Are MSS Qs Basically About Finding A Conclusion In The Answer Choices?

170ORBUST9192

So I was doing a MSS Question, specifically:

LSAT Preptest 20, Section 1, Question 1

After reading the stimulus, I went to the answer choices. Something clicked for me - I went back to the stimulus, read it, and then said “therefore,” then read each answer choice individually until I found one that I felt made a reasonable conclusion, given the set of premises in the stimulus. I settled on Answer Choice B through this method.

Am I onto something?

For the record, I haven’t gotten to the MSS Question type lessons on 7Sage, so if I have merely “discovered” something that JY goes over, please burst my bubble and tell me so.

Grey Warden

Hey, sometimes MSS questions do involve synthesising and drawing a conclusion or an inference from the stimulus, however, the correct AC can draw support from any part of the stimulus and it may not necessarily be a conclusion drawn from it. It could just be an inference which is most strongly supported.

170ORBUST9192

@"Grey Warden" said:

Hey, sometimes MSS questions do involve synthesising and drawing a conclusion or an inference from the stimulus, however, the correct AC can draw support from any part of the stimulus and it may not necessarily be a conclusion drawn from it. It could just be an inference which is most strongly supported.

Thank you. So it won’t always be that then.

Habeas Porpoise

Bursting your bubble here but that is the strategy JY introduces for MSS -- finding the conclusion in the ACs. But it's pretty awesome of you to figure it out without going through the lesson yet!

As @"Grey Warden" said though, it might be supported by just one of the (many) premises in the stimulus. It's still arguably a "conclusion" though, so I wouldn't go so far as to say such an inference couldn't be a conclusion.

Leah M B

Haha, yes repeating @"Habeas Porpoise" - that is indeed what JY teaches. So, good work on figuring it out!

Generally, there are 2 ways that MSS are structured. It's often like what you describe, the stimulus contains premises and the conclusion is in the answer choices. Another thing that happens is sometimes the correct answer is something that was already stated in the stimulus but just the wording changed a bit. More or less just repeating something that is already said. That makes sense right, because if it is contained in the stimulus, then it definitely is a statement that is strongly supported. I think that's less common than the scenario of a conclusion in the answer choice, but definitely have seen it happen somewhat regularly.