After listening to the skipping webinar, I have started to implement skipping when I PT mostly in the LR sections. Now that I have started skipping, I am averaging about 5-7 minutes left over at the end of an LR section, so I go back and do the questions that I skipped. Right now I am able to select an answer choice for every question that I skipped by the time the 35 minutes is up. Is that the proper way to skip? Should I aim to have an answer for every question that I skip or should it be that there are two or three questions blank with no answer selected at the of end of an LR section?

I'm getting ready to take PTs. Is it better to work from older to newer, vice versa, or jump around?

7Sage, you rock! I couldn't have made it into my dream school without you. Keep up all the amazing work you're doing here.

BR Group!!!! PT 50!

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Hey guys, I have found motivating myself to study for the lsat to be very hard. I'm just wondering if I should be taking this as a sign that I should not go to law school since I seem to be overwhelmed with the amount of studying for this one test. Any advice?

In the existential quantifiers lessons, JY explains how to negate statements with the universal quantifier "all." The conclusion was that "some are not" was the negation and that the new set contained 0-99 items, whereas the original "all" represented 100 items.

In the comments section there was some confusion about why the "some are not" statement included 0 items in the new set and some contributors suggested the statement encompassed only 1-100 items.

After diagramming the all statement and its negation, I think I see where some (myself included) may have become confused. The important distinction is that the new set of 0 to 99 items is comprised of items with the same property mentioned in the all statement. My reasoning is below and I welcome any input on its accuracy. Thanks!

Example: All cats (C) are pretentious (P)

For simplicity, let us assume that there are only four cats in the world. The total number of cats which are pretentious and not pretentious must add up to 4.

P | /P

4 | 0 <-- every cat is P; the all statement we negate

---- <-- the binary cut

3 | 1 <-- min. condition to contradict our all statement

2 | 2

1 | 3

0 | 4 <-- often thought of as negation of all; "No cats are P"

In the above table we see that in the 5 possible groupings based on our 4 cats, one represents the all statement and the other 4 cases together represent the negation of that all statement. The set which represents 0 through 3 inclusive (comparable to 0 - 99) is the set of pretentious cats. I believe this is where many became confused and thought the set of 0-99 was made up of unpretentious (that is /P) cats. However, above we see that our unpretentious set always contains at least 1 cat and therefore follows our definition of some (it is comprised of one, possibly all cats, but not 0).

As I was reviewing my old notes, I've noticed that I wrote the definition of "few are" as some are/SOME ARE NOT but "few not" as most are/some are not.

Shouldn't "few are" mean some are / MOST ARE NOT?

I can't believe I'm still confused about this concept..wow. English.

http://www.wsj.com/article_email/lsats-grip-on-law-school-admissions-loosens-1455964203-lMyQjAxMTA2NTI2MjYyMjI5Wj

Interesting article. Part of me does wish the LSAT was more similar to the GRE like offering the LSAT on a rolling basis and making it computer based so results can get back faster. To do that though, I think you'd have to get rid of the games section. As much as the games are "fun" and relatively "easy" points once you fool proof them, it is a useless section that should be replaced with a math section like on the GRE, but that's a totally separate discussion.

Also, many law schools are trying to find ways to combat the declining application problem. Getting rid of the LSAT barrier and accepting the GRE (which far more people take) might cause someone on the margin to decide to apply to law school (and boost revenue numbers via application fees and stuff). It's not that uncommon for people to wake up one day, decide to take the LSAT, and apply to law school (as weird as that sounds); making it easier for people to apply in general by accepting a broader test is just going to encourage those people more I think.

Lastly, LOL at this part: "The entirety of the LSAT was meant to mimic the law school experience..."

Why can we infer that the Antibiotics group cannot have all 3 treatments in from Rule #1?

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-24-section-4-game-4

I'am depressed and anxious... Does anybody know anyone who was accepted to T-14 as an older (again, 53+ years old) applicant? If one had all the right numbers (LSAT and GPA at or above 50% of those accepted), do you think age would preclude them from being accepted? Does anyone know?!!

Do all method of reasoning questions contain flawed arguments? Or are there some valid arguments out there? I'm getting confused whether I'm suppose to look for the flaw or just how the argument functions as a whole or even BOTH. I'm not sure what kind of mindset to have for attacking method of reasoning questions.

