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Hire an expert to take your LSAT!Main Point & Main Conclusion Questions
There is Only One Right Answer Choice 2m
I tend to hear this from new students, disgruntled at having gotten a question wrong, "I totally understand why C is right, but I'm sure B is also right. Here, look at my proof."
Since you're just starting down this long road, I want to unburden you from any tendency you might have to make that kind of argument. It makes for lighter travel. Plus, I don't want to yell at you later.
So, drop this misconception on the ground, dig a fire pit, burn it, and bury the ashes. There is never another answer choice that is even arguably right for any LSAT question. Don't even think about it.
I'll say it again. There is only ever one right answer choice and four massively, horrendously, embarrassingly, wrong answer choices.
This is not to say that it's easy to identify the right answer choice. Quite the opposite, it's very difficult. Often, I have a difficult time figuring out why an answer is right or wrong. But, I never think it's because the LSAC messed up. Rather, it is invariably true that I just haven't figured it out yet.
Why am I so certain of this? For a couple of reasons. First, I've done or taught every LSAT question in existence (over 7,000) and I have never run across a wrong answer choice that I thought was even arguably right. Second, I've discussed this issue at length with other LSAT instructors and high scoring students and we've always independently come to the same conclusion. Third, and this is the important one, LSAC's policy in dealing with possible mistakes in their questions guarantees this result.
Of the LSATs administered each year, some of them will be disclosed to the test takers. That means you will receive a copy of the test and have 90 days to challenge any question you want.
Just think about that for a second. Think about the importance of your LSAT score. Think about how obsessive LSAT takers are. When you get your score back and you see that you got some questions wrong and the LSAC is telling you that you have the option to challenge every one of those questions and that's your only chance of getting a higher score, what do you think you're going to do? Of course you're going to scrutinize the shit out of every single question.
Except it's not just you doing this. It's everyone who took that LSAT. That's the insane level of scrutiny that every LSAT question is subject to.
It doesn't even end there. Say you sincerely believe that the LSAT has made a mistake. You write in your challenge. The LSAC will answer every challenge in writing showing you why the right answer is right and the wrong ones wrong and why your argument fails miserably.
But, say you get their response back and you're still not satisfied. Then, you get to appeal this issue to a panel of independent outside experts. This means that the LSAC writers must ultimately write their questions with reasoning solid enough to persuade an entire fucking panel of independent outside experts that there is only one right answer choice and four wrong answer choices. If a wrong answer choice was even arguably right, they would be unable to meet this standard.
Now, of course, this doesn't mean the LSAC never makes mistakes. Even the LSAT writers are human after all and even though the system they've designed is solid, any human system is subject to error. Every once in a while a written challenge does reveal an error. When that happens, the question is removed from scoring and removed from the published PrepTest. By the time you are taking that PrepTest, it's already been through hellish scrutiny. You're not going to find anything new that tens of thousands of people just like you only with way more riding on the line haven't found before.
So remember. There is only one right answer choice.
Components of a Logical Reasoning Question 1m
Below, you will find a logical reasoning question with each of its components labeled. Learn their names. You will not be able to follow along with the curriculum if you do not know what the different parts of the question are called.
I also want to introduce you to “the author.” The author is the person writing the passage to you. It’s helpful to think of the author as the person speaking to you, trying to convince you of her point of view, in other words, trying to sell you on her conclusion. In the curriculum, I will often refer to the “author’s argument” as “our argument” or the “argument.” Take note of this when it happens. Often, the stimulus contains more than one argument and it’s invariably the author’s argument that the question stem is referring to.
LET’S REVIEW
The author is the person writing the passage to you. The passage is the same thing as the stimulus. The question stem lays out the directions for you to choose the correct answer choice.
Logical Reasoning General Approach Video 4m
General Approach to LR
1. Take a few seconds to identify question stem + read the stimulus.
2. Determine if it is an argument or not?
-If YES, then identify conclusion, premises, the context, and evaluate for assumptions made.
-If NO, then piece together info, anticipate the inference.
3. Anticipate correct answer choice.
4. Scan and eliminate as many as possible.
5. Decide between remaining answers.
Logical Reasoning Flow Chart 3m
Try to commit this to memory and follow each step as best you can.
Before long, these steps will be second nature to you and you won’t be referring to it anymore. That’s the goal.
How to Approach Main Point Questions Video 5m
THIS IS THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL SKILL FOR THE LSAT.
We tackle Main Point (MP) or Main Conclusion questions first because these questions test the most fundamental of your LSAT skills: Can you identify the main conclusion of an argument? It’s that simple. Here’s a label with “main point” printed on it. Go slap it on the part of the passage that you think is the main point. If you can’t do that, then you have no business doing any other type of question in the Logical Reasoning section.
Typically, the passages in MP questions are confusing. Usually, it’s because these passages contain either (1) sentences which do not belong to the argument or (2) a complex argument structure where there are sub-conclusions and a main conclusion.
In examples of (1), the stimulus begins with context. Often, the context is a “setup” where the author reports to you “Most experts believe that a recession…” or “It is now commonly said…” Be very sensitive to the fact that the author is only reporting someone else’s position to you. He has not revealed his position yet. When he does, his position will be in disagreement with the position taken in the setup. The setup is not a part of the author’s argument. It’s the setup. It’s context. Often, the setup is elaborate enough to contain its own premise–conclusion structure, meaning that often, the setup is someone else’s argument. Other times, the setup is a statement, standing alone without support. The context indicators which you learned about will help you figure out where other people’s arguments end and where the author’s argument begins.
In examples of (2), the stimulus will drop the main conclusion on you in the first sentence or hide it in the middle somewhere without any conclusion indicators to draw attention to it. Conversely, the last sentence of the stimulus will usually be preceded by an obvious conclusion indicator like “therefore.” But – you guessed it – the last sentence will not be the main conclusion. Usually, it will be a major premise/sub-conclusion, i.e., a statement which has support/premises in the stimulus but is itself used to support another statement. Consider this example.
Luke likes carrots.
All Jedi are powerful and Luke is a Jedi.
All powerful beings like carrots.
Therefore Luke is powerful.
What’s the main conclusion? Luke likes carrots. Why? Because everything else supports this statement directly or indirectly. What’s the sub-conclusion/major premise? Luke is powerful. Why? Because it has its own support/premises (namely that Luke is a Jedi and all Jedi are powerful) but is itself used to support the claim that Luke likes carrots (because all powerful beings like carrots). Be very careful not to confuse major premises/sub-conclusions for main conclusions. As a rule of thumb, if you spot a conclusion indicator like “therefore” preceding the last sentence in a MP question, do not label that last sentence as the main conclusion. It is likely only a sub-conclusion masquerading as a main conclusion.
Some example MP question stems include:
- Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the economist's argument?
- Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the surrealist’s argument?
- Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the argument as a whole?
LET’S REVIEW
Being able to take on MP questions is the first essential step to understanding the rest of the Logical Reasoning. The passages in MP questions will often try to confuse you with contextual information which obscures and draws attention away from the author’s argument or through use of sub-conclusions pretending to be main conclusions.