@MarieChavis same... they're so weird. As useless as it sounds, the only thing that i do to make them make a bit more sense is to literally just to identify the conclusion and then reread the premises (if i didn't understand it) and then either predict or look for an answer that would make the conclusion valid. i literally ask myself "would this answer make the conclusion valid?" after i read each answer choice. For example, with this question i identified the conclusion and then read the answer choices and asked myself that question. B is right because of the premises. The stim literally says that true meaning can ONLY be understood through insight into the author's social circumstances and the conclusion say thats she doesn't understand the true meaning of her words. Therefore B HAS to be correct. If Smith lacks insight into her own social circumstances (which we are told by the premised that that is the ONLY way to understand true meaning), then B is correct.
@JiyoonLim Yes, I was in the same boat a couple months ago. Keep plugging along and come back to this section a week after review the explanation. It will click.
I still struggle with these types of questions, even when I map it out I can never seem to get it even after watching the video of him explaining it. I feel so defeated after this
@LayalBazzi4 When this happens, it's important to try to boil the argument down to its basic form. Can you tell me your understanding of the argument?
What is the author's conclusion?
What is the core premise of the argument? (There's a lot of stuff besides the conclusion, and we can get more complicated if we want to. But what is the most important claim the author is relying on to prove the conclusion?)j
Forget about diagramming right now. Just see if you can answer those questions.
I feel like im trying to read too deep into the answer choices and dont pick up on whats so straight foward and easy. Like my brain knows the LSAT is evil and doesnt want to believe the answer could be so easy so I try and make a complicated answer work and choose wrong.
@AlexT22 same here. chose the correct answer first but fell victim to overthinking and switched it. only then to go with my original gut feeling and got it correct on BR. frustrating.
Is anyone else confused around the 5 minute mark about JY's notes? Specifically when he mentions taking the contrapositive of social circumstances? I did that myself on my scratch paper while working the problem out, however I wish JY could've thoroughly explained or physically drawn the way that the contrapositive builds the bridge we are looking for. Specifically confused about the /UTMsmith part of the conclusion.
I got this one right initially, however in blind review I changed my answer to D.
I thought D was more right because it directly applied the missing assumption to her theory.
Would D have been correct if it had said Smith's theory about the relation of social circumstances to the understanding of meaning lacks insight (into her own social circumstances).
Was that extra blurb at the end all that was missing?
@DominicCruse The reason it is B is fairly obvious when we think about it. The condition is if we have true meaning then we understand their social circumstances. So the author is stating that Smith does not understand their own true meaning. The condition was already laid out. Without social circumstances we can't have true meaning thus Smith does not have an understanding of her own social circumstances. I treated everything in between as fluff
Noooo omg B seemed too obvious to be right </3 I didn't choose B because I thought it was already implied. I'm not denying that it's correct, just trying to figure out my thought process for future questions that are similar. If we know she's not aware of the true meaning, wouldn't that automatically imply AC (B) since it's just the contrapositive? If someone understands please explain.
@generallypreparedforthings I think it only got 3 stars bc (like myself) many people probably picked the answer that reiterated the conclusion. Pretty much a shot in the dark that worked out lol
This one did not make me barf, is that a good thing? I cannot tell anymore, this section might ask, "If you cannot barf then why would it not be a good thing?"
I've gotten nearly all of these right and I honestly have no idea why. I can't actually explain what I'm thinking it just feels like the answer choice I pick makes the most sense to me given the context.
Does anyone have an approach they're using that they can explain/frame for me? I want to understand!
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122 comments
i almost chose the trap answer but picked the right answer at the last second before submitting it. #word
Studying for the LSAT has allowed me to be extremely obnoxious when arguing with others and I thank you for that.
I am absolutely not getting this question type
@MarieChavis same... they're so weird. As useless as it sounds, the only thing that i do to make them make a bit more sense is to literally just to identify the conclusion and then reread the premises (if i didn't understand it) and then either predict or look for an answer that would make the conclusion valid. i literally ask myself "would this answer make the conclusion valid?" after i read each answer choice. For example, with this question i identified the conclusion and then read the answer choices and asked myself that question. B is right because of the premises. The stim literally says that true meaning can ONLY be understood through insight into the author's social circumstances and the conclusion say thats she doesn't understand the true meaning of her words. Therefore B HAS to be correct. If Smith lacks insight into her own social circumstances (which we are told by the premised that that is the ONLY way to understand true meaning), then B is correct.
I hope that made sense :)
Is it normal to get every SA question wrong on the first try... I hope it will click soon as I review wrong answers thoroughly...
update: it does get better, in baby steps though!