Talk to your heart’s content at Group BR

Thursday, Feb 25th at 8PM ET: PT 70

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NOTE: I front-loaded the PT 70 - 75 because I believe that people need to get eyes on 70s sooner rather than later. We’ll still have PT 76 and 77 available to PT in May. Trust me when I say it is worth it to do these tests twice. And if you don’t feel comfortable hitting the 70s yet, don’t worry. We’re going to repeat this cycle of PT 70-75 at the end of February just in case.

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Looking for a LSAT tutor?

As you know, we have a number of folks in our community who are active LSAT tutors. All of them tutor virtually and several of them tutor in person as well. These are folks we know who we believe to be excellent tutors. While they don't work for 7sage, they're active members of our community and we want to identify them for you.

A man who probably needs no introduction, Corey Janson has been a Mentor, Sage, and all-around active leader in our community since the summer of 2015. @c.janson35 has led a bunch of webinars for us (you can see videos of his work at 7sage.com/webinar ) and has been tutoring for a while now. Also known as "The Logic Catcher," Corey scored a 176 on the October 2015 LSAT and teaches all three sections of the test. He's an exceptionally nice guy and has a deep knowledge of the LSAT.

Corey offers free consults and has a limited number of subsidized hours available through 7sage for those for whom cost is a concern.

PM @c.janson35 if you'd like to inquire about rates and/or to set up a free 30 minute consult!

For the purpose of ruminating on my mistakes after reviewing few recent (post 65) PTs before February LSAT this Sunday,

I would like to share my thoughts on some noticeable tendencies in newer reading comprehension questions.

(For the record, I was usually scoring -3~-5 on reading comprehension sections during 40s~lower 60s PT,

and dear God I am scoring -7~-11 in newer PTs.)

1. There is more wiggle room for choices of words in answer choices.

Particularly among those newer suggestion/inference questions,

i found that answer choices that might have been easily regarded as wrong or overstretching inferences

getting to become an answer choice after the process of elimination.

In addition, some answer choices in non-inference questions are sometimes themselves written in a twisted way,

forcing me to take another step to see them as valid answer choices.

2. For reference questions that ask the purpose or meaning of certain parts in a paragraph,

answer choices are starting to make INTRA-passage inferences.

Previously on eariler LSATs, i guess it was safe or generally correct to focus your choices of answer on a specific paragraph for reference questions. However on recent questions there have been few instances where the answer choices were inferences made outside a specific paragraph but made within specific passage, connecting ideas from other paragraphs in a passage.

As a non-native English speaker i have felt that these changes in a more pronounced way, but I have to admit that I may have been wrong since I do not have a firm grasp on every nuance of the language. And some recent passages like Dodo extinction and mirror reflection have been brutal on me regardless of shifts in questions.

Any feedback is welcomed!

Hi there! I wanted to ask for tips from anyone who has studied for the LSAT with a baby around (or with a full time job that drains like a 4-month old). I took the LSAT in February and expect a score in the high160s (my last prep tests ranged from 167 to 172). My goal is 170+ on the actual exam. My husband is firmly behind me and my LSAT efforts (he used to be an LSAT tutor!) and helps whenever he can, but he has a full-time job, and the baby is my responsibility during the day (no relatives around). The problem is that once he comes back from work, I'm way too exhausted to do LSAT, and I feel like weekends are not enough at this point when I'm trying to break into the 170's. When I studied for the February LSAT, I went to coffee shops with the stroller, studied while the baby was napping during the day, and my husband took some time off to help with the baby towards the end. I now realize that while this was a productive time for me, I wasn't 100% focused and therefore made little progress after a certain point. What I really need is a 3-4 hours of quiet LSAT time every day, and the only way for me to get that is to take advantage of the evenings. How do you do quality LSAT work in the evenings/nights after a long day? Is it even possible? Any tips? I used to pull all-nighters in college all the time, but here I am at 24 and falling apart by 9pm.

@"Dillon A. Wright"

Hey, I found a video that I couldn't get to play.

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-34-section-1-passage-1-questions

What should you wear when you visit a law school?

"The editorial board of this law journal has written on many legal issues. Tom is on the editorial board, so he has written on many legal issues."

It sounds like a valid reasoning... Why is it flawed?

Thanks in advance!

http://tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

I am wondering if anybody can give me their thoughts on the best or most-used admission coaches for applicants who want to do the JD/MBA dual program? I am wondering if each degree program would be a little leery of you because it may come off as not sufficiently committed, etc? I found some US News articles by Shawn O'Connor from Stratus Prep from 2012 but it looks like he does not work there anymore. Appreciate any help.

