Shopkeeper: Our city will soon approve the construction of a new shopping center, but I won't be relocating my store there. ██ █████ █████ ██ ██ ██ █ ███████████████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ████ ██ ██ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ █████ ███████████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██████████
Parallel questions have a highly regimented theory and approach – even if your core logical intuitions are very strong, following a routine process specifically built around the LSAT’s unique patterns will dramatically reduce the time and mental energy required to identify the correct answer. So review these lessons. They’re important.
In short, though, our approach will be to develop an abstract model of the stimulus’ argument, preserving the structure but not the subject matter, then take a shallow dip into the answer choices looking for structural mismatches. Usually that suffices to identify the correct answer, but sometimes we’ll need a deep dive to distinguish between the (usually just two) answer choices that remain after our shallow dip.
I’m gonna describe this argument’s structure using a mix of English and formal logic. At its core is a conditional statement with 2 necessary conditions:
If I’m relocating my store, it’s gotta be to a site that’s high-visibility and has good growth potential.
Relocate → High-Vis and Growth Potential
The “and” means we need to have them both. A failure on either condition kills the relocation project.
The shopkeeper then says there are only two site options, and each option fails one of the necessary conditions:
Gotta be either Maple or West
Maple: /High-Vis
West: /Growth Potential
Since neither option meets both necessary conditions, the shopkeeper concludes they won’t relocate (/Relocate).
So here’s the template to bring into the answer choices:
[Thing] has 2 necessary conditions.
We’ve only got 2 options.
Option 1 fails one necessary condition.
Option 2 fails the other necessary condition.
________
[Thing] won’t happen.
Lastly, a note on diagramming unless. Unlike the stimulus, all the answer choices use “unless” phrasing for their opening premise. You diagram “unless” statements by picking one of the conditions, negating it, and saying “Congrats! You’re the sufficient condition now!” To better match the stimulus, I’m gonna diagram all the answer choices’ unless claims with the “2 conditions” piece on the right. Here’s a guideline for how to think about that translation in English:
Unless Statement: Bork won’t do the [thing] unless [requirement 1] and [requirement 2].
If-Then Translation: If Bork ended up doing the [thing], [requirement 1] and [requirement 2] must have been met.
Logic: Bork → Req 1 and Req 2
The pattern of reasoning in █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███████ ██ ██████████
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Professor Myers is ██████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████ ██ █████ ████ █████ █████████ ██████ ████ █████████
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The concert will ███ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ██ █ █████ █████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ ███ ███ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ██████ █████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ████
The new park ████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ███ ███ ███████ ███████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████ █████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██ ████████