@JiyoonLim Yes, I was in the same boat a couple months ago. Keep plugging along and come back to this section a week after review the explanation. It will click.
Finding the conclusion and trusting your decision on these PSA questions seem to be hitting me kind of hard. It really eats into your time
wrote it out like how he does in the videos and man that is effective
I still struggle with these types of questions, even when I map it out I can never seem to get it even after watching the video of him explaining it. I feel so defeated after this
@LayalBazzi4 When this happens, it's important to try to boil the argument down to its basic form. Can you tell me your understanding of the argument?
What is the author's conclusion?
What is the core premise of the argument? (There's a lot of stuff besides the conclusion, and we can get more complicated if we want to. But what is the most important claim the author is relying on to prove the conclusion?)j
Forget about diagramming right now. Just see if you can answer those questions.
Finally! I got one!
If I'm getting it down to a 50/50 most of the time, should I be stoked or terrified?
If you are struggling on this question, please note the conclusion. How it draws back to reality and points to Smith.
bro these PSA are going to be the death of me. I felt so good about studying then hit this question type and im getting everything wrong
@NylaWhite I am in the same boat I think I got 1 question wrong on all the previous ones but now I haven't got an single one of these right
@RyanPrioreschi rip you’ve got this. I just finished the LR core ciriculum and it will get better again
I feel like im trying to read too deep into the answer choices and dont pick up on whats so straight foward and easy. Like my brain knows the LSAT is evil and doesnt want to believe the answer could be so easy so I try and make a complicated answer work and choose wrong.
@AlexT22 same here. chose the correct answer first but fell victim to overthinking and switched it. only then to go with my original gut feeling and got it correct on BR. frustrating.
So hype I got this right
This seems more like a level 4 or 5 difficulty because of its structure.
@nelsonmartins Agreed! I had to reread the passage 4-5 times lol before finally picking the right answer
Is anyone else confused around the 5 minute mark about JY's notes? Specifically when he mentions taking the contrapositive of social circumstances? I did that myself on my scratch paper while working the problem out, however I wish JY could've thoroughly explained or physically drawn the way that the contrapositive builds the bridge we are looking for. Specifically confused about the /UTMsmith part of the conclusion.
@JessicaVerdugoLopez How I did mine was:
Premise:
true meaning of statement -> insight in social circumstances.
Contrapositive:
/insight in social circumstances -> /true meaning of statement.
Conclusion: (Smith)
/true meaning of statement
Conditional is missing sufficient:
? -> /true meaning of statement
From the contrapositive above "/insight in social statement" which is what option B states.
I got this one right initially, however in blind review I changed my answer to D.
I thought D was more right because it directly applied the missing assumption to her theory.
Would D have been correct if it had said Smith's theory about the relation of social circumstances to the understanding of meaning lacks insight (into her own social circumstances).
Was that extra blurb at the end all that was missing?
@DominicCruse The reason it is B is fairly obvious when we think about it. The condition is if we have true meaning then we understand their social circumstances. So the author is stating that Smith does not understand their own true meaning. The condition was already laid out. Without social circumstances we can't have true meaning thus Smith does not have an understanding of her own social circumstances. I treated everything in between as fluff
I got this right but was unable to determine why the other answer choices are wrong
Noooo omg B seemed too obvious to be right </3 I didn't choose B because I thought it was already implied. I'm not denying that it's correct, just trying to figure out my thought process for future questions that are similar. If we know she's not aware of the true meaning, wouldn't that automatically imply AC (B) since it's just the contrapositive? If someone understands please explain.
@HayleeHarris Same. I felt like the correct assumption was the conclusion of the argument? This didn't make sense to me.
If only all the SA questions could be related to PSAa questions.
Even though it took me five plus minutes to parse through the stimulus, I was able to confidently find the correct answer.
I diagrammed this out and found the correct answer without POE but it took way too long.
Got one right (finally), but saying this is 3-star difficulty is bonkers.
@generallypreparedforthings I think it only got 3 stars bc (like myself) many people probably picked the answer that reiterated the conclusion. Pretty much a shot in the dark that worked out lol
This one did not make me barf, is that a good thing? I cannot tell anymore, this section might ask, "If you cannot barf then why would it not be a good thing?"
I've gotten nearly all of these right and I honestly have no idea why. I can't actually explain what I'm thinking it just feels like the answer choice I pick makes the most sense to me given the context.
Does anyone have an approach they're using that they can explain/frame for me? I want to understand!
That's it - I'm moving on to the next question type. I'll return to this section when I've been properly sedated.
in my opinion this 3 star is harder than the last 5 star question