Has anybody here on 7Sage tried Lumosity in addition to LSAT prep? If you're not familiar with Lumosity, it's a website with brain games designed to help you improve things like attention, memory, flexibility, problem solving etc.

NECESSARY ASSUMPTION QUESTIONS

HOW TO FIND NECESSARY ASSUMPTIONS Lesson 1 of 23

“I play basketball. Therefore, I am one of the best basketball players in the world.”

SA (declare argument valid) NA (subtle, it gets little done)

Wow the MVP 10 years in a row I know how to dribble

I’m a beast I am alive

SA**Almost perfect argument u could hope for. (You don’t need any of them)

NA*Crappy argument yet they are all necessary. (You need all of the above) u can have 100 NAs and still have a crappy argument. But if u throw one of them away your argument is screwed

HOW TO FIND NECESSARY ASSUMPTIONS 2 Lesson 2 of 23

P1 + P2 → C (Valid argument)

P1 + P2 - - - > C(not valid)

P1 + P2 + SA → C (valid)

[P1 + P2 + SA → C ] → NA (Valid argument (VA) → NA)

VA→ NA

/NA → /VA

HOW TO FIND NECESSARY ASSUMPTIONS 3 Lesson 3 of 23

VA→ NA

/NA → /VA

_____________________

Two test from these two

1. MBT

2. Negation- try to negate the answer choice, if you negate the right answer choice you will wreck your argument.

NA:

1. Blocking: protect something

2. Bridging: To get you from point A to point B

I know strategy. Therefore, I am one of the best generals I the world.

• Bridging: knowing strategy is somewhat relevant to being the best general in the world. Very subtle statements.

• Blocking: protect argument from wrecking balls coming in from all directions. Trying to knock down your argument.

o “Men that you command don’t respect you. You’re psychotic”

o To block u say you’re not psychotic, men do listen to you, you’re not crazy.

NA- STRENGTHEN-PSA-SA QUESTIONS Lesson 4 of 23

NA___________STRENGTHEN_____________________________PSA___________________SA

NA: prevents you from dying. Harding any support.

HOW TO APPROACH NECESSARY ASSUMPTIONS QUESTIONS Lesson 5 of 23

Necessary assumptions can wreck an argument.

First, let’s understand what a necessary assumption is. It’s an assumption (definition: unstated premise) that is necessary for the argument. “Necessary” here means the same thing it does when we talk about a “necessary condition” (as opposed to a “sufficient condition”). Let’s put the relationship between argument and necessary assumption in Lawgic and then run the contrapositive.

Argument (valid) –> Necessary Assumption (true)

/Necessary Assumption –> /Argument

• In English, this means that when we negate the necessary assumption, the argument falls apart. No necessary assumption, no argument.

• Necessary Assumption questions present you with an argument (premises + conclusion) where in order for the conclusion to be valid, there is a necessary (critical) assumption not stated in the argument. Without this particular assumption, the argument falls apart. Your job is to find this sucker, a necessary assumption, in the answer choice.

There are two types of Necessary Assumptions (NA).

• NA Question Type I: The Shield

Consider a simple argument:

As trees age, they grow rings. Therefore, counting the number of rings a tree has will tell us how old a tree is.

• Before we get into necessary assumptions, let’s establish a point of comparison with sufficient assumptions. What are some sufficient assumptions we can make this argument valid? How about trees grow 1 ring per year? That will make our argument valid. Given this new information, we can say that it must be true that counting the number of rings a tree has will tell us how old a tree is. Because we know that as trees age, they grow 1 ring per year.

• But is this sufficient assumption (that “trees grow 1 ring per year”) a necessary assumption? Well, is it necessary? Let’s negate it to see if it wrecks the argument: It’s not the case that trees grow 1 ring per year. Okay, so does this wreck our argument? Well, no. Because so what if trees don’t grow 1 ring per year. Maybe trees grow 3 rings a year, or .5 rings a year. Or whatever. As long as it’s a function of time, we can determine how old a tree is by counting its rings. So, I hope you see that while “trees grow 1 ring per year” is a sufficient assumption, it’s not a necessary assumption. Given the additional premise of trees grow 1 ring per year, our argument becomes valid. But, we can also say trees grow 4 rings a year, which would also be sufficient. For this argument there are plenty of sufficient, but not necessary assumptions.

