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How to Understand "most" questions that the curriculum FAILS to teach how to solve?

Keyboard123Keyboard123 Alum Member
in Logical Reasoning 37 karma

I feel like I'm getting burned by questions that don't use the exhaustive formal logic to solve them.

For example, PT 126 Section 3 Question 14 uses 'most' in a 'most strongly supported' context -- here, validity of invalid/valid argument forms involving 'most' are basically irrelevant, despite the fact that the curriculum exclusively focuses on 'most' in that context. The correct answer choice makes the stimulus more likely, but it doesn't prove validity.

This is a recurring problem across several PT's. For example, see PT 127, Section 2, Question 24. Just like before, pure formal translation and logic doesn't get you the answer. Additionally, see PT 127 Section 1 Question 25. Again, where simply doing 7sage's formal translations and logic doesn't get you the answer. PT 139 Section 1 Question 22 is another example where simply translating 'most' and looking for a 'lawgic' inference doesn't guarantee success. As an additional example, I would argue that in PT 120 Section 1 Question 24 trying to translate the 'most' 'lawgic' actually gets in your way than if you just focus on the other elements of the stimulus.

The curriculum doesn't even cover that there's sometimes a more easily understand application of the word 'most.' For example, PT 119 Section 3 Question 9 uses the phrase 'the most common response' to indicate 'the #1 response.' PT 138 Section 3 Question 4 also involves this verbiage; 'the most polluted cities' are used to indicate 'the top polluted cities.'

There are also questions that reference the word 'most' but in a very irrelevant kind of way (understanding 'most' has very little to do with the reasoning to get the answer right). For example, see PT 131 Section 3 Question 7. PT B Section 4 Question 18 involves the useage of the word 'most often,' and again, formal 7sage lawgic has no answer for how to deal with the application of 'most' in this kind of question..

There are also answer choices that involve your understanding of the application of 'most' with probabilities (and what they can and can't mean). For example, PT 133 Section 3 Question 21. Another example where you need to be confident in 'most''s limitations and strengths as a strengthener is evaluating answer choice D in PT 19 Section 2 Question 18.

PT 151 Section 2 Question 12 involves a very weak usage of the word 'most' to weaken a question.

TLDR: I feel like I don't have a grasp of the word 'most' when it is not used in a formal lawgic context on the LSAT. I find it hard to push out inferences for these questions, especially because the curriculum doesn't really teach 'most' outside of a 'lawgic' context. I added a TON of examples (from across 12 prep tests!) and there are many many more I didn't include. Any advice? Tips? Recommendations? Thoughts?

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Comments

  • cdot9000cdot9000 Alum Member
    167 karma

    Bottom threshold: 50% +1
    Top threshold: 100% all
    Can imply some, many is not most

  • natemanwell1natemanwell1 Core Member
    300 karma

    most means largest, or greater than 50%, or it means the greatest amount from a set. if you're having trouble with this, I would highly recommend making your way through some other resources. not sure why there would be an expectation that formal logic would be relevant. unless you mean chaining an argument or using sets, formal logic is never relevant, and is rarely relevant. many tests don't have a single "formal logic" question, and the other ones all have one or max 2 per test pretty much.

  • Cant Get RightCant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor
    28066 karma

    Outside of the logic context, “most” just means what it always means, which is dynamic and sometimes context dependent. The curriculum can’t teach every possible meaning. It has a special application in formal logic, which needs to be understood very precisely. So that meaning is, of course, emphasized. Outside of that context it has different uses. Lots of words have this sort of complexity. We know their meanings, likely without even realizing we’re understanding anything at all complex.

    Take the word “that,” for example. Simple enough word that I bet never confuses you. But it’s actually quite complicated. It can be a demonstrative pronoun: “That doesn’t look right to me.” A subordinate conjunction: “She doesn’t know that I already walked the dogs.” A determinative, “We shouldn’t have gone to that restaurant.” And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s very versatile and we use it constantly in all different sorts of ways. And for the most part, (for native speakers anyway) we intuitively understand it without needing it explained to us. But even simple stuff can get complicated. Here’s a grammatically correct sentence for you: “I think that that that that guy said was probably correct.” So yeah, language is complex.

    I think you raise a really important point though. Language is not math, and if we try to reduce it to math, we’re not going to get very far. First and foremost, the LSAT is an English language and grammar test. We don’t teach the language and grammar as much because the language and grammar, unlike the logic, are so intuitive (again, at least for native speakers). In all the examples you cited, you don’t actually sound confused about what “most” means in them. If you understand, I’m not sure I see what the problem is. Sometimes people just need to know it’s okay to understand something like that outside of the strict formal context. If that’s it, I can tell you it is 100% okay. If you don’t understand what those statements mean, that’s okay too. You need to start out with grammar on a more remedial level than I think would be appropriate for an LSAT course to address. Let’s all be real here, the curriculum is long enough as it is.

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