Main Conclusion Questions

Gabriella Lopez

Does a major conclusion usually have a premise, or context follow after it?

Pacifico

Arguments can be ordered in pretty much any possible way you could imagine. Don't rely on the order of the passage, you need to be reading for argument structure so you need to be able to recognize shifts between conclusions, premises and context. The conclusion could be the first sentence, the last sentence or anywhere in between. If you're using 7Sage, I'd recommend starting back here: http://7sage.com/lesson/the-lsat-is-hard/ and really focusing on learning the basics. There is also a lot of great stuff in the LSAT Trainer that can help you develop these skills.

harrismegan

I agree with @Pacifico, the main conclusion could be anywhere in the passage and sometimes it's not necessarily clearly stated. I would get a good grip on the basis because picking out the main conclusion as a more "general" sense is essential when you're doing reading comprehension.

DumbHollywoodActor

I find a huge component to Main Conclusion questions is referential phrasing, which JY talks about in the early grammar portion of the curriculum. Many times you’ll have to synthesize a conclusion from parts of multiple sentences.

Aiesha G.

Agree with both of them. I will add that an easy sort of mechanical way to recognize major conclusions is to look for certain indicator words (therefore, thus, hence, so etc). Premises also have indicator words (since, because, etc). Do not rely on this method alone though. Finding the conclusion is based heavily on intuition and you should ask yourself "what is the author trying to prove to the reader?" Then try to use info (sentences that u think r premises) to answer why u should believe whatever u think the point is. If it doesn't "go" chances r you misunderstood the passage and possibly identified the conclusion incorrectly.

nicole.hopkins

@"Gabriella Lopez" said:
Does a major conclusion usually have a premise, or context follow after it?

All the time! In fact, as these questions seem to be showing up more and more in the recent tests, you'll see a lot that employ:

1) Conclusion not the last sentence of the argument (often somewhere towards the beginning or in the middle)
2) Sentences containing the conclusion often make use of referential phrasing (can't emphasize this enough ... I feel like I am always piecing together the puzzle with these questions, especially in newer tests)
3) There may be intermediate conclusions/major premises so keep an eye out for those ... Don't rely too much on "conclusion indications" (thus, hence, therefore, because of this, etc.) because they might try to snare you with those.

Pacifico

To follow up on number three from @nicole.hopkins above, if you are getting confused by sub-conclusions versus main conclusions/points, just remember that the former must support the latter. So if you can't tell the difference between the two on your first read, try to figure out which one is supporting the other.