Formal Logic

[rameday]

Hello,

Just curious how much time and energy you would devote to formal logic. The handout is quite lengthy on the LSAT student centre. I have been taking notes from all the modules online and that definitely slows me down, but I was wondering if I should do something similar for formal logic or if I should just work through the handout and listen to the module and not take notes? To provide some background information from my practice tests formal logic is something I struggle with. Just wondering if taking notes is worth it considering that there aren't many formal logic questions on the LSAT.

A

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi rameday,

Formal logic is certainly one of the more esoteric topics in LR, and - as you noted - it only appears in a handful of LR questions. Unless your accuracy on the remaining LR questions is close to perfect, spending time on Formal Logic may not yield the biggest bang for your buck, so to speak, as it requires a relatively large investment of time for a comparatively little benefit.

That said, if you do decide to learn how to diagram and manipulate Formal Logic statements, by all means - you need to take notes! Most of it involves the symbolic representation of conditions and their relationships (not unlike conditional reasoning), so note-taking is not merely encouraged. It's essential to properly grasp the technique.

Hope this helps!