MN, MR, and Contrapositive Problems

[ffomenky]

Does anyone have a strategy to attack Mistaken Negation, Mistaken Reversal and Contrapositive problems. I've gone through 20 questions already and I have manged to have 10 correct but it just seems like there is something I'm missing. For instance, look at the question below:

[[Edited by Admin--LSAC content cannot be posted. Question referenced was the Book Reviewer/Peter Lee San Francisco question]]

[Nikki Siclunov]

Thanks for your question! It sounds like you're having trouble with stimuli containing conditional reasoning. The usual approach to such questions is to create a diagram representing the conditional relationships in the stimulus, which you can then use to determine an inference/deduction or an assumption/missing link. Obviously, the ability to visually represent these relationships depends on your understanding of them, which is facilitated by the use of sufficient and necessary condition indicators in the stimulus.

For instance, in the question you brought up, the conditional relationships can be represented as follows:

Trust the writer Writer knows the city at least as well as I do

Thanks to the third sentence, we also know that the demonstration of such knowledge is sufficient for the book reviewer to trust the storyteller:

Writer knows the city at least as well as I do Trust the writer

Since Peter Lee's novel "passes the test," we can conclude that it satisfies a condition both necessary and sufficient for the book reviewer to trust Lee. Therefore, we can infer that Peter Lee knows SF at least as well as the book reviewer does.

What approach have you been using so far to tackle this type of question? Since you're using terms such as Mistaken Negation and Reversal, I would assume you're familiar with the PowerScore approach. Are you taking a course with us, using the LR Bible, or...?

Thanks, and welcome to the forum!