@DillonTheVillain Chat knows ball 😼🏀💜

I'm still drilling and learning how to tackle these SA questions but here is a brief way of how D is a great answer (please check out the other folk's comments for more help though):

Our job for SA 🌻: guarantee the conclusion

(SA --> Conclusion)

------------

A) More people who now are residents of Centerville are employed than are unemployed.

• How much more? not sure...could be one more...doesn't guarantee me get to half of residents...wait I just realized they are talking about residents. 😱

B) Centerville has more unskilled workers among its population than it has skilled workers.

• How much more? unsure...could be one more...doesn't guarantee me to half of residents...

C) The shoe factory in Centerville employs more unskilled workers than skilled workers.

• How much more? unsure...could be one more...doesn't guarantee me to half of residents...

D) The shoe factory in Centerville employs no one who is not a resident of Centerville.

• This answer was so tricky it took me a while to realize that the jump/gap was from all workers (including those that travel to Centerville from out of town) who are residents of Centerville!

• If this was true, then yes we can help guarantee that half of the unskilled workers the conclusion mentioned are actually residents.

E) There are no factories in Centerville other than the shoe factory.

• even if this was true, it would still be true that the shoe factory has a huge amount of workers...we are trying to somehow prove that closing this factory would cause half of the unskilled resident workers to lose their jobs.

• the unskilled workers could come from other places in Centerville that aren't factories and we would still be stuck proving the shoe factory has more than half of the unskilled resident workers.

@kianaj300361 probably late to the game, but if it helps others who also see this answer...

what I like about C is that the conditional language is leading to the conclusion, unlike B where the "scientific theory is correct" is in the sufficient when we are trying to prove it in the necessary as the necessary is the conclusion (the end goal).

premises, support, justification, etc. --> conclusion

but I have a bit of a problem with the second half mostly... that it says the computers themselves will eventually discover the mathematics of the correct theory.... the conclusion which the principle is supposed to be mainly based on is the author saying that there's good evidence (good probability, good chance, likelihood, etc.) that complexity, this scientific phenomena is correct...

C kinda takes it in a different direction and focuses on the support where computers evolved to track these phenomena... C feels like a support for a premise (I'm not sure though) but we are trying to find something that justifies what the author is trying to argue ('complexity is probably correct').

A does this best because it grabs the support that C kinda touches upon, and then leads to justify "the theory is probably correct" ("good evidence that complexity is correct).

trigger: computer models that evolve like real-world phenomena -->

end goal: --> complexity/theory is probably correct

At the time of this writing there is no 7Sage explanation but I'll do my best to explain why the answer is D and not something like A which was pretty attractive to be honest. ☺️ Feel free to add or correct me.

So first they are telling us a story about industrial sewing:

give us some set of facts...

• if needle is worn, article (clothing/thing being sewn) can be ruined.

• Traditional factories: people who specifically have a job to operate sewing machines (note that it's not the people who fix the machines or cuts the fabric) also make sure to replace the needles so they don't get worn out.

• Industrial sewing operations/factories are becoming more automated (machines).

• would be inefficient to hire people to just check on the needles on these automated sewing machines.

• Author's main point/conclusion: sophisticated new device of some kind to detect the wear of the needles are expected to become standard in these automated factories.

What makes this question tricky is the use of certain words to describe things or people...let's see how this impacts the answer choices.

A) In automated apparel factories, items will be ruined by faulty needles less frequently than happens in traditional apparel factories.

• so we got a comparison between automated and traditional in terms of the rate of articles/clothing being ruined. Well...all I know from the stem is the fact that needles that don't get replaced frequently will ruin the fabric...but that's it...I get nothing close to comparing these two types of factories (people vs machines) and which one is better or ruins more clothing...we kinda only get what the author considers being efficient for checking the needles. I think for those that chose A, it is outside knowledge/assumption that is applied here that machines do less mistakes and are more precise, but remember its a "supported by the information above" type of question...where we are given ingredients and have to bake a cake with only what we got.

B) In the automated apparel factories of the future, each employee will perform only one type of task.

Too strong...

• This one is tricky but we are given a story about those people who work the sewing machines and replace these needles, but what about the other potential workers that are there? The HR employee? its hard to prove that in all these factories there's only the sewing machine folks in there doing one job...but also, what if these folks also do other tasks? like cutting the fabric or printing a cool design on it? They could be told, "well, the machines do the sewing now, time for y'all to move to do another task...

C) Traditional apparel factories do not use any automated equipment.

Also too strong

• Notice how the stimulus focused on talking about workers who use the sewing machines. We don't know anything outside this about these traditional factories. They could have other things automated, like the printing or cutting of fabric! Even those conveyor belts (those things that move your stuff forward like in some grocery store checkout) can be considered automated...and it doesn't do anything to the clothing itself!

• If it's not talked about...it's not likely to be supported/true.

D) Right answer: The needles of industrial sewing machines wear out at unpredictable rates.

Ok so I know this one feels out of scope but...

