How to diagram an LSAT Logic Game – Video Tutorial

Here’s our first attempt at a free YouTube tutorial for LSAT Logic games. Give it a shot and let us know what you think.
Watch LSAT Video Tutorial
You can also watch it on YouTube

Due to copyright protection this is not an actual LSAT Game but it’s design is identical to the games you will encounter on the LSAT. The principles for diagramming this game apply to your basic linear games on the LSAT. Begin with listing your entities:

A B C D E G N

Then make your placeholders for each entity:

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Then diagram each of the rules.
You’ll have to check out the video for the rest of the game.

Straw Man – a common flaw on the LSAT

Straw man arguments are found in a number of logical reasoning question types on the LSAT, including flawed reasoning questions, parallel flawed reasoning questions, and method of reasoning questions.

A straw man argument is a fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position. To “attack a straw man” is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting a superficially similar proposition (the “straw man”), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.

Or more simply: a straw man argument presents a weaker version of the opponents argument and attacks that weakened argument rather than the original argument. It often involves rephrasing the opposing argument in order to make it more vulnerable to attack.

E.g.
Person A: We should liberalize the laws on marijuana.
Person B: No, any society with unrestricted access to intoxicants loses its work ethic and goes only for immediate gratification.

The proposal was to relax laws on marijuana. Person B has exaggerated this to a position harder to defend, i.e., “unrestricted access to intoxicants”.

Straw Man arguments can be described on the LSAT as:

“portrays opponents views as more extreme than they actually are”
“rephrases the opposing viewpoint in order to make it more vulnerable to criticism”
“distorts the proposal made by the advocates”
“misstates the original position held by the politician in order to make it easier to refute”

These statements can be included either as a correct or incorrect answer. By understanding the straw man fallacy you will be faster at identifying these answer choices as correct or incorrect.

For free access to a complete “Flawed Reasoning Tutorial” email: freetutorial@alpha-score.com
The tutorial is online and interactive and includes 16 other common forms of flawed reasoning found on the LSAT.

Complete and Accurate List LSAT Questions

Most logic games include a complete and accurate list question. This is usually the first question. e.g. “Which of the following could be a complete and accurate list…?”

For most LSAT logic game questions the best way to approach them involves redrawing your diagram. For the complete and accurate list questions, however, there is a better way.

The best way to approach this type of question is to apply each of the rules to all of the answer choices in turn. Cross off any answer choices that violate the rule. The only answer choice left remaining that does not violate a rule is your correct answer.

Here is an example:

Assume that these are your rules:
4 runners finish a race from 1st to 4th
The runners are Bob, Jim, Sarah and Angel

Rule 1: Bob finishes before Jim
Rule 2: Sarah finishes before Bob
Rule 3: Angel does not finish last

Which of the following could be a complete and accurate list of runners in the order they finish the race?

(A) Bob, Sarah, Angel, Jim
(B) Sarah, Bob, Jim, Angel
(C) Angel, Sarah, Bob, Jim

If we apply the first rule to each answer choice we see that no answer choices violate rule 1.
Next we apply rule 2. (A) violates rule 2 because B is before S.
Next we apply rule 3 (B) violates rule 3 because Angel is last.
The only remaining answer choice is (C), so (C) is our correct answer choice.

If after applying all of your rules you are still left with more than one answer choice you have either missed a rule or there is some other information in the game set up that needs to be applied as a rule. For example if in the question above we had another answer choice (D) Angel, Sarah, Bob, Jim, Ryan

This does not violate any of our rules but it does violate part of our game set up because it has 5 runners not 4 and it includes Ryan, a runner not included in our race.

Formal Logic – LSAT Question

Try this formal logic or conditional reasoning question for the LSAT:

If the novel were successful, it would be produced as a movie or adapted as a theatre script. However, this novel is not successful, therefore, we must conclude that it will neither become a movie nor will it be adapted as a theatre script.