• Let’s consider now a necessary assumption. Trees don’t skip its ring growth every once in a while. Is this necessary? Let’s see what happens when we negate it: trees do skip its ring growth every once in a while. Well, there goes our argument. How are we supposed to reach our conclusion from our premise if this negated statement is true? We can’t. Our argument is destroyed. It falls apart. If trees skip its growth rings every once in a while, there’s no way that we’ll be able to tell how old trees are by counting its rings. The assumption that trees don’t skip its ring growth every once in a while is necessary. What else is necessary? That trees don’t grow additional rings during years with lots of rain. Answers to shield type necessary assumption questions protect your argument from being wrecked.

NA Question Type II: The Bridge

• Just as the name suggests, these answer choices point out gaps in the logic of the argument. For example, the major premise of the argument might tell you: you edge out your fiercest competitor in a race. The conclusion then claims that you win the race.

• The argument has jumped from one idea (beating your fiercest competitor) to another (winning the race). Bridge questions trade on your inclination to conflate two different ideas. They’re assuming that your fiercest competitor was the only competitor that had a shot of beating you. What about all the other guys? Maybe the dark horse will be the one to win the race. The necessary assumption here may say something that edging out your fiercest competitor is in some way relevant to your winning the race.

• Think about building a bridge. The premises left you at one side of the river and the conclusion is way over on the other side. It’s your job to find this bridge in the answer choice that takes you from the premise to the conclusion.

Some sample Necessary Assumption question stems:

1. The argument makes which one of the following assumptions?

2. The argument assumes

3. Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument relies?

4. Which one of the following is an assumption that the fund-raiser’s argument depends on?

5. Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

6. Which one of the following is an assumption made by the argument?

7. Which one of the following is an assumption necessary for the critic’s conclusion to be properly drawn?

Hey guys,

I'm planning to apply for law school this coming fall and would like to attend the fall of 2016. I had been planning on taking the lsat this June, and I've been studying since about October of 2014. Though it's been about 6 months, it hasn't really been intensive studying, just fitting it in with college and work, here and there, etc. I can do some intensive studying beginning in May for a little less than a month right before the test and I'm wondering whether I should just take it in June and then take it again in October, or wait until October. I feel like I'd do better in October after having the entire summer to really study but if I don't take the June test, October will be the first and last time I'll be able to take it (and still be able to apply on time). Any advice would be appreciated :)

hey everyone ,

I've been studying for the lsat for a while and plan on taking the test in June but I've been stuck in the late 140s -early 150s... I'd really love some advice on how to jump up into atleast the 160s ... I'm also wondering if this would be possible to even do with little over a month left until test day?

If you're interested in joining please PM me or @nicole.hopkins your Skype name so we can add you to the call :)

It runs pretty smooth. All you have to do is take PT 57 and BR before the Group BR (do not check answers). During the Skype call we go through all four sections and we also go more in depth if there is not consensus or if anyone wants to for any reason.

HALPP!!!! For all you 175+ scorers, how did you get from the low 170s to the mid to high 170s? My BR scores are 177-180 but can't seem to get those few points to translate into my practice tests.

On a related note, have you guys identified weird quirks that nobody really talks about (preptests) but that got you to realize what's making you misread a question? I rarely get questions wrong because I miss the argument but there are times when (1) I don't 100% understand what's going on in the argument or (2) when I don't really understand what the answer choice is saying. I want to take this knowledge of my lack of understanding and dive further but don't really know where to start. I've talked to a few people and they mentioned things like, "I realized I misread the word 'and' in a stimulus and therefore didn't know what it meant" or "I didn't fully internalize what the difference between 'presumes without warrant' or 'fails to recognize' for flaw answer choices." Mine thus far have been missing a specific type of causal argument where you're implicitly given "2" causes for "1" treatment, which I know is a big no-no in LSAT land.