• This answer hinges a lot on how certain words are used. And a great skill to practice when looking at LSAT questions is to be suspect about what words the author uses.

• Notice how the author uses the word "sophisticated new acoustic device". Like why does this machine need to be so fancy? Also why did we need a person to "monitor the needles"? Shouldn't that part be already automated first when the people were the ones sewing?

• To watch over anything is to check for something...we are doing an action of checking because it's for a purpose, removing this as an assumption.

• There is some reason the author isn't explicitly telling us but it exists/supported. Like to monitor a child, beloved pet, plant, or even a car because they are unpredictable if something goes wrong...same as the needles.

• Because the story talks about replacing them at a rate/time, watching the needle, waiting until it goes bad...the answer makes sense for something about the timing. Some needles can wear off later or sooner, but if its sooner, that's a risk the company doesn't want to take...so they need someone to check it, or a sophisticated machine to make sure that if the needle breaks on day 1, they don't leave the needle broken for the rest of the 30 days before they need to replace it again (because that's a lot of production lost!).

E) As sewing machine needles become worn, the noise they make becomes increasingly loud.

Out of scope

• Is there anything in the stimulus that would support this? Anything about noise or sound? Unfortunately, no.

• This answer is a bit out of scope because nowhere in the story we are told anything about noise or being loud. Though I've been around these type of sewing machines and they do get loud, so maybe picking this is outside knowledge. But also we are making an assumption that there is some indicator that the people and the fancy machine needs to replace it, the problem is that we don't know what that is...

• In my opinion, the real indicator was the articles/clothing being ruined...once I see mistakes on clothing, maybe that's my indicator something is wrong with the needle...but I don't know based on the story I got in front of me.

------

Takeaways: 💙

• Stay away from making strong assumptions or justifying answer based on outside knowledge.

• Be suspect about strong language, or certain words the author uses to describe things

• Pretend the answer is some conclusion you are going to make based on the story. Would it be unsound to the judge if I got this case (question) and concluded with answer choice E vs D?

@MateoAgudelo for real!!! 😭

I guess this is a good reminder that "some" or "sometimes" means at least one...ugh 😞

so yes, people routinely let people go unpunished but now the author says basically we cannot let people go unpunished even once, or never!

D is saying basically that, where "routine non punishment" (routine = frequent...most?) with "sometimes" (at least once) not punishing...

I assign some with numbers...can be 1/once or (100) 100% of the time...I was looking for the once wordage but it came in the form of "sometimes"...

I knew the flaw but the answer choice wordage got me ): and I just picked B...🥀 It's ok ya'll we got this!

@nathanbrowny2 honestly, I think the question also got me for the same reason or for not understanding the right answer choice 😭 but if I don't know a word and it is super important like this...I gotta use context/my MSS skills and think what would be the conclusion of the sentence...so it makes sense that impunity had something related to "lack/exception of punishment"

I should have known that "Im-- or in-- means no....--punity? I got no clue but maybe punity=punish? Or puny...like as in weak? Sometimes similar sounding words like "puny" helped me with other questions

Reading books is fine but there are words the LSAT will throw that we don't know (even for the user above me)...I guess a good trick is when all efforts are exhausted, use MSS and treat the word as like a fill in the blank or what would make sense the author would conclude... 💙

@chatwegottalockin same ):

(also cool username, I love it 😼💙)

I think the thing that helped me (because I was literally stuck between A and B) was that if I had to assume that very short attention spans = bad...it was ok for me to assume that the other things like "follow strict routines" or "lower stress" (for E) = good...

@futurelawstudent

I hope that your studies go well and that you continue to make progress so that you can finally look back at all this and say it was worth the effort...I think you've given yourself the best thing and that was to study and get the higher score than when you first started. I also came from the 130s and I hope that people like us can give hope to others that we can break boundaries that the LSAT community seems to set on us. 💙 Good luck on everything. Sorry again if my long messages weren't something groundbreaking (you already practicing so much of the good advice here! :) ) since being in the high 150s...we kinda know a lot of tricks and tips already. 🥀

----

About the mask thing, the proctors did not ask me to leave it behind or anything when I was there, they just asked I remove it and check if maybe I had something I'm cheating with 😅 but I took a jacket and mask with me and they were chill about it. In case you wish to do this.

Also I don't mean to put words in your mouth but, I want to say I support that this is for you 🥹 because why keep going? You want this, and probably will be more passionate than other law school students who didn't suffer a lot throughout their LSAT journey.

I also have to comment again for tips on what I did for my anxiety...

--I wore a cotton mask with lavender oil on test day (or something calming). I did this in undergrad...helped me so much. 🪻

--eating good before the test...I couldn't have any of my favorite snacks ): but eating as healthy as I could the week leading up to test day I felt helped my energy and mood...

--remind myself why I'm doing this...for me its the community I hope to represent as a lawyer...I have my family I look up to and they to me...I know everyone is different...but we gotta hold onto something...even if it seems irrational or naive to some😭.