Has anyone been put on hold by a law school after they finish their initial review? If so can you please share what your experience has been like & if you did anything to improve the chances of changing the hold to an accept? Thank you in advance.

Is anyone applying to a law school that allows you to add an optional essay in regards to certain fellowships they may offer? (Aka financial aid)

If so... Do you have any advice as to what to include in the essay? I'm not generally interested in the fellowship, but I am interested in the financial help.... At a crossroads!

Example of "fellowships" - working at the law library, special education advocacy clinic, public service admissions ambassadors etc.

Thanks for the help friends!

Hey guys after watching Nicole Hopkins' webinar on RC Methods and Jimmy Quicksilver's webinar on RC Question Types and Tips I thought it would be helpful to start sharing our notes/annotations for each passage because each of us reads a different way and we all see different things. I want to be clear that I’m no expert by any means and this is just the way I personally annotate that is a combination of Nicole Hopkins’s “Toolbox” method and JY’s Memory Method. Also note that I’m doing RC a slightly similar way to Pacifico’s Fool Proof method in that I’m doing the passage 2x one after the other and then once again the following day. While time consuming this definitely is allowing me to read more efficiently for structure and see the similarities in each passage which I know will help me in the long run. This is part two which includes my breakdown of all of the questions in a similar manner to which I did when I was tutored by Nicole Hopkins and how we broke everything down.

I hope it helps and I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with.

Questions:

1) What is the Main Point of the passage

MP Question: “Main Point of the passage”

What we’re looking for:

• We’re looking for something to basically re-phrase the entire first paragraph, something that says “authoritarian rulers are forced to undertake democratic reform, if they want to stay in power, due to various changes and mobilizations in society.

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: Being this far in the curriculum when you see the word “only” you should remember from your logical indicators that it immediately makes whatever follows the necessary condition. So we can rephrase this answer choice to be read as “If authoritarian rulers undertake democratic reform then the national’s economic and social power bases will slow economic growth and disrupt social order until such reforms are instituted.” For this answer choice to be right there would have to be evidence in the passage of undertaking democratic reform to be a sufficient condition and the only thing that we could infer if authoritarian rulers undertook democratic reform would be that they would be able to hold onto some of their power. This answer choice plays the trap of reversing the sufficient and necessary conditions, if it were reversed then one could argue that if economic and social based slow economic growth and disrupt social order then we will undertake democratic reform.

Why You would accidentally choose this:

• This answer choice holds a lot of the same words that are used in the passage and if you didn’t see the logical indicator or interpreted it the wrong way then this answer choice could seem attractive. However don’t fall for this, know your logical indicators and read the answer choice carefully and you won’t fall into trouble.

B) Wrong: When reading this answer choice it sounds really good to start, because the author does state that these Authoritarian regimes do ensure their own destruction. However, it isn’t for the reason that is listed here, they don’t talk about opposition groups to build support among the wealthy to lead the support away. The reason is in lines (51-57), the more success and stability the authoritarian regime has, the more time it gives for citizens to reflect on the circumstances in which they live which brings about these changes.

Why You would accidentally choose this:

• You could fall for the trap if you assumed that the opposition group referred back to the “privileged people” talked about in the 3rd paragraph. From there you could make a connection that this was talking about the second change that contributed to making it impossible for authoritarian rulers to hold onto their power. However, that still doesn’t actually answer the question that we’re after and even though this seems logical we have to actually answer the question that is asked

C) Wrong: This is similar to “B” in that it sounds really good to start off however it misses the mark when it says “success at generating economic growth and stability will be short lived”. This completely factually inaccurate the only thing that is short lived is the authoritarian regime but none of the reasons given were because the economic growth and stability were going to be short lived. In lines (51-57) you can see that actually the more success the regime has the short lived it will be because it gives citizens more time to reflect on their current situation

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• You would think this is right if you didn’t pick up the distinction that when the answer choice refers to “short lived” it isn’t talking about the regime it’s talking about the economic growth and stability. If you didn’t pick up on that then you could piece together that economic polices did alienate the economic power base, based off of the information in paragraphs 3 and 4. However, you have to read carefully so you don’t fall for the traps that the test makers set for you

D) Wrong: This answer choice is wrong because it says untenable (otherwise known as unattainable) and that is factually inaccurate. The point of the passage is that authoritarian regimes are not SUSTAINABLE however they are attainable. There are lots of traps here in this answer choice. First you need to see that the answer choice talks about authoritarian principles whereas the passage talks about the regimes specifically so that should immediately raise your suspicion. Then we already pointed out that authoritarian regimes are actually attainable and the main point is that they are not sustainable. Then finally if you somehow made it that far there is nothing in the passage that says that the reason why they’re not sustainable is because they require a degree of social and economic stability that only a democratic institution can create. As we’ve seen in lines (51-57) an authoritarian regime can have success and that ultimately leads to its demise.