What are your strategies? What are your quirks?

On 4-11-2015 I downloaded every pdf that was accessible to a middle tier 7sage member. Tonight I reached the point of my syllabus that involves inout LG's and I find that I am missing both problem sets (1&2) for not only inout but also inout with subcategories. All of my other pdf's are still there and I double checked before the deadline that i downloaded everything available to me. What the Hell? These are the hardest ones! Has anyone else had this problem?

Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2 will be available on Netflix (streaming) on May 1st.

That is all.

A great video about the concept that knowledge does not equal understanding and establishes the fact that biases exist. A great follow-up after reading Jonathan's post on why knowledge is not enough -

http://classic.7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/2584/why-knowledge-is-not-enough

I think this can most directly apply to our reading skills - sure we know how to read, but we need to switch from our version of reading - to LSAT RC reading - to LSAT LR reading - which is a difficult task. In particular, he says when learning to ride a backwards bike - he knew how, but still could not do it. Anyone else feel this way about the entire test? You've gone over all the material and know what to do - but for some reason still can't do it?

This video also helps to explain why some days everything clicks and others it's disastrous. It took this guy 8 months and practice everyday to get there - and I think it's the same for testing - always practicing. But DESPITE all of that practice and hard work:

@3:30 He says, "It's like I could fee some kind of pathway in my brain that was now unlocked...It's like there is this trail in my brain, but if I wasn't paying close enough attention to it - my brain would easily lose that neural path and jump back onto the old one it was more familiar with. Any small distractions at all...would instantly throw my brain back to the old control algorithm and I would wreck."

Which explains why handling distractions and mental preparation and mindset are so key to the LSAT.

http://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-61-section-2-question-23/

So in JY's explanation the stimulus represents invalid argument form 4. But I'm having trouble seeing this. Had the second sentence read "most BRICK houses on river street with front yards also have two stories" it would have been a lot clearer to me. But it just says "most of the houses on river street that have front yards also have two stories" So presumably there could be 100 wooden houses on river street with front yards and only 5 brick houses. The 5 brick houses could have front yards but not two stories while the 100 wooden houses all have two stories. So I'm not sure how we are justified in claiming most brick houses with front yards have two stories. Very confused on this.

I plan on taking the June LSAT and seem to be running out of time. I took 21 hours during this semester at school and it has been kickin my butt! That being said I didn't have anywhere near as much time to study for the LSAT as I had planned. I still have about 30 hours of "course work" left but with the end of the semester coming up I don't know how much extra time I'm going to have. I've taken a couple of PT's randomly and I'm scoring about a 155 - which is no where where I would like to be. I was wondering if it would be more beneficial if I used my spare time taking and blind reviewing tests, or if I should finish and review the coursework and then do some tests? Please help. My goal is around 163-165. Thanks!!

I am just coming to the end of the core curriculum and plan to throughly do the following before heading to PTs:

- Complete the logic games bundle (I am sure this will take far longer than the 48 hours quoted!)

- Do the core curriculum one more time. I believe this second sweep will solidify mainly points of confusion

- Get through The Trainer

My plan is to complete all of this before July and then spent 3 months drilling PTs ready for the October test (or possibly December if I feel I need to push it back).

Does this sound sensible, in terms of allowing three full months for PTs? I am in a slightly better position than most as I run a business from home that only takes about 3 hours of work a day, so I can easily dedicate 7/8/9 hours daily to the LSAT.

Amy advice would be great!

[Deleted by mods for violation of forum rules.]

I was picking between B and D. I had no idea it could be C. And I really don't even know which argument form to put this in so please help! Thanks!

I have been receiving a lot of emails from The Council on Legal Education Opportunity, Inc. (CLEO) and I wanted to know if anyone on here participated in this? If so, how was your experience and was it worth it?

Does anybody know how much of these were used in the core curriculum? Also, if it was not a lot, where is a good source to purchase them from?

