@JeromedoesLSATPREP yikesss, if they are, hopefully its for our benefit lol

Stupid internal assumptions!

Causal relationship questions require more work for me than all others. I hate them. Other types, I can read it, and work it all out in my head. Anyone feel the same way?

@SWJ Just keep pushing through the lessons. Most days you will be thinking, why are they teach me this, why does it have to be this way, it makes no sense. It all starts coming together and starts making sense later on. I read comments in almost every lesson and that has been helping me. Asking questions and having them answered has also helped.

The best advice to give you to grasp the material is... DO NOT bring in your own assumptions or perceptions into the lessons or any questions.

Example:

If you are an astronaut then you are a cat

A -> C

Therefore, if you are not a cat, then you are not an astronaut

A -> C

/C -> /A

Not sure where you are on your lessons, and if my example makes no sense, that's ok— the important thing is that cats are astronauts! To us in our reality they are not astronauts but LSAT writers don't care about that, they care that you understand the structure of the stimulus (passages). You may see things more in depth of my example where they will include a human in the mix and you are thinking, wait, humans are astronauts not cats. The answer choices will try to hone in on your own assumptions of the real world and force you to answer the question wrong, because you didn't exclude your own perceptions and assumptions.

I went a little longer than I would have liked. Just trust the process, 7Sage knows what they are doing. I was a non-believer, but trust me, it all comes together.

@lilakdunn My take is that the stimulus and your theory of the residential AC units.

Looking at the other answer choices, it is the best one because all the others just fail at filling in the gap.

Answer choice A is pretty close except the stimulus tells us that the reason is in fact Air Conditioning. That's why I eliminated that one.

Answer choice B works because the stimulus is telling a story of a region with blackouts who figure that if the residents cut back, blackouts will stop... except this Energy Analysis says NO it will not work. 

Now you ask the energy analysis why, and he tells you answer choice B- "well because most air-conditioning in the region is used to cool businesses and factories."

That's how my mind tackled this one. Hope I helped.

This: This is significant because as many people consume caffeine as consume any one of the other addictive psychoactive substances.

This sentence really pissed me off. Had to read it 3 times.

These MSS Conditional types are the bane of my existence!!!

Took me forever to answer the question. I read the stimulus, tried to answer and was like nope, I need to diagram this all out and chain it together, so then had to reread the stimulus. then change them up on a piece of paper. No way I have enough time for this question on the LSAT. My brain just cannot do that all in my head. For those who can, you are not human!

This question type will be the hardest thing for me on the LSAT.

@Kevin Lin Thank you for considering my comment.

I had seen question 4 as a Most before all type.

Most potions in the witch's hut are poisonous.

Every (all) potion has some beneficial effects.

"Most potions", from where? From the witch's hut.

I slid that up to a domain; we are talking about potions in the witch's hut.

Most (A)potions are (B)poisonous.

A -m->B

Every (A)potion has (C)some beneficial effects.

A -> C

I have read more and more, and see the logic here where it would be:

A -m-> B

A -> C (swapped out A -m-> C)

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

B <-s-> C

I think the explanation he gave threw me off where he says we are talking about all the potions in existence including the ones in the witch's hut. But to me, we are specifically talking about the potions in the witches hut, not all the potions in the world.

For me, it makes more sense to say "Some poisonous things in the witch's hut have some benefit"

Additionally, I used my own assumption that anything poisonous is not beneficial. In reality, there are medicines in the world that are beneficial for some, and harmful for others.

I guess it took more thought than I wanted to see the answer.

@7Sage Tutor I initially eliminated (E) because I read “characteristic of tyrants” as describing a psychological trait, not a political condition. To me, staying in power as a tyrant requires a particular mindset, so I naturally took that phrase to mean a mental state. The way the stimulus was worded pushed me toward that reading, which led me to rule out (E). I now understand why (E) is considered correct according to the explanation, but I still think the LSAT could have written an entirely different answer choice that captured the intended contrast more clearly. I picked B on a guess because I could not see a correct answer.

Priscilla's first long sentence messed me all up!

Is it safe to say that if both speakers have conclusions, a good strategy is to disregard the premises and hunt for the AC based off the conclusions? After getting through what Priscilla was saying at first, I finished the stimulus, went hunting and referenced only the conclusions of both speakers and got the AC correct.

Can anyone confirm that it is a good strategy.

I easily understood the stimulus; I had an excruciating time trying to understand the ACs. I was stuck on D, going back and forth with A, thinking no, def not A, then comparing to the others. Finally selected D not understanding it correctly until I went to blind review and spent 10 minutes on AC D. I got it right, but it took me forever to be comfort with my AC

@JesseSides yuppp

I took my time on this one, I knew the answer but thought, B is too obvious, no way, let me peel this onion slowly the way J.Y. would and came to the same answer.

#WWJYD

D was the only one that made sense to me! jk jk jk... I selected correctly. 😅

@RyanAlexander You are absolutely correct. I have been thinking about this for days and with some other lessons out of the way it all came together. The sentence is a trap, as long as I stick to the rules of the LSAT world, I will get the correct answer. It took so long for me to see it. Thank Ryan

@FaeWarlock I was too and I think I have it down now. What is working for me is that when I see context, I look for the transition right after the context/other's opinion (won't apply to all). Usually there's a referential (word or words referring to context) followed by the author's (person talking to you) take on the referential. That "take" and the referential will be the conclusion. Focus on that and screw the rest of the stimulus. Look for your correct AC.

Example:

Question 5-

Editorial: [(1)Many critics of consumerism insist that advertising persuades people that they need certain consumer goods when they merely desire them.] [(2)However, (2.a)this accusation (2.b)rests on a fuzzy distinction, that between wants and needs.] In life, it is often impossible to determine whether something is merely desirable or whether it is essential to one's happiness.

1= context/others' opinions

2= transition/conclusion

2.a= referential

2.b= rest of the conclusion

This is how I see things and I am now starting to get the right ACs and at a much faster speed.

Here is another example and its exactly the same:

Question 2-

[(1)Chemical fertilizers not only create potential health hazards, they also destroy earthworms, which are highly beneficial to soil.] [(2)For (2.a)this reason alone (2.b)the use of chemical fertilizers should be avoided.] The castings earthworms leave behind are much richer than the soil they ingest, thus making a garden rich in earthworms much more fertile than a garden without them.

Same deal. Once you have this down it's a lot faster to find the conclusions and easier to find them when they are more hidden. You just have to find the AC that translates the same to what you found in the stimulus to be the conclusion.

I hope this helps you and anyone else reading my comment. Good luck to you ALL!!!! 

You all talking about the grammatical challenge of using "their" instead of "her", and how it's women's turn now, just stop it! Why care about it. His or her???... the author can be a he or a she. Perhaps the person writing this is a female and that's her default method of writing, as mine is to use "his" in this context.

@RyanAlexander I get what you are saying, but the inference here is very strong even in LSAT's own world of make believe.

@jordkerns I've been checking back to see if anyone else has come up with an answer. In the video, he explains that he is worrying about all the potions in the world. The premises gives us a domain of the witches hut; we are talking only about the potions in the witch's hut. I don't know why he is saying that we are talking about all the potions in the world. He makes no sense in his explanation.

#3 seriously? I don't care who you are, you more than likely will get that wrong. The answer makes no sense.

I don't believe the analytics!

Got this one right, but holy moly I had to read answer D multiple times because I wasn't sure what it was saying. Then I did, and knew it was it. I really hate how the LSAT words things. Speak English, damn it!

I wish some of these video lessons would apply the information to LSAT questions. These are still very good lessons!!