Why would accidentally choose this:

• If you immediately read sustainable instead of untenable and then circled and moved on. Time is definitely not on your side but make sure you read all of the answer choices and read the rest of the information because many answer choices will have pieces that are true but only one will be true in all aspects.

E) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for. Let’s break down this answer choice. “Authoritarian rulers who instituted democratic reforms” lets us know that we’re talking about the same subject matter. Then “are compelled to do so because authoritarian rule tends to bring about various changes in society” refers to the 3 changes that were talked about throughout the passage. Finally, “that eventually necessitate corresponding political changes” refers to undergoing democratic reform.

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this:

• This answer choice isn’t a “sexy” answer choice. It leaves something to be desired because you have to connect the dots on the “various changes in society” referring to the changes talked about in the passage, along with “necessitating corresponding political changes” referring to undergoing democratic reform. This is how a lot of the correct answer choices are going to be written in RC, so don’t not choose an answer choice just because it doesn’t immediately come out and say exactly what you want, you’re going to have to work for it on some of the questions.

2) The author’s attitude toward authoritarian regimes is most accurately described as which of the following:

“Author attitude question”

What we’re looking for:

• The answer choices could go a multitude of ways; we could either say something along the lines as sympathetic because their success brings their own demise (51-57) or something along the lines of confident that authoritarian regimes will undergo democratic reform (56-60).

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: This is really never talked about in the passage but it doesn’t seem correct when compared to our anticipated answer choices. The author seems to have 2 polar opposite attitudes regarding authoritarian regimes and “uncertain” doesn’t qualify as one of them.

Why would you accidentally choose this:

• If you weren’t looking for the author’s attitude then you could justify this answer choice by bringing in outside information because the author does seem to be neutral towards whether this is progress or not but you have to actually answer the question that is given, and this answer choice doesn’t do that.

B) Wrong: This hints at what we where going after because it does have the elements that authoritarian rulers do bring about their own demise. However, the author doesn’t address the motives of the rulers, he doesn’t explicitly say something like “Based on the past authoritarian regimes success, rulers should reconsider their views”

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you just saw “tendency to bring about their own demise” then this answer choice would be extremely attractive. You have to read all of the answer choice and not just parts because parts could be right but if the entirety of the answer choice isn’t right then the answer choice isn’t right.

C) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for and it matches out anticipated answer choice. We know that the author is confident that democratic forms of government will replace authoritarian regimes because he says so in the last sentence of the passage. “The more astute authoritarian rulers recognize that their only hope of maintaining some power in the future is with democratic political changes”

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this answer choice:

• If you fell for the trap of answer choice “B” then you wouldn’t have read this answer choice and you could get the question wrong. Also if you didn’t pick up what the last sentence of the passage was saying then you also would miss this answer choice. Read all of the answer choices and read carefully when reading the passage.

D) Wrong: Nowhere in the passage does the author say that authoritarian rule constitutes an “unjust form of government”, and if it’s not in the passage then it can’t be a correct answer choice.

Why you would accidentally choose this answer choice:

• This is one of the oldest tricks in the book for test makers, they want to play with your emotions and make put you in the position to draw off of your outside knowledge and insert your opinion on this information. Based off of the passage it very well could be that you believe that authoritarian rules are an unjust form of government but nothing in the passage states that THE AUTHOR believes that.

E) Wrong: This is extremely factually inaccurate, the author seems to believe that there is no way that authoritarian rulers can retain power without instituting democratic reform. That is the basis of his argument and the main point of the passage.

Why you would accidentally choose this answer choice:

• If you didn’t read this answer choice carefully and read that authoritarian rulers WONT discover ways to retain their power without instituting democratic reforms then you could logically work your way to choose this answer choice. The problem is even if the answer choice were written in that manner I still don’t believe that the author has any “concern” towards the authoritarian rulers I believe he is simply stating an argument but leaves out his personal feelings towards the predicament the authoritarian rulers are in

3) Which of the following titles most completely summarizes the content of the passage?

