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mattrettig

Joined: Sep 2025
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Lessons · General Approach to Logical Reasoning Questions

mattrettig

Tuesday, Sep 30

Seems like Step 4 can be dangerous. Lots of times I get an idea of what the answer "should" look like, but then I read the answer choices and one or more of them will open up an idea or possibility that I hadn't considered, but I'm kind of "married" to the idea I had before reading the answer choices. Seems like we bias ourselves with this, possibly away from the correct answer.

Lessons · Causation

mattrettig

Tuesday, Sep 30

Am I the only one who keeps reading that word as "casual?"

Lessons · Skill Builder - Negation 3

mattrettig

Monday, Sep 29

Q5: I ended up (in english) with "Chess is sometimes not the best analogy...," which doesn't seem to comport with the written explanation but DOES seem to comport with the video explanation. (The "sometimes" allows for the possibility of a tie with other analogies.) Thoughts?

Lessons · Quantifier “Few”

mattrettig

Sunday, Sep 28

Dunno if this is relevant, but:

"Many" and "few" could represent different ranges of likelihood if there's an expectation built in. Example: "Many Senators voted against proclaiming today 'National We Love Our Mothers Day.'" We would easily expect 100% of Senators to vote for that, but let's say only 80% did. In this context, "many" = 20%. Am I too far in the weeds? Is this a trap we need to look out for in LSAT questions?

Lessons · Comparative Language is Versatile

mattrettig

Monday, Sep 22

Heads, I win. Tails, you lose. Those sentences do indeed mean the same thing!

Lessons · Modifiers in the Predicate

mattrettig

Monday, Sep 22

Also, "belle" modifies "epoque." :)

Lessons · Skill Builder - Complex Arguments

mattrettig

Saturday, Sep 20

Q5: The last sentence merely re-states the first part of the first sentence. Hard to distinguish between the two statements and figure out which supports which, since they're saying the same thing.

Lessons · Skill Builder - Arguments

mattrettig

Friday, Sep 19

Seems like a good way to establish "support" is to ask of a phrase or sentence: "How do we know that?" and if nothing else in the prompt speaks to that, then we don't have an argument. Am I off-track with that thought?

LSAT

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Edited sunday, oct 12

mattrettig

😊 Happy

SA Questions

Hello all. Just finishing the SA question module in the Core Curriculum, and it's kicking my butt. I'm wondering if it's best to basically start it again from the beginning and really try to grok it, or push on and come back later in the hopes that it will make more sense.

Or maybe it's like any new & intense thing: you start out blazing but at some point you hit your first plateau, and you either have to take a break and come back fresh, or just grind through it. Thoughts?

Which answer, if true, most strongly supports the weary student's concerns? :)

Lessons · Lesson 5 - Playing a Practical Joke (PSAa)

mattrettig

Thursday, Oct 09

Or you can apply the Jackass Negation: One should always play a practical joke on someone, especially if it shows contempt and/or could bring significant harm to that person. ;)

Lessons · You Try - Protecting the Freedom to Associate (PSAr)

mattrettig

Thursday, Oct 09

Seems like adverbs often kill an answer choice. "Deliberately" (in answer choice D) narrows the applicability of the rule and opens up other possibilities that were unaddressed in the stimulus. Once we start specifying HOW something is done, it seems like we often introduce restrictions that the stimulus doesn't contemplate. Just something I've noticed....

Lessons · You Try - Privatize National Parks (W)

mattrettig

Wednesday, Oct 08

"Weaken" does NOT mean "must be false."

Lessons · Lesson 4 - Chronic Back Pain (W)

mattrettig

Monday, Oct 06

Do words like "probably" and "some" in the conclusion make the conclusion more plausible?

Lessons · You Try - Spruce, Fir, and Sugar Maple

mattrettig

Saturday, Oct 04

E failed in my mind because of the final clause about "spruces and firs in SUCH forests." Meaning, all the trees are in the same forest, though E tries to talk about maples in a DIFFERENT forest from spruces and firs.

Lessons · You Try - Raspberry Nurseries - MSS Review

mattrettig

Friday, Oct 03

Is it fair to say that "most" in any stimulus correlates to "probably" in an answer choice? (All the answer choices here used some kind of "probably" statement.) Could it go the other way as well? A "probably" in the stimulus and a "most" in the correct answer choice?

Lessons · You Try - Political Criticism

mattrettig

Wednesday, Oct 01

This is almost too much analysis. I feel like on these Main Conclusion questions, you can just keep it simple: Identify the conclusion; identify the answer choice that best re-states the conclusion. Badabing.