapositive so all you do is flip it and switch the / (not) to the other side.

    Want to learn to ski -> /over 40.

    5
  • Thursday, Apr 2

    IE

    if you don't really know this, you won't really master LR.

    /understand --> /master LR

    master LR --> understand

    ___

    understand --> /worry about the test

    worry about the test --> /understand

    2
  • Saturday, Mar 21

    For #5. Is it okay if I thought about it as IF and THEN?

    2
    Monday, Apr 6

    @AlexisBeam I tripped up on this one as I thought it wasn't conditional but a fact trying to trick us. "all trees" after reviewing it I see my error but it defiantly got me.

    1
    Monday, Apr 6

    @AlexisBeam Yes, but be sure to double check and understand the relationships when you see words like all, some, every, each, any, many etc.

    1
  • Tuesday, Mar 10

    I made flash cards to help memorize group 1-4 conditional indicators, thought I’d share in case it would be helpful to anyone else. I’m redoing this course after getting through most of it and taking the lsat and not doing as well as I hoped. Looking back I realize how important it is to know these. https://quizlet.com/1153975729/lsat-7sage-conditional-indicators-to-share-flash-cards/?i=71yhg9&x=1jqY

    12
    Saturday, Mar 28

    @Elideebeep Thank you so much!

    2
    Wednesday, Apr 1

    @Elideebeep Thank you

    2
    Tuesday, Apr 7

    @LindaLopez of course!

    1
    Tuesday, Apr 7

    @Kamillechernandez599 no problem!

    1
  • Sunday, Mar 8

    Shouldn't the contra positive of #3 be "if people are not buying OR using less then things do not cost more"? Shouldn't the "and" be swapped to "or" when taking a contra positive?

    4
  • Sunday, Mar 8

    trees → perennial plant with elongated stem LA KNIGHT: "YEAAAAAAAAH"..

    2
  • Saturday, Feb 28

    5 out of 5, and that feels very good, seeing how things were when I first started. This used to be a foreign language to me.

    11
  • Tuesday, Feb 24

    I do not understand why I still find number 1 confusing, can someone explain it for me? please

    1
    Tuesday, Feb 24

    @andrearovelo

    Original Sentence: I would not be able to see Arun if he were in the next room.

    Modified Sentence: If he were in the next room, then I would not be able to see Arun.

    Sometimes you need to flip the order of the clauses in a conditional sentence. Think of IF → THEN like a math equation. The sentence has two parts: X and Y.

    X is the condition, so it always goes in the “if” part of the sentence.

    In this example, “if he were in the next room” is X. Since X is the “if” part, you put it first.

    5
  • Tuesday, Feb 10

    Yessss, I am doing great with these so far!

    5
  • Friday, Feb 6

    can someone explain 5 to me? I get the conditional indicator "All" but it didn't feel like, if and then, Maybe I'm overthinking?

    1
    Edited Friday, Feb 13

    @LamontNarcisse It goes like,

    If tree, then perennial plant with elongated stem.

    Think of it in a subset-superset relationship: Trees are a class (subset) of perennial plant with elongated stem (superset). There can be other types of perennial plant with elongated stem, but trees is just one example in that class.

    If tree, then perennial plant with elongated stem.

    Sufficient ->Necessary

    If it is a tree->then it must be a perennial plant with elongated stem. In order for it to be a tree, it must be a perennial plant with elongated stem.

    It being a tree is suffiecient to say that it is a perennial plant with elongated stem.

    ***Important note: If the sentence was "Trees are perennial plants with an elongated stem" it will also have the same visual translation in subset-superset relationship.

    6
  • Tuesday, Feb 3

    confused a bit on 4 and this concept in general, what is basing the assumption that it is a complete universal rule without a word like "all?"number five makes complete sense to me because of the phrasing but for example, for number 4, could it not be true that where judges are independent there will be a good legal system AND there is a not good legal system that also happens to have judges that are independent?

    1
    Kevin_Lin Instructor
    Edited Wednesday, Feb 4

    @LiviaLSAT But if there's a situation in which the judges are independent but the legal system is not good, how does it make sense to say "where the judges are independent there will be a good legal system"? It seems we'd have a counterexample to that statement in the situation you describe.