Title Question: Very similar to MP or a structure question

• Look at how the passage is written and choose the best title that matches the flow of the passage

A) Wrong: The first part of this answer choice is right however the author doesn’t make a dissent against authoritarian regimes. He never uses a paragraph to say that their principles are bad or that they’re crazy because the more success they have the more they dig their own grave, nothing.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• This would combine a couple traps that you would have when taking the test. Either you didn’t read all of the answer choice because you were trying to save time so you didn’t read, “dissent against” or you did read, “dissent against” and brought in personal information and chose the answer choice. Don’t do either, and don’t fall for the trap.

B) Wrong: Nothing in the passage talks about human rights being abused or anything like that, this one should be an immediate deletion. Also when it says case study I interpret that as an example that is fleshed out throughout multiple paragraphs, the author used multiple different examples but he didn’t have one single overarching example that everything fit under.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• Again if you brought in outside information that you personally felt towards the authoritarian regimes then you could realistically get to this answer choice but it still doesn’t make it right. Also if you saw authoritarian regimes and just circled it and moved on then you also could choose this, don’t fall for the traps!

C) Wrong: This is a TRAP ANSWER CHOICE because it has all of the right elements. However you have to think about what this is actually saying, this title would be right if the passage was referring to exactly how the democratic reforms were going to be laid out. There would be specific examples of what reforms would be done, maybe examples of democratic reforms in the past. Our passage however is simply saying that democratic reforms are going to happen and why, not exactly what the reforms are going to be.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you fell for the trap of thinking that this was exactly what we were looking for because it had all of the right elements then you’d choose this answer choice. Read all of the answer choice and then ask yourself were their specific strategies/solutions that the passage laid out regarding democratic reform?

D) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for. “Why authoritarian regimes compromise” refers to the 3 changes/causes that makes it occur. While “examination of social forces” refers to each paragraph going into detail about each of the changes that are actually causing the reform to occur.

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this:

• If you fell for the trap answer choice “C” then you wouldn’t have gotten this, also if you didn’t feel like this was “strong enough” so you were looking for another answer that was “better” then you might have overlooked this. The answer choices you choose don’t have to jump out right away they just have to be the right answer choice.

E) Wrong: This isn’t the main part of the paragraph because it doesn’t talk about economic instability as the main reason why, as we’ve established throughout the prior questions the more stable the economy and the better the regime is doing, the more likely the regime will fall.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you were running out of time and said that I know the author believes that most of these countries are going to undergo democratic reform, so that makes this subject matter correct. And there were some talks of economics in the passage so this is right. Just because the elements are there doesn’t mean that they’re talked about in the right way. Don’t fall for traps like this because it’s just a mashed potato answer choice.

4) Which of the following most accurately describes the organization of the passage?

Structure Question: “Describes the organization”

What we’re looking for:

• We want an answer choice that states the author states an issue (authoritarian rulers can’t maintain their power unless democratic reform occurs), and then lists the causes of that issue while providing examples, (values and norms shift, economic interests shift, expanding resources, autonomy and self confidence), and then the author reaffirms his position at the end.

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: Everything in the beginning of this answer choice is right but when it gets to “relative importance” that’s when it’s done. Also afterwards the answer states, “possibility of alternate causes is considered and rejected” which also doesn’t occur.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you didn’t read carefully and just breezed through this. These types of questions, the answer choices are usually extremely similar to one another and so one minor detail is how they differentiate from each other. Read carefully and read the entire answer choice.

B) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for. A political phenomenon (authoritarian rulers can’t maintain their power unless democratic reform occurs) is linked to a general set of causes (values and norms shift, economic interests shift, expanding resources, autonomy and self confidence), an explanation of each is given, then the causal relationship is elaborated and confirmed (author reaffirms his position at the end).

Why you would accidentally NOT choose this:

• If you didn’t label the passage for structure then when you get to the answer choices they all will sound similar. So you could miss this because you marked it as a maybe and then fell for another answer choice when you were looking at all of the answer choices. Take the time beforehand to do good annotations and the questions will be a lot easier

C) Wrong: Everything in the beginning of this answer choice is right but when it gets to “one possible cause is preferred over the others” it’s wrong. The first sentence of the last paragraph (line 50) says that all 3 changes are created and nowhere else in the passage does it say one is preferred over the other

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you didn’t read carefully and just breezed through this. These types of questions, the answer choices are usually extremely similar to one another and so one minor detail is how they differentiate from each other. Read carefully and read the entire answer choice.