Just wanted to say (love your username btw) how proud I am to see you push through this...don't let people tell you because of where you started you can't reach where you want to be...you got this. 💙

Since you are in the high 150s (where I believe I'm also at...) I don't know how much these tips will be helpful for you...you probably tried everything and anything. So I apologize if I sounds like a broken record...maybe someone else reading this can find it helpful... 🥲

General tips:

--Studying with others that are supportive of you...yes even though you can study with people (online/in person, sometimes their energy can affect your motivation to continue...so a good and supportive study buddy helped me last this long...

I lead a active Discord study group and its the one thing that helps me stay motivated...

--Taking up curriculum outside 7Sage (I personally liked the Loophole LR book, and the Powerscore LR Bible).

-- taking breaks if you are having a bad day or know you will not learn what you are looking at...

This is your choice but basically if I know I am too tired, I'll cut back difficulty or take the day off because if I cannot learn why I got something wrong for next time...I might as well give myself some self-appreciation and time off...naps, study breaks...etc. I cried many times in my LSAT journey...

-- You are currently doing this but yes, talking about this test and sharing how you feel helps. This journey is lonely and can be super long for a lot of us...so finding the right crowd to just talk about it, kinda tells us that it is gonna be all right...even if our score isn't where we want it to be at the moment.

In my opinion here's what helped me break 130s-140s:

-- really knowing the question types (me mistaken most strongly support with "strengthen" (most support) because I read it too fast literally docked me points for so long.

-- knowing your task for question types... I may not know what exactly I need to do for pseudo-sufficient but for the rest of the question types, I have a better idea of to do for them (I may not know the right answer but that's a totally different issue).

--Reviewing questions I got wrong and really finding ways to remind myself what "silly mistake" I made...I used to just get it wrong, say "oh well", and move on

--recognizing the conclusion, premises, and context/extra info, etc.)

150s-160s:

--saying things out loud when studying with others (repeating what they mean if they are right or repeating what they mean when I don't understand a certain idea) or writing it down.

--Making sure I don't make the same type of mistakes and really hone down on niche logic rules when I see them...I am currently at this stage where I keep making the same mistakes and they consistently hold me back from 160s-170s...If I avoid this, I know I'll break my current plateau...

(example: some answers are right but they are contrapositives of the answer I'm looking for, the contrapositive of "some/few" is "none", etc. of things I know I'll forget on test day because of anxiety or whatever I may go through)

--paying attention to words and saying to myself...huh, something suspicious is going on here...or that's kinda sus for the author to say that...so sometimes actually reading the stimulus first helps...

---

If you feel the need to seek accommodations for the exam, there's that option LSAC created to test takers. Because of the nature of this test really impacts the outcome. Many test takers that have ADHD, OCD, vision impairments and the like, they seek these accommodations, though it shouldn't be seen as some sort of special advantage, as I believe it was intended to give people with chronic/extreme anxiety or disabilities a fair shot at this test...🙏

Is this group still active? 😅 Is there an updated/permanent link?

@bzachwest39 I have a newer IMac 🖥️🫣! But it's been an issue I've faced since I switched from their old site back in March. Other issues I face include jumping to the top of the answer choices when I scroll down on them and want to read D or E and just having to refresh often when the page breaks/freezes.

Yes this happens to me a lot! I thought it was a Safari issue only (I'm too stubborn to switch to Chrome 😭🥀).

I haven't been able to figure it out other than I think if I got too many 7Sage tabs open, the page refreshes more often since it cannot handle me being on 2+ 7Sage pages or more. I don't know if you also have more than 1 7Sage tab open, but I always think this is what makes it refresh for me as a person who keeps millions of tabs open.

I'll be so open to seeing if anyone else solved this issue because it's super annoying when taking timed PTs and it jumps me back to the beginning. 😞

Please feel free to correct me! 💙

So I guess there's a difference between B and E is that...

B only addresses one group (Aerobics classes) but it could still be possible that the people lifting weights could also do aerobics, which can skew the data and say...now wait, doing both makes us confused which one contributed to helping handle stress... we still need to assume that those doing weights did not do more aerobics on their own time.

While E addresses both groups in that it means that people doing aerobics did more aerobics than did the people doing weights, meaning that each group mostly performed their main exercise...or else if the aerobic group did more weights and the weights people did more aerobics, then we would say, "woah 🥲 how can you conclude that author?"

Omg this would come so much in handy when studying with others! The new updates are so much appreciated! Thank you 7Sage Team! 💙

@RajwantKaur hi! Our study group is on Discord, an online chatting app.

I am not sure if you managed to join yet, but we are happy to have you join us 💙

Here is another link just in case you cannot have access to the first one:

https://discord.gg/hAvANVBE

Discord can be difficult to learn or even sign up for, so feel free to let me know if you have any questions or concerns :)

Wishing everyone luck and many breakthroughs with their LSAT journey!

Leaving this here to remind myself when I finished. :D

I always loved watching this show. 💙