Strengthen/PSA/SA questions...

brett.baalhornbrett.baalhorn Member
in Logical Reasoning 14 karma

G'day, 7sagers!
I have a hard time diagramming the logic in these questions but seem to be doing OK without diagramming and just going by the English alone. Will this ever come back and bite me in the arse? Should I work on getting better at mapping out the formal logic? I feel like my main issue is determining what to use as symbols in translating the English to lawgic. I tend to do better on LR than any other section, but still have room to improve. I also have difficulty with LG and feel that this may be an issue in that case. Any suggestions/ideas are appreciated!
-Brett.

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  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    @"brett.baalhorn" said:
    G'day, 7sagers!
    I have a hard time diagramming the logic in these questions but seem to be doing OK without diagramming and just going by the English alone. Will this ever come back and bite me in the arse? Should I work on getting better at mapping out the formal logic? I feel like my main issue is determining what to use as symbols in translating the English to lawgic. I tend to do better on LR than any other section, but still have room to improve. I also have difficulty with LG and feel that this may be an issue in that case. Any suggestions/ideas are appreciated!
    -Brett.

    I think on harder SA/PSA questions not being able to diagram can end up coming back to bite you. More importantly, being able to understand and diagram conditional logic well is a necessary condition for doing well on this test. I would absolutely spend the time to learn this skill.

    The best advice to learn these skills is to re-watch the lessons on conditional logic in the CC. The best place to start is the "Introduction to Logic" lesson and the "Advanced Logic" lesson. JY does an extremely good job at breaking down how to diagram statements in a way that is both effective and intuitive. Utilize all the quizzes and re-do them until you are getting all the questions right.

  • brett.baalhornbrett.baalhorn Member
    14 karma

    Thank you, @"Alex Divine"! I shall start there and see where I am truly lacking or whether there is just something small that is failing to click that is holding me back. I appreciate the suggestions. I think my main problem is determining what to use as symbols for the Lawgic translations. I diagram the Lawgic (or try to) and end up confusing myself even more. Thank you for your assistance and have a swell weekend!

  • LSATcantwinLSATcantwin Alum Member Sage ⭐
    13286 karma

    @"brett.baalhorn" said:
    G'day, 7sagers!
    I have a hard time diagramming the logic in these questions but seem to be doing OK without diagramming and just going by the English alone. Will this ever come back and bite me in the arse? Should I work on getting better at mapping out the formal logic? I feel like my main issue is determining what to use as symbols in translating the English to lawgic. I tend to do better on LR than any other section, but still have room to improve. I also have difficulty with LG and feel that this may be an issue in that case. Any suggestions/ideas are appreciated!
    -Brett.

    Interestingly enough I VERY rarely map these kinds of questions for the exact same reason you don't. I am scared I will confuse myself with the map. SA and PSA questions are designed in such a way where I just can see what leap was made most of the time. The gap kind of glares at me...wait you went from X to Z, but wtf happened to Y?

    The time mapping has been most useful to me is in any kind of parallel question. Here the structure of the argument is the single most important thing. Being able to map quickly and see how the A.C. corresponds is essential to these kinds of questions. Being able to dig through all the faff of these questions and just see it laid out, in my opinion, makes them much easier to handle.

  • brett.baalhornbrett.baalhorn Member
    14 karma

    Thank you, @"Alex Divine" and @LSATcantwin ! I keep finding in "Strengthen+/Weaken+" question types such as these that the English is generally more intuitive for me. @LSATcantwin , like you said, outside of parallel reasoning/flaw questions, it's easier for me to understand ideas in English than it is to represent them abstractly. That said, I also feel that I should be more easily able to apply symbols to ideas in a way that makes sense to me. This will especially be true when LGs rear their ugly heads. I appreciate the input from each of you and wish you both the best. Do your best to enjoy the rest of the weekend (and, if able, the eclipse on Monday!)
    -Brett.

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