D) Wrong: Everything in the beginning of this answer choice is right but when it gets to “3 similar phenomena” it’s wrong. Nowhere in the passage does it present similar phenomena nor does it discuss the similarities between the 2. Because of this the answer choice is wrong.

Why you would accidentally choose this:

• If you didn’t read carefully and just breezed through this. These types of questions, the answer choices are usually extremely similar to one another and so one minor detail is how they differentiate from each other. Read carefully and read the entire answer choice

E) Wrong: Everything in the beginning of this answer choice is right but when it gets to “3 similar phenomena” it’s wrong. Nowhere in the passage does it present similar phenomena nor does it discuss the differences between the 2. This answer choice is saying almost the same thing that “D” is saying but instead of talking about the similarities it says differences. Nowhere in here was there any other comparison so both of these answer choices are wrong.

Question 5:

It can be most reasonably inferred from the passage that

MBT Question: Inferred

What we’re looking for: Something that can be proven from the passage, there are many different directions this could go so it’s difficult to pre-phrase but the passage MUST be able to prove out the answer choice we choose

Answer Choices:

A) Wrong: We don’t know this the only thing the author claims is that authoritarian rulers are pressured to institute democratic reforms. This is outside the scope and therefore we can’t make any statements about it.

Why you might accidentally choose this:

• If you didn’t understand that the answer choice is referring to a specific situation that the passage doesn’t include. If you read it as “many authoritarian rulers will eventually institute democratic reforms” then yes that would be right, but with the qualifier “even if not pressured to do so” that renders this outside of the scope.

B) Wrong: We don’t know when citizen dissatisfaction is highest, so we can’t conclude anything about this either.

Why you might accidentally choose this:

• If you bring in outside information to answer this question then it could be reasonable to assume that citizen dissatisfaction is highest when it would be first imposed. However, this isn’t our world that we’re talking about, we’re concerned about this fake world so we can’t bring in outside information.

C) Wrong: This is similar to “B” in that we can’t conclude anything about when the support is highest for authoritarian regimes. The only thing we know is that the more success the regime has the more likely the regime is to fail, i.e. popular support is lowest when conditions are high.

Why you might accidentally choose this:

• If you mistake logical opposites with real world opposites. If you try to take the contrapositive of what we know from above you would get “popular support is not lowest when conditions are not high”. Note that this is not saying that popular support is highest when conditions are low. Not low could mean high, medium, average or any other part of the spectrum while not high could mean average, semi-low, or zero it’s just everything that isn’t high. Don’t fall for this TRAP ANSWER CHOICE

D) Correct: This is what we’re looking for because that’s the basis of our author’s argument. The last 2 sentences of the passage hint at this (51-60). It talks about people having more time to reflect on the circumstances in which they live and it causes the regime to end up failing because people realize that they want democratic reforms. So if the society doesn’t want the authoritarian regime then they have the power to change and therefore cause the ruler’s to have to change to maintain their power.

Why you might accidentally NOT chose this:

• This is another answer in which it doesn’t jump out at you because it’s very subtle and if you didn’t read and annotate correctly you wouldn’t have picked up on what it was saying. Read carefully and comprehend not understand what you’re reading and you’ll be fine.

E) Wrong: There is nothing in the passage that talk about human rights abuses being the only objectionable aspect of authoritarian regimes. You can’t add anything to the passage you simply have to use what the passage gave you to push out an answer. This isn’t supported by the passage and therefore it is wrong.

Why you might accidentally choose this answer choice:

• Anytime you get to answer choice E you need to be very careful. Testmakers understand the psychology of test takers and how when they’ve gotten to E they’ve already invested time into the question so don’t think that just because there are some elements of things that you remember that you need to choose that answer choice. Invest your time early on and you won’t waste it later on when you get to answer choice time sinks.

Question 6:

Given the information in the passage, authoritarian rulers who institute democratic reforms decide to do so on the basis of which one of the following principles?

What we’re looking for:

• We want an answer choice that says that rulers are going to do whatever they can to maintain as much power for the longest amount of time.

A) Wrong: The article talks about them wanting to maintain their power and nowhere does it mention that they should make an exception “if the health of the nation requires it”.

Why you might accidentally choose this answer choice:

• This is a “feel good answer”, it’s what we wish the world were like and if you bring that information/mentality to the test you’re going to get burned. Don’t bring in any outside information because you’ll be exploited.

B) Wrong: Nowhere in the passage does it mention rulers really caring about the amount of personal freedom their citizens have. If it’s not in the passage then it’s not a principle that is supported.

