Sufficient Assumption Questions are DEMONIC

slizzard

Alright folks... I feel as though I'm missing some brain cells when I do SA and PSA questions. I just did the Marsupials question.. I'm certain some of you know that one. And MY GOODNESS what a fucking terrible combination of sentences!!!! I'm going to go take a break before I decide to throw my computer into a pit of fire. But what am I missing??????? I've reviewed the SA section a couple times because I still lack in this area. I've now memorized the valid and invalid argument forms and have scored perfectly on the logic quizzes leading up to the actual SA questions, but when the questions are incredibly convoluted, i get really lost and my logic game goes south.

Can someone just give me a vote of confidence or tell me how they overcame their struggle with these type of questions? Please know that I am complaining, but not giving up. I am going to keep drilling, just needed a little venting and break time.

But seriously, fuck these questions.

:-) Sliz

DumbHollywoodActor

Give it time. Maybe try LSAT Trainer. SAs, you’ll soon find, are your friend because there can’t be any wiggle room in the reasoning. Like JY says, if you want a chance at a 170, SAs have to become gimmes. And they will. Just give it time.

Dgelf321

Hang in there. SA's are tough to learn in the beginning (maybe I speak for myself) but they're incredibly vital to the dynamics of the exam. I'd consider SA's the building blocks of logical reasoning. As J.Y. and many others have said, they're incredibly formulaic and soon enough something in your head will click and you'll "body" these questions every time you see them. All I can say is drill, drill and then drill some more. A lot of them employ the Premise: A --> B, Conclusion:B, missing premise A template. Once you get a good grip on these they'll further your entire knowledge of arguments in general. My strategy: read the stimulus very slowly, identify the argument structure with relevant premises and conclusions, and diagram (now I pretty much do this in my head albeit sometimes convoluted sentences can throw me off). Once you do this you can anticipate what the missing link is and identify it in the answer choices. Again to reiterate, hang in and just keep doing these. Zero in on incorrect answer choices (the reasons why they're wrong and memorize common trap answer choices) and diagram everything on blind review. Sometimes for sport, when I go through "MBT"s and I'm looking for the correct AC I'll reverse the question to accept the inferences of one of the answer choices and then take it out and supply the missing premise. Good Luck!