How to remember the 6 Advanced Valid Argument Forms?

Comments

• 1 Like

  joegotbored-1 Alum Member

  September 2014 802 karma

  Some of them are easy to remember once you start to fully embrace conditional logic. Some of them you just have to watch the video a few times. Others, you have to watch a lot.
  
  Anytime I get a parallel flaw question wrong, I typically end up going back to watch that invalid argument video. Don't worry, you'll get there.
• 1 Like

  chrijani7 Alum Member

  September 2014 827 karma

  To me, I think you should approach it differently. I don't think it matters how you remember them, rather you should be focusing on understanding them. To expand, rather than seeing:
  
  A--most-->B-->C
  Therefore, A--most-->C
  
  I don't think it matters if you see this and go "OH THATS ADVANCED FORM 5". What you really should be thinking is, is it valid, yes or no. What I found worked for me, was anything I was about to study I would quickly review both the valid and invalid argument forms, I would try to write down as many as I actually did remember, but any I didn't I would try and grasp them. Then I would tackle LR questions and when I was reviewing I would have a copy of the valid & invalid forms printed. I would refer to it to see how these forms actually applied in the questions. So for instance an MSS or MBT might have an answer I chose as wrong due to it being an invalid form.
  
  In sum, don't just try to memorize and regurgitate. Understand the forms and most importantly apply them to the questions and see how they function within actual LSAT problems. Because as you probably already know, the LSAT rarely says A most B -->C , they typically give you some convoluted way and you have to decipher their "code" and see that it translates into a valid or invalid form.
  
  Just my thoughts. Hope they help. Good Luck.
• eucalyptus Alum Member

  September 2014 edited September 2014 41 karma

  Thank you both. chrijani7, I'll try your method.
  It'll definitely be time-consuming but you're absolutely right - true understanding >>> remembering templates. Ideally, one would have both of these tools under one's belt. I am sure JY would agree with that.
• clarissa.h Alum Member

  September 2014 50 karma

  I think you should review them however best works for you first (read your own notes in your own handwriting, rewatch the videos, read the pdf, whatever) until you feel you understand each of them. Think about how they relate to each other, think about what you would need to change to make them invalid, think about how you would explain why it's true to someone else (both by analogy and just conceptually). Then, try to write out your own valid arguments and then write similar ones that are invalid for some reason. Spend the time trying to work it out, even the ones where you're not sure. When you're satisfied with your own original examples, go back and try to draw them out in lawgic. This helped me a lot.
• eucalyptus Alum Member

  September 2014 41 karma

  Thanks clarissa!
• chrijani7 Alum Member

  September 2014 827 karma

  It is time consuming but once you get it, you just kind of get it. The fact that its valid argument #6 is kind of meaningless, the main thing you want to understand is whether its valid or not, so just get used of identifying valid & invalid arguments in real questions.
• David Wayne Free Trial Member

  September 2014 571 karma

  Great advice, Chrijani. Memorizing them without understanding them will also cripple you if a harder question really requires you to understand what's going on in terms of the logic involved.