Why you might accidentally choose this answer choice:

• This is a “feel good answer”, similar to “A” it’s what we wish the world were like and if you bring that information/mentality to the test you’re going to get burned. Don’t bring in any outside information because you’ll be exploited.

C) Wrong: Nowhere in the passage does it mention the rulers wanting to neither transition to democracy nor does it mention that want to transition quickly or efficiently. They are only doing it to keep as much power for themselves as possible.

Why you might accidentally choose this answer:

• This is a “feel good answer”, similar to “A” and “B” it’s what we wish the world were like and if you bring that information/mentality to the test you’re going to get burned. Don’t bring in any outside information because you’ll be exploited.

D) The ruler’s in this passage aren’t concerned about the long-term health of the nation’s economy only maintaining their power for as long as possible. And even if they were concerned about ensuring the long-term health of the nation’s economy the passage doesn’t leave out the possibility of this regime having economic success. The irony is that in lines (50-60) it elaborates that the more success the authoritarian regime has, the more likely it will fall.

Why you might accidentally choose this answer:

• This is a “feel good answer”, similar to “A”, “B”, and “C”I t’s what we wish the world were like and if you bring that information/mentality to the test you’re going to get burned. Don’t bring in any outside information because you’ll be exploited.

E) Correct: This is exactly what we’re looking for; we wanted an answer choice that allows for the rulers to maintain their power for as long as possible. That is why they’re conceding to undergo democratic reform because at least they maintain as much power as long as possible.

Why you might accidentally NOT choose this answer choice:

• Like we’ve said anytime you get to answer choice “E” you should be fully aware of any traps but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t the right answer. If you fell for one of the “feel good answers above” and didn’t read any other answer choices to try and save time then you would have missed this. Make sure you read all of the answer choices and you’ll be fine.

Most Authoritarian Rulers passage:

Hey guys after watching Nicole Hopkins' webinar on RC Methods and Jimmy Quicksilver's webinar on RC Question Types and Tips I thought it would be helpful to start sharing our notes/annotations for each passage because each of us reads a different way and we all see different things. I want to be clear that I’m no expert by any means and this is just the way I personally annotate that is a combination of Nicole Hopkins’s “Toolbox” method and JY’s Memory Method. Also note that I’m doing RC a slightly similar way to Pacifico’s Fool Proof method in that I’m doing the passage 2x one after the other and then once again the following day. While time consuming this definitely is allowing me to read more efficiently for structure and see the similarities in each passage which I know will help me in the long run. This is part one which will just include my annotations for the passage (Most Authoritarian Rulers) and I'll post one that has analysis of the questions immediately afterwards.

I hope this helps you guys and I look forward to seeing what you guys see in each passage!

Notation Breakdown:

Who: Important Nouns

• Box it along with the quantifier

What: Term or phrase that’s defined or has relevant information afterwards

• Box with a tail

When: Date or time

• Circle it

Where: In what context

• Put brackets around it

Pivots: Switching between viewpoints

• Marked with >

• Also may help if you distinguish which opinions each are

Questions: Questions someone raised that could be answered in the passage

• Mark with a Q or a ? In the margins

Time Breakdown of reading/annotating before going to the questions

• 4:05

Paragraph 1:

I boxed with tail “Most authoritarian rulers” who undertook democratic reforms (The quantifier “most” was important because an answer choice could have said “all authoritarian rulers and would have been out of the scope of the stimulus”)

Underlined “they” for referential phrasing

I put a pivot after the “but” to show that annotate that the real reason why the author believes that many authoritarian rulers undertake democratic reform is because they see that they can’t hold onto their power unless they do so

Boxed changes and mobilizations because I anticipated that was where the passage was going from here

What is the function of this paragraph:

This paragraph is introducing the author’s main point: “Due to the various changes and mobilizations in civil society it makes it impossible for authoritarian rulers to hold onto their power indefinitely so they undertake democratic reform.”

Where do we think the passage is heading from here?

Well the first paragraph mentions “changes and mobilizations but we don’t exactly know what exactly they’re referring to so that might be an indicator of where we’re heading from here

Paragraph 2:

Immediately Box “Three types of changes” because this lets you know that more than likely the author is going to talk about what the 3 changes are.

• Also note that these “Changes” are the changes and mobilizations in civil society that we annotated earlier

Box with a tail “values and norms in the society alter over time” until the end of that sentence. I wanted to box this with a tail because I wanted to get the first type of change along with showing how it changed civil society.