The argument’s reasoning is flawed because the argument:

(A) fails to draw the conclusion that the novel will not both be produced as a movie and be adapted as a theatre script, rather than that it will do neither
(B) fails to explain in exactly what way the novel is unsuccessful
(C) equates the novel’s aesthetic worth with its commercial success
(D) presumes, without providing justification, that there are no further avenues for the novel other than production as a movie or adaptation as a theatre script
(E) fails to recognize that the novel’s not satisfying one sufficient condition does not preclude its satisfying a different sufficient condition for production as a movie or adaptation as a theatre script

This is a formal logic question. It uses conditional reasoning or if then statements.
For a full analysis of IF THEN statements and formal logic for logical reasoning questions see our free LSAT course: Formal Logic Tutorial
And here Practice Questions

Let’s analyze our stimulus.
Our first premise is: IF the novel is successful THEN movie or script
Our second premise: This novel is NOT successful.
Conclusion: NOT movie nor script

This is flawed formal logic. The mistake here is that we have reversed our IF THEN statement. As you can see from the tutorials in formal logic Formal Logic Tutorial you cannot reverse your IF THEN statement except as a contra positive. The contra positive of our IF THEN statement is as follows:

Original Statement: IF the novel is successful THEN movie or script
Contra-Positive: IF there is NOT a movie or script THEN the novel was NOT successful

There is nothing else you can conclude from this original statement or premise. This means that our conclusion is a flawed conclusion. The conclusion tries to state the following:

Conclusion: IF NOT successful THEN NOT movie or script.

We cannot draw this conclusion from our original premise. By drawing this conclusion we fail to recognize that the novel could become a movie or script by some other means than success. For example, maybe all novels about children are made into movies giving us the statement IF novel is about children THEN movie. This would give us another avenue to arrive at a movie or script despite the novel not being successful.

So our correct answer choice is (E). The argument fails to recognize that the novel’s not satisfying one sufficient condition (being successful) does not preclude its satisfying a different sufficient condition (some other means such as being about children) for production as a movie or adaptation as a theatre script.

Students learning online outperform face to face instruction – Study Shows

A study released in May, 2009 by the US Department of Education shows that students in online learning environments outperformed those receiving face-to-face instruction.

The report was based on a systematic search of the research literature from 1996 through July 2008, and identified more than a thousand empirical studies of online learning. Analysts screened these studies to find those that (a) contrasted an online to a face-to-face condition, (b) measured student learning outcomes, (c) used a rigorous research design, and (d) provided adequate information to calculate an effect size. As a result of this screening, 51 independent effects were identified that could be subjected to meta-analysis. The meta-analysis found that, on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.

A copy of the complete report titled “Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies” is available from the US Department of Education at http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

X Unless Y – Formal Logic for LSAT Prep

X unless Y

The easiest way to look at this statement is that it is the same, logically, as “Either X or Y”

Note there is one subtle difference between “X Unless Y” and “Either X or Y”. See below.

X Unless Y, tells you that you will always have X except if (unless) we have Y, in which case you will not have X. So essentially it is the same as Either X or Y but never both. So the full set of statements we can include are:

If X then Not Y
If Y then Not X
If Not X then Y
If Not Y then X

So you could write it as:

IF Not Y then X    (meaning that in all circumstances where you do not have Y you must have X)

or the contra positive

IF X then Not Y    (Meaning that whenever you have X you cannot have Y)

Or another way to look at it is:

If you have X then you know you cannot have Y because we have X unless there is a Y so

IF X then Not Y

And

IF Y then Not X

Finally you can look at Unless as essentially the same as saying “IF NOT”

So X Unless Y is the same as “X IF Not Y” or “IF Not Y then X”

Let’s try this in a sentence.

I will go to the park unless I stay home.

This is the same as “I will go to the park if I do not stay home” or…

IF Not Home then Park
IF Not Park then Home

The easiest way to see the unless statements is as an Either Or statement. So X Unless Y is the same as Either X or Y.

The one subtle difference between “X Unless Y” and “Either X or Y” is that “X Unless Y” implies that you start with the assumption of having X. So we will have X, unless there is Y. So if you are told nothing else about whether you have X or Y you will have X. this is unlikely to be an issue on the LSAT, however, as the test makers are typically more precise.