I wanted to share this post with those that will be starting law school in the fall and also for those in the future.... A lot of good advice on this post. Also, thanks to @"Nilesh S" for sharing with me.

*You might want to bookmark this on your computer lol

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=77628

@gqalvi3

said:

is the site running super slow for anyone else? takes forever for the videos to load since the 21st....

@gqalvi3 I'm reposting this under the "Technical Problems" forum.

I'm also experiencing the same issue...wonder what the problem might be? I'm pretty sure I'm using the updated Chrome browser with the latest version of Adobe Flash...

Hey guys! I was wondering if anyone here has already started the laws school prep? If so, what does it encompass exactly? Does it go in-depth with 1L courses? And how will it help?

Hi everyone,

I posted a while back about how I was feeling down and wasn't motivated to do LSAT work. It got better for a couple of weeks but then it got way worse. It's a long story but I'm on the road to recovery. Anyway, I have been out of the loop on all LSAT prep for another few weeks trying to focus on getting my mind in the right place. But now I've been feeling like I'm ready to slowly ease myself back in. I've already accepted the fact that I think I will have to push back to December and may even have to push back law school another year (which I really don't want to do). However, I feel like I need a good review before delving semi-randomly into a question type. I have a decent base of knowledge from being a retaker but this time I've been working through the Ultimate course and I have The Trainer, Manhattan LR guide, and the PowerScore Bibles. I'm thinking it will just be more efficient to just review using my various materials and notes. But there's a part of me that thinks it would be better to just start over. Any thoughts?

I'm looking for a study buddy. I'm strong in LG, weak in RC, and average in LR. My LG ranges -0/-2 and RC is about -6 and worse on the new PTs. i have an lsat score in mid 160s. Someone interested in analyzing the questions, particularly those where the credited answer can be challenging to justify to oneself, can be a fit. If interested, please message me and we can skype.

I was wondering if anyone has found a way that works best to approach these question types? If so, PLEASE share.

Thank you so much 7sage for all of your LSAT prep! Thanks to you (and a hell of a whole lot of determination) I just received my first law school acceptance email after having just sent in my application 3 days ago! I swear that has to be a record or something. When I first received my February LSAT score, I was so depressed because it wasn't at all what I was expecting. I went to visit my pre-law advisor soon after having received my LSAT score to discuss it with her. After having told her my score and my cumulative GPA, she told me that I wouldn’t get into law school and that I should pick another career goal. Also, she told me that the LSAT score is a strong indicator of whether or not I will be a good lawyer in the future. In conclusion, she stated that I should go to graduate school instead and study public advocacy. By a matter of fact, she told me that I didn't need to go to graduate school; I could easily find a job in public advocacy without a Master's. I was even more depressed. My mother and I went to her boss to file a complaint about her employee. The boss and her colleague were just as condescending as she was! They told me that I shouldn't apply to law school for this fall and to wait until next year. They said that law school was a "number's game" and no one would accept me- even with my amazing writing skills. I told them "No" and that I would apply for this fall. (You should've seen their faces when my mother told them that her score was even lower than mine and that even she got into law school- priceless.) And now, thanks to my determination, I just received my first law school acceptance email! I can't wait to collect all of those acceptance letters to shove in that "advisor's" face. Never let anyone put you guys down! We are the future lawyers and we will make it! If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

Please could you share your advice related to law school choices? I most likely want to work in SoCal after graduation and am accepted at UC Irvine, but because of rankings should I go with WashULaw in St. Louis instead? Personally I'm really impressed with Irvine going straight in at #30 and I love the feel of the place and community.

Also, I'm wait listed for Northwestern's accelerated JD program. Should I hold out as long as possible in case a slot opens up?

Thoughts?? -- Many thanks!

Where can I find the schedule for the blind review groups? I'd love to join if my schedule permits!

Hi All-

Shot in the dark...

Does anyone know of a "7Sage" type of online resource for learning to Code?

I used LSAT classes and books and even another online course before finding 7Sage and nothing has been better for learning the LSAT. I'm now trying to learn to Code, so as a shot in the dark, does anyone know of anything close to 7sage for coding?