• Also I put a 1 in the margin so that I could quickly see where the values were when I needed to refer back to the passage

In the next sentence I put a bracket along with “Ex” in the margins so that if it asked about that specific example I could find it

• Also I circled 1970’s and 1980’s so if they had other dates as an answer choice I could quickly eliminate it

I underlined the last sentence in the paragraph because it shows another way that the changing of values and norms in society impact an authoritarian rulers’ power

What is the purpose of this paragraph:

This paragraph gives us the first type of changes in civil society that make it impossible for rulers to hold onto their power

• A change in norms and values

How does the change in norms and values contribute?

• Reduces people’s tolerance and stimulates concentration of power thus stimulating their demands for freedom (11-13)

• As people place more value on political freedom and civil liberties they become more inclined to speak out, protest, and organize for democracy, frequently beginning with the denunciation of human rights abuses (17-22)

Do you have an example of either of these points:

• Latin America in the 1970’s, 1980’s (13-17)

Where are we going from here:

We talked about the first value that contributes to society’s no longer condoning the continuation of authoritarian rule so my anticipation would be that the next paragraph would talk about the second change

Paragraph 3:

Box alignment of economic interests in society can shift: This is the second change the author gives

Box scholar: Let’s us know who is saying this

Box with tail and brackets from privileged people to long-term interests:

• We want to box privileged people so we know who we’re talking about and you want to make sure that you read with and without the internal context of who the privileged people were

• All of this is important information because it gives us a way how the economic interests shifting could impact the regime

Box “such a large-scale shift”: This is just so you can remember what type of shift we’re talking about the shifting of changing norms and values

Bracketed and put “Ex” in the margin for the Philippines example, for the exact same reason we did the Latin America example, if we’re asked about it we can easily find it

What is the purpose of this paragraph:

This paragraph gives us the second change that can contribute to a society no longer condoning the continuation of authoritarian rule

• Economic interests in a society can shift

How do the shifting of economic interests in a society contribute to the author’s main point

• A turning point is created when privileged people in society come to the conclusion that the authoritarian regime is dispensable and that its continuation might damage their long-term interests.

• (26-31)

Is there an example of this:

• Transition to democracy in the Philippines

Paragraph 4:

Box “expanding resources, autonomy, and self-confidence of various segments of society and of newly formed organizations both formal and informal”

• This is showing the 3rd and final change that contributes to the author’s main point

Bracket the next 2 sentences and put Ex in the margins

• This gives you visually a clearer point to see two examples of this change

Box this profound development: Referential phrasing to the example above

What is the purpose of this paragraph:

This paragraph gives us the 3rd change that contributes to the shifting from authoritarian society to a democracy

• Expanding resources, autonomy, and self-confidence of various segments of society and of newly formed organizations both formal and informal

Are there any examples of this:

• Students marching in the streets demanding change

• Workers paralyze key industries

• Lawyers refuse to cooperate any longer

• Alternative sources of information pierce and shatter the veil of secrecy

Paragraph 5:

Box “authoritarian rule tends in the long run to generate all 3 types of change

• This helps us understand that we have to deal with all of these problems not just 1 or 2

Box with tail “Ironically” until the end of that sentence: Could be asked about the author’s attitude towards this situation and this gives a glimpse into their tone

Bracket the last sentence of the passage

• Gives lasting thoughts to what the author believes (If you don’t convert to a democratic society then you won’t be able to retain any of your power)

What is the purpose of this paragraph:

This paragraph brings together all of the ideas and hints at the authors tone throughout the passage along with his thoughts moving forward regarding this issue

Overall Analysis:

This passage is pretty straight forward it introduces the issue (Authoritarian rulers are unable hold on to their power indefinitely unless the switch to a democratic society), then uses the following 3 paragraphs to go into detail about each change that contributes to this issue, then the author brings everything together and leaves you with his lasting thought.

Hey gang,

I’ve been working through the Sufficient Assumption question bank, trying to turn my Level 3 and 2 questions into Level 1 questions (for terminology check this out this webinar: https://classic.7sage.com/webinar/timing-and-levels-of-certainty -- props to @c.janson35 and his brilliant Timing Webinar).

This question bothers the you-know-what out of me because the answer doesn’t seem to justify the conclusion. It just seems like it’s like it’s blocking other potential explanations, which would make it a good necessary assumption or strengthening answer. I’d love people’s input on this.