True vs False

[LSATlove]

Hi, I hope you can help. I have all 3 Bibles & companion Workbooks and love them. However, I just can't wrap my head around the True vs False concept.

While my vocab skills are strong, understanding Logical and Polar Opposites and their synonyms re: LSAT, have been confusing. With Except & Least questions, I get totally twisted off and usually misinterpret the questions altogether.

I learn better when inherently understanding something vs memorizing. So, would you mind providing a detailed, but simple to understand explanation and/or directing me to specific pages? Thanks!

[Dave Killoran]

Hi LSATLove,

This topic is covered in various places, but the place I'd refer you to here is pages 135-138 of the LG Bible. That uses the 0-100 scaling with truth, and represents an easy visual way to see how it works. As a reference, for me the key terms are Must Be True and Cannot Be True. Must is a constant, absolute state--it's the 100 on a scale of 0-100 of truth. Cannot is also a constant absolute state, but on the complete opposite side--there no truth in it at all. Everything else is in the middle, and is covered by Could Be True and Not Necessarily True. Those cover big swaths of ground (largely that which is "possible but not certain"), which makes them feel squishy and confusing.

As for synonyms, such as Must Be True = Cannot Be False, you just have to memorize those. Once you do that, you have a solid baseline to use, and then you can take more time to actually figure out how it works. But get Truth right first, and then learn the False-to-True synonyms, and you won't have to work with False ever again. Same with Except, etc--learn the conversions by memorizing them, and you are done. After that it is just rote conversions, just like math

Thanks!

[LSATlove]

Thanks, Dave! Your clear explanation and the LG Bible pages you referenced simplify everything for me. Really appreciate it.