    There's an implicit "all" here, because when we say "Where condition X is true, Y is true," we're not moderating the claim with "usually" or "most of the time." It just seems to be a blanket statement about situation where condition X is true.

    1
  • Monday, Jan 26

    4/5! Got the 1st one wrong because by changing the order I was changing the meaning, once I realized my mistake it was smooth sailing from there!

    6
  • Monday, Jan 26

    Hello! Can someone better explain the use of parentheses when taking the contrapositive in Group One translations? Thank you!

    2
    Kevin_Lin Instructor
    Thursday, Jan 29

    @kaymkol The parentheses is just to keep an entire idea together -- the negation applies to that whole idea. For example, in #5, /(perennial plant with elongated stem) means "NOT a perennial plant with elongated stem." Without the parentheses, someone might read that as "NOT a perennial plant, but WITH an elongated stem".

    The parens is really just notation for the computer. If I were drawing this on scratch paper, I'd just put a line through the whole phrase rather than a backslash followed by parens.

    2
    Wednesday, Feb 4

    @Kevin_Lin Thank you so much for this explanation!

    2
  • Edited Sunday, Jan 25

    Why would it be want to learn to ski -> /over 40? Shouldn't there be a "/" in front of the want to learn to ski?

    Edit: Is it because of the negative in the original statement: "Amar would NOT want to learn to ski..."?

    0
    Kevin_Lin Instructor
    Thursday, Jan 29

    @EliseBoessler Yes. Start with "If", which introduces the sufficient condition:

    over 40 --> NOT want to learn

    Then, the contrapositive (switch both sides and negate each side. If it starts out negative, then whne you negate it, it turns positive):

    Want to learn --> NOT over 40

    3
  • Saturday, Jan 24

    I am getting the format right and understanding it decently, however, in all my answers, I didn't put the brackets. Can someone remind me what the point of that is?

    2
    Wednesday, Jan 28

    @DeborahAdel I think it's just there way of making it clear that they are negating the statement /(...). So it will look clearer

    1
  • Saturday, Jan 24

    okay like how necessary is it for me to rlly know this lol

    -3
    Saturday, Jan 24

    @summeraaallen From my own understanding and research, quite necessary haha. I think once you have a good understanding of this, it'll unlock your ability to answer LR questions faster. But, speaking for myself, too, it'll take time and practice.

    2
    Saturday, Jan 24

    @TeddyShane appreciate you. been hard to pay attention because it feels so common sense yk

    1
    Thursday, Apr 2

    @summeraaallen if you don't really know this, you won't really master LR.

    /understand --> /master LR

    master LR --> understand

    ___

    understand --> /worry about the test

    worry about the test --> /understand

    1
  • Wednesday, Jan 21

    I understood it but where to place each idea messed me up.

    4
  • Thursday, Jan 15

    Doe matter which side I put each idea being related? Because it looks like I mix them up quite often compared to the answers.

    3
    Monday, Jan 19

    @GabGauthier yes it matter. on the right side of the arrow will be the sufficient condition and the left side of the arrow is the necessary condition.

    0
    Wednesday, Jan 21

    @KeziaH19 are you sure its not the opposite

    2
  • Wednesday, Jan 14

    The lesson on negation versus opposition was really helpful here.

    3
  • Wednesday, Jan 14

    4/5. Got mixed up on Q3

    2
  • Wednesday, Jan 14

    5/5!

    2
  • Sunday, Jan 11

    5/5, we got this!! It's all just formula!

    4
  • Friday, Jan 9

    Premises don't have to be true to have a valid arguement. It was good to be able to recall that on 4!

    7
    Friday, Jan 9

    It was also good to refer back to refentials, constant reminders and call backs.

    1
  • Tuesday, Jan 6

    I needed this burned into my brain: if x, then y.

    If X -> Then Y

    X -> Y

    If he were over 40 (X), then Amar would not want to learn to ski /(Y).

    The contrapositive is if not Y, then not X.

    /Y -> /X

    If amar would NOT not want to learn to ski (if he would want to learn to ski), then he is NOT over 40.

    Caution: This is not the same as "only if."

    6
    Thursday, Jan 22

    @william.l.dillon Would it not be to change x-> /y to. y->/x

    1

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