It's taken me a lot longer than expected to get to this point but that's ok! (for me and you if you're feeling the same way :] ). Getting to know common traps is exciting, I want to have the upper hand over confusing & enticing wrong answer choices.

OH AND BY THE WAY, make sure to enjoy the summer!! Taking breaks is vital to prevent feeling burnt out.

@SwagOD I love the confidence! Thanks for the chuckle.

The question (PT143.S3.Q25) about "populations of certain species of amphibians" is a really good test of what you know (lvl 5 question). I got it right but for the wrong reasons (I shot down wrong answers for incorrect reasons, I could of just as likely selected the wrong reason).

It showed me what I was doing right, what inference and logical mistakes I made, and how nasty the LSAT can craft grammar structure to hide answers.

I highly suggest you give it a shot, I don't want to spoil the rest! Best of luck guys.

@ckilk Nice diagram to highlight how this argument works! Best of luck with your studies

@mhenwohl Well said. One word can make or break an answer choice. Be very sensitive to quantifier, indicator, and pivot words.

Oh yeah, this is when the fun begins. Only thing you can do is to keep pressing forward. Sometimes you have to mess up applying these concepts in order for them to click. Don't get stuck here, keep going and keep failing: that's how you learn!! Don't give up :D

If you've made it this far, then congrats and keep going!!! Some of these questions are rough (especially if you didn't learn specific concepts yet like me!) but don't be discouraged. It's a lot of new concepts, a lot of weird grammar, and a lot of patterns to learn through practice. The best thing you can do is to keep at, keep learning. Remember, you're trying to learn complex logic rules in a couple months versus a couple YEARS, It's going to be rough and take longer than you'd like. Don't give up, I believe in us!!

@yam That's a great sign! Keep at it wherever you are at now :D

I see a lot of comments complaining about the complexity and the fact that there is no video. Don't give up! What helped me was identifying the conditional premise (the first sentence sets up the rules of the game, that's how I think through it), then seeing the author state we don't have the necessary condition (plaintiff makes a showing that X characteristic of Y class is an immutable trait), and thus it is not possible for us to have the sufficient condition as well (membership in suspect class).

I hope this helps, I may have messed up with the language of the premises so take that with a grain of salt. Keep at it guys and don't give up!!

If you can, study partners or even someone to talk to along this journey helps a ton.

@IsabelGiacoman1 Thanks for the chuckle haha

@7sagecb225 I think this is well said. Don't lose sight of the end goal: being able to quickly and accurately understand complex sentences. The exact grammar answer can be debated but you still understood what the author (of that sentence) was trying to convey to you. That's perfect

@prestonbigley759 Thanks!

@mattrettig Well said

This is a perfect example of why it's important to follow the relationships of a passage. The LSAT will throw weird or confusing topics at you (Dense science passage, philosophical jargon, or topics way out of familiarity with) that might make you feel lost in the details. Paying attention to the claims helps you not get lost and focus on what matters (what's the conclusion being argued? Why is it that likely to be true?).

Keep in mind the LSAT tests you based on the passage, your knowledge of the topic isn't graded, what matters is what can be supported based on the information provided; you can't assume anything. Therefore, it's actually nice to have a question based on a random topic. Your less likely to assume information about a topic you're clueless about.

@guppygrr That's the level I'm hoping to reach! So far my experience has been smashing my head against a wall and not being sure how to get over it. So far so good with this course though!

Best of luck with your studying!

It's crazy (frustrating a little) how easy the Spanish 101 question is after reading the prior cookie cutter questions. The correct choice is practically calling out to me. Is it weird to say this mental puzzle is kinda fun to work out?

It's interesting how conservative the LSAT is with making assumptions; you can't make any. I made an assumption about B student attendance based on information on C student attendance (Answer B). I also got tripped on the word "Most", I assumed its definition was the general meaning (sizable majority, ~80%), not the literal definition (more than 50). Really good intro question, it highlighted several common errors for me in one problem. I'll be more careful next time!

Discussion? this is cool. Best of luck with your LSAT journey!! Getting stuck doesn't mean your dumb, it means you need to change your approach. It's a learning step, not a failure; a chance to succeed, not a reason to give up.