Turning tricky LSAT Logical Reasoning words into conditionals

Today, I'm showing you how to turn tricky Logical Reasoning words into easy "If X then Y" conditionals (without getting confused): --- Specifically, we're talking about turning phrases with "except," "unless," "until," and "without" into conditional statements. METHOD 1.) The "introducing necessary and then negating sufficient" way. METHOD 2.) The so-easy-a-5-year-old-can-do-it way. Imagine if you came across one of these words on the actual LSAT and didn't know what to do with it. There'd be a 99% chance you'd get the question wrong. WHY? Because you didn't understand what they were saying! Here's how to make sure you diagram these correctly. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- METHOD 1.) The "introducing necessary and then negating sufficient" way. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take any of the annoying words ("except," "unless," "until," and "without") as introducing the necessary condition. In other words, whatever immediately follows one of these words is your necessary condition. Then, whatever other clause is present in the conditional statement will, when negated, become your sufficient condition. The phrase "Not B unless A" would first become "Not B then A." But we're not done yet! We still have to negate "Not B" to become "B." So...we have B ---> A. No need to take the contrapositive or rearrange anything. With an example: "It's not Thanksgiving (B) unless there's turkey (A)."

It first becomes: "Not Thanksgiving ---> there's turkey" BUT we still have to negate "Not Thanksgiving" to become "Thanksgiving." This gives us "Thanksgiving ---> turkey." (Meaning that we've directly turned "No X unless Y" into "X ---> Y") Get it? Good! Now let's move on to the next (even easier) method: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- METHOD 2.) The so-easy-a-5-year-old-can-do-it way (AKA the "IF NOT" way) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's simple - just replace any of these words with the phrase, "if not." This means that you're taking these words to represent the negation of the sufficient condition. In other words, you're negating whatever immediately follows the words "except," "unless," "until," and "without." Then, you turn that thing, when negated, into the sufficient condition. The phrase "Not B unless A" would become "Not B if not A." Rearranged in the traditional "If-then" form (sufficient ---> necessary), this would be "If not A, not B." Diagrammed: Not A ---> Not B Contrapositive: B ---> A With an example: It's not Thanksgiving (B) unless there's turkey (A). After "if not" replaces "unless": It's not Thanksgiving if there's no turkey. Diagrammed: No turkey ---> Not Thanksgiving. Contrapositive: Thanksgiving ---> turkey. So now whenever you have some trouble telling the difference...try one of these methods taught in the LSAT courses. And, if Logical Reasoning is giving you a lot of trouble, click this link. Until next time, -Steve Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT Courses The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Logical Reasoning Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. Logical Reasoning Cheat Sheet Based on what I'd typically do in college: read what the professor emphasized and condense it all onto a single piece of paper. It gave me a quick reference, making things a lot less threatening and a lot more manageable. Free Stuff | YouTube | Podcast | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Books | Courses