LG Substitution Qs

OlamHafuch

I was just looking over this past LSAT, which I took, and it hit me that there might be a bit of a trick to make substitution Qs easier. Part of the issue in substitution Qs, at least some of the time, is that once your diagrams, split game boards, etc. have become filled in to some degree, it's hard to unravel that and see exactly what the effect of a specific rule was. But if you check first, before making your diagram, if there's a substitution question, you can keep that specific rule in mind while diagramming and see clearly the effect of that rule. It happened to work like a charm for me while reviewing the substitution questions on the June 2017 LSAT. I'm wondering if anyone has tried this, and if not, perhaps it's worth a try.

Alex

@uhinberg said:
I was just looking over this past LSAT, which I took, and it hit me that there might be a bit of a trick to make substitution Qs easier. Part of the issue in substitution Qs, at least some of the time, is that once your diagrams, split game boards, etc. have become filled in to some degree, it's hard to unravel that and see exactly what the effect of a specific rule was. But if you check first, before making your diagram, if there's a substitution question, you can keep that specific rule in mind while diagramming and see clearly the effect of that rule. It happened to work like a charm for me while reviewing the substitution questions on the June 2017 LSAT. I'm wondering if anyone has tried this, and if not, perhaps it's worth a try.

That actually sounds like a pretty neat idea. I haven't gotten to the PTs where the rule substitution Qs appear yet, but, MLSAT LG has a good chapter on this that seemed pretty insightful.

dml277

I actually have thought about this too, but I have not yet experimented enough with this because I didn't like having to keep the substitution question in mind before doing all the other questions. I'd rather get the lower-hanging fruits on the other questions first and worry about the substitution question at the end. However, if you're comfortable with multi-tasking, this might actually be a good idea with practice. I think in the end it's a personal preference

At the same time, I can totally see how the different inferences we make on the main diagram could make the substitution question time-consuming though, because we have to go back to the beginning of the rules again to make sure we're not accidentally using an inference from the rule we're supposed to get rid of. I think the best way to deal with that is to cross out lightly rules you've used up or write inferences you make based on given rules together in a different area (i.e. rules on the left and inferences on the right). That way, you can more easily tell which inferences to keep when you get to the substitution question.

goingfor99th

This sounds something like what I do when I encounter substitution questions.

You have to know exactly how the rule substituted for affects all of the game's universes, which is/can be tricky.