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After I read the stimulus, am I supposed to just go to the answer choices? I couldn't anticipate what the potential answer could be...I had issues with A and E
Premise: more varieties of mate in P than anywhere else+ more widely used than anywhere else
Conclusion: P likely place where mate originated from
Is A incorrect because the premises are comparative while this is stating "great variety of types of a beverage?" when the number of mate in P could be a small number like two and a beverage can be in use in an area for a "very long time" but still not be the place where it originated?
As for E, could this be represented as a double arrow relationship? longer beverage has been used<----> beverage more widely used so if mate is more widely used in P than anywhere else, P would also be the place where mate was used the longest which strengthens the conclusion that P was likely the place where mate came from?
Admin Note: https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-75-section-3-question-21/
Comments
I think you've got it. I wouldn't have gone so far as to put E into conditional language but it sounds like you get it. Also for A, saying it is rare has no effect because that also means it happens.
How would you explain E?
@ashley.tien How did you do on the LG section?
2 things:
1) I think the key in Q21 is the usage of "more vs great" varieties in the stimulus vs answer choice A. More = Great variety. "More" could mean 4 options in Paraguay vs 2 in Columbia and 3 in Brazil. "Great" variety could mean something entirely different. Maybe you need 10+ different options for it to be considered a "great variety"
2)
I also think A is trying to get at something else, but I may be completely wrong.
(I think) you could represent it conditionally - but someone else should chime in on this.
A) variety common --> more use, therefore Paraguay
E) More use -> More variety, therefore Paraguay (confirms correlation and supports conclusion)
Unless I translated it incorrectly, I think Answer A seems to be saying something completely different because the direction of the logic is reversed and also because it is talking about a different kind of quantity in the correlation
What do you think?
I did alright, had some issues with game 3 and 4 so had to watch the JY videos for it
i found 2 much tougher than 3, it took too long; and 4 was def weird
yeah this games section was icky. I had to watch videos for all before being able to do them.
To answer the original question “After I read the stimulus, am I supposed to just go to the answer choices? I couldn't anticipate what the potential answer could be...I had issues with A and E”
In order to prephrase well, I find that using a ‘checklist’ approach for each type of LR is very helpful. The checklist I use for ‘strengthen questions’ is to (1) identify the main assumption (the correct answer will strengthen the main assumption) (2) look for a ‘strong’ answer (meaning strength quantitatively, i.e. most, typically, all).
Here the main assumption is that ‘the more varieties of a beverage’ or ‘the more widely it is used’ in a place then the ‘more likely (note strength here is 51% or greater) that place is the place of origin of the beverage’. The correct answer will strengthen that assumption and will most likely have a 51% or so ‘strength’. That is how I would pre-phrase what I am looking for before I look at the answer choices. With that two part prephrase in mind, my eyes immediately likely ‘eliminate’ answer choice B and C just based on the first word being ‘many’, which can can just mean 2 or 3 and is a ‘weak’ strength. Similarly, I would stop reading answer choice D after the first three word as ‘There are few’.. as few is very weak strength wise. I would then quickly scan the first few words of the two remaining answer choices, A and E. My eyes would be drawn to E as it begins with the word ‘Typically’, which is 51% or more and so is the feels right strength wise. I would skim the answer choice E and then rephrase is to say ‘the more widely’ ...’the longer it has been in that place’. That fits perfectly with the pre-phrase of the main assumption so I would feel confident that this is the correct answer but to be sure I would quickly skim answer choice A. Paraphrasing, answer choice A is saying ‘where not in use a long time’ then ‘rare for there to be great variety’. This is the opposite of what we are looking for and so doesn’t help. It is irrelevant.
Sorry for the long winded explanation. This ‘checklist’ approach may seem long winded but in real time it took 26 sec to read the stimulus and then come up with a pre-phrase. Then only 15 sec or so to scan the first 1-3 words of each answer choice and then pick answer choice E. Developing a 1 or at most 2 step checklist for each of the 16 or so question types in LR allowed me to go from being able to pre-phrase only about 10-15% of the time to being able to effectively pre-phrase about 70-80% of the time. Effective pre-phrasing then allows you to ‘kill’ the wrong answers just by reading the first 1-3 words most of the time. Not only does this save a lot of time in the answer choices but makes for much greater accuracy. Hope this helps.