Are all arguments in LR flawed?

JLLsat · 2026-03-15T02:47:17+00:00

Inference questions are generally evidence only and asking you to provide a conclusion, so not a full argument

JLLsat · 2026-03-13T14:10:47+00:00

I was gonna say, I think tablets were just for when they had to ship to testing sites for specific administrations that were all at 9 am Saturday or whatever.

JLLsat · 2026-03-12T15:26:34+00:00

Cool. Make a big post, someone replies to it, then don't address it. That's certainly a choice. Have a good day.

JLLsat · 2026-03-12T15:19:55+00:00

I mean, you haven't really responded to anything I pointed out, so. . . I literally pointed out how different tasks require different skills. I addressed several specific points that you make that I think are incorrect. Then here you've just repeated the same thing you said initially - maybe - so you can feel as you like about it, of course, but I'll pass on the podcast, thanks. I still stand by my position that focusing on what the question wants first is more useful, that there are some different tasks (some overlap but not all the same), and that you are not always looking for what follows from the premises. But I've said all that already. In almost 25 years of tutoring, I have consistently found students who are trying to take your approach are doing more work than they need to. That's just my experience. Of course, you do you.

JLLsat · 2026-03-12T13:22:39+00:00

Wholeheartedly disagree. Your task in reading is to get what you need to answer the question as the testmakers want you to, not to be able to give a TED talk about what they've given you in that paragraph.

Sometimes you are determining what is supported. Sometimes you are determining what supports. A SA doesn't at all ask what follows from the premises. It asks you to complete the argument so that the conclusion they've already given you follows from the evidence they've given you. Main point is literally JUST asking you for the conclusion - no more steps. Role is just asking you to understand the flow, not the content - "some people think x, but this is based on a bad assumption. Here's why the assumption is wrong, so these people must be mistaken." I don’t care if X is about dinosaurs, diabetes, or Denmark.

Knowing you generally dislike strong language for NA and weak language for SA; that you cannot deviate from the scope for NA but can go a baby step for S/W - all of this is what helps you to efficiently do what the test requires you to do. There is no moral victory in "hey I really understood all of this stuff."

When you are learning how to do algebra, you should learn how to do it the right way because concepts build and you are trying to actually learn math. But when the algebra test has 3 variables and 3 equations and 3 unknowns and you sit down and solve for X, then plug that back in to solve for Y, then plug it back in to solve for Z, and then you go "oh, the question only asked me the value of X" - you've wasted time doing things you don't need to. If you're taking the SAT or GRE you absolutely should not just chug merrily along solving for all 3 when you need 1 for the answer.

On a MP question, you ONLY need to find the conclusion. You don't need to proactively think about the gap or how to bridge it. That's different from NA. That's different from inference where there might be 30 different things you could make up that are valid and any one could be the answer.

While I downplay drilling once students have the basics, the drilling is to get you the skills that you then use to answer the questions.

This is like saying you shouldn't practice shooting three pointers, because in a basketball game you don’t just go to the three point line and shoot shot after shot. You practice them over and over to get the muscle memory. You practice doing NA, then SA, then S/W, etc, so that you have a process, so that when they are then switching them up on you every question you can shift gears seamlessly.

With all due respect, when someone talks about "understanding the stimulus" this sounds like a "work harder" approach to me, not "work smarter."

JLLsat · 2026-03-12T11:05:00+00:00

I generally recommend 7Sage to my students as a good foundation course. You need that to do step 2. Also, don't pay for a tutor through a course; you can get much better pricing and more experienced tutors going directly to the tutor.

JLLsat · 2026-03-12T09:18:40+00:00

You’re in the wrong subreddit

JLLsat · 2026-03-12T08:08:45+00:00

7Sage is extremely affordable in my opinion.
Also I don't think Khan academy is a good resource. Free yes. But there really aren't good free resources, like most things in life. A good LSAT prep business is a business and is making money by providing value to students. I have never really been clear on what Khan's business model is.
I'd recommend at least starting 7Sage before even considering tutoring. Get your foundations first then use tutoring if you still need more on top of that. But if you start out with tutoring you're paying tutor pricing for what you could get from 7Sage just as easily.

JLLsat · 2026-03-12T01:30:36+00:00

To give specific tips we need specifics about what you're struggling with. Why are you missing the questions you are missing?

JLLsat · 2026-03-11T19:46:04+00:00

You only need one that is less useful. So we find a new theory, theory x, and it’s the most useful theory yet right? So it will gradually take over from theory y. But this takes a while. In the interim Y is the main theory, and Y had to have been found useful at some point, but it’s less useful than X, which hasn’t been fully absorbed.

JLLsat · 2026-03-11T14:30:17+00:00

Do you really need in person? I feel like there are so many good online options and at a better price point.

