key word indicators
Started by
Maybeillgetlucky
· started 2019-03-14 04:20
· last activity 2019-03-15 03:51
· 1 reply
Another thing that I noticed is that the key word indicators dont always mean the same thing.
For example, in question 12 the word "when" is a so-called sufficient condition indicator, but is then just skipped over?
How do we know to do so? It just seems like everything is being made out to be more complicated than it actually is through all the diagramming. Where is the logic?
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Jacob-R
· 2019-03-15 03:51
Hi @Maybeillgetlucky
It is absolutely true that many words can mean different things in different contexts. That is the nature of language, unfortunately (or fortunately!) and is not unique to the LSAT. While there are many key word indicators that appear frequently and almost always mean the same thing (e.g., necessarily, always, must, etc.) some questions like “when†can sometimes signal a sufficient condition and sometimes not.
There is no magic answer to knowing what a word means in a particular context. But I can promise you with 100% certainty that committing to a ton of practice and repetition will make you far more effective at recognizing what a word is being used to signal. You will both start to get a feel for it and also start to recognize tricks that the LSAT writers tend to favor. You will also get a sense of when diagramming is worth the time, and when it is not.
I wish there were some magic to impart — but instead, the only answer is hard work! That is the logic of this test.
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