Section 3, Question 17 of the June 2007 LSAT is easy if you argue, and impossible if you don’t. Let me show you what I mean:

When exercising the muscles in one’s back, it is important, in order to maintain a healthy back, to exercise the muscles on opposite sides of the spine equally.

Oh reeeeeeeeeallllllly?!?! You might be right about that, but you also might be completely full of shit. Maybe I like working out just one side of my back, and maybe my back is in perfect shape. What’s your evidence for your assertion that I need to exercise both sides equally? Huh buddy? Let’s hear it.

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Section 3, Question #11, of the June 2007 LSAT presents yet another ridiculous argument. “Feathers from birds stuffed in the 1880s contain only half as much mercury as feathers recently taken from living birds, and mercury comes from fish, therefore today’s fish must have more mercury than they did in the old days.”

No, your results do not indicate what you think they indicate. STFU… I will be back to deal with you in a minute.

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I hope you’re not tired of reading it, because I’m not going to stop saying it: You must argue with the speaker, and you must try to predict these answers in advance. The arguments are largely bullshit, and your job is always to figure out why they are bullshit. You must cultivate an adversarial attitude. Put a chip on your shoulder, and try your best to disagree with the speaker.

Continue reading ‘June 2007 LSAT, III, #9 — or, Curt Schilling is a douche’ »

Yesterday, I discussed one specific type of Assumption question–the “Sufficient Assumption.” Today, I’ll switch gears and talk about Necessary Assumptions. Warning: I’m going to use math again. And once again, if you passed third grade you’re going to do just fine.

This nerd is happy because he pre-emptively wedgied himself before school.

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I came up with this example today while working with a private tutoring student. Consider the following argument:

A equals two. B equals two. Therefore, A plus B equals four.

Sounds pretty good, right? Yeah, I think so too. But believe it or not, for LSAT purposes, something’s missing. That missing piece is called an assumption.

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