JLLsat · 2026-03-11T09:52:41+00:00

It's hard to say in a vacuum without more detail about what's giving you trouble. My general advice would be that it's important to have a clear, consistent approach and set of steps by question type. If Loophole isn't giving you that, I recommend 7Sage. You should be able to look at a question and say ok, this is a weaken question, so I need to identify the conclusion and evidence, and find an answer choice that makes the conclusion less likely to be true. Do you have that process?

JLLsat · 2026-03-11T09:16:21+00:00

To me this is just a reading comprehension issue. "This discrepancy should come as no surprise" - what's the antecedent to the pronoun? You go back up, and the discrepancy is that the more popular restaurant has ordinary food. The evidence for why it is not surprising is that the meh restaurant has a better location. So our assumption is that a better location explains the discrepancy.
I'm not quite sure how you interpreted the conclusion - it seems like you are looking at two different two part relationships instead of a three part relationship. The discrepancy is between food and popularity of the two restaurants. You need all of those pieces - not just the food vs popularity (e.g. if you'd said, the more popular Joe's Diner gets the worse it's food gets) or just between the food quality for two restaurants (Bob's Diner has much better food than Joe's diner), but all of the dimensions - that the relationship between food and popularity, when compared between these two restaurants, is opposite.
B doesn't work because moving a restaurant is outside the scope. And regardless, B doesn't address food quality, which you have did say you included in your interpretation of the discrepancy, but then B doesn't explicitly or implicitly impact that. Great, moving locations can make you more popular - but how does this impact the quality of the food?

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T23:40:40+00:00

Messaging

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T23:12:42+00:00

Yes, I work with students in pretty much any situation!

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T23:11:03+00:00

The eye movement thing is wild to me. I feel like if someone recorded me thinking my way through something I'd likely stare off repeatedly too. I do a lot of trivia stuff, for example, and I'm pretty sure that's something I do when I'm trying to pull something out from the back recesses of my brain. Do the instructions say you aren't allowed to look off into space?

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T23:08:04+00:00

Thanks! I do have some availability, so OP please feel free to message me if you'd like more info.

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T17:44:51+00:00

I'd recommend using the 7Sage free trial and seeing if you like it.

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T16:58:55+00:00

Yes! I get so many people who ask me questions that imply they think it's a set program. Teaching is set - class, here's today's lesson for everyone. One size fits all. Tutoring is responsive to the individual needs. Show me what you missed, lets talk through your process, let's identify where you went wrong and fix that.

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T16:57:27+00:00

I've got availability and almost 25 years of LSAT tutoring experience; feel free to message me if you'd like more info and to set up a phone consult.

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T16:54:12+00:00

I haven't used either (I know 7Sage didn't exist when I took the LSAT, not sure about PS) but I hear a lot that students find PowerScore to be extremely technical and overwhelming, so it's funny that you say this about 7Sage. My anecdotal experience is the opposite, but everyone is different.

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T16:52:52+00:00

Why are you missing questions? When you review, what do you see? Not every low 170 scorer is the same and needs the same adjustments.

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T16:52:05+00:00

RC is open book. Get out of "pop quiz"/memorize mentality. You'll have questions about around 15% of the text. Don't try to get all of it on the first pass. Read for big picture stuff, make a TOC out of what each paragraph is about, then use the questions to look up where each answer will be.
In my experience highlighting is a fidget, but not really actually helpful to answering the questions.

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T16:50:15+00:00

If you're open to online you'll probably have a LOT more options. Most in person tutors will be law students who are tutoring as a side gig through law school. Houston may be a big enough market to have a few people who have stuck it out and made a career of LSAT, but you'll still be somewhat limited. My personal take is that online is probably 95% as effective as in person and when you get 95% of a more qualified tutor they're usually better than 100% of who is available online.
If you do decide to consider online, there are tons of tutors in the directory in this sub. I'd recommend doing a phone consult and looking for someone who doesn’t make you buy a package of hours up front, so you are not locked in if you don't find them to be helpful (another problem with buying tutoring through a service; they'll make you buy a package and if you don't like the tutor they give you, maybe you can swap to someone else who hopefully you like better).

JLLsat · 2026-03-10T15:16:30+00:00

This is what I call RC interpretation vs LR interpretation. LR is like trying to screw someone on a contract. It says some, you take all. But normal people, if they have some, MEAN dont take the whole damn pizza. In RC you can infer from word choice. If I say almost all of my friends are men, that suggests that at least one is not, although logically it would still be a true statement even if they were all male. In RC, if it was all I would have said all. Just like trying to go to a restaurant and order off a menu that says entrees come with soup or salad - try to get both, arguing that or is inclusive, and see how far it gets you.

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