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LSAT LR > Glossary > Flashcards

Glossary Flashcards

1
Q

premises that may be central to the argument or may be secondary

A

additional premises

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2
Q

used to help solve Point of Agreement questions. the correct answer choice must be one about which both speakers would say “yes, I agree with that statement.” if each speaker does not produce that response, the answer is incorrect

A

agree/agree test

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3
Q

used to help solve Point at Issue questions. the correct answer must produce responses where one speaker would say “I agree, the statement is correct” and the other speaker would say, “I disagree, the statement is incorrect.”

A

agree/disagree test

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4
Q

a common error of reasoning that attempts to “appeal” to various insubstantial viewpoints of the reader (emotion, popular opinion, tradition, authority, etc). however, the appeal is not valid, and concrete evidence is needed to support the argument

A

appeal fallacies

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5
Q

a set of statements wherein one statement is claimed to follow from or be derived from the others. requires a conclusion

A

argument

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6
Q

a subset of Method of Reasoning questions.

the question stem cites a specific portion of the stimulus and then asks you to identify the role the cited portion plays in the structure of the argument

A

argument part question

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7
Q

an unstated premise of the argument.

A

assumption

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8
Q

an integral component of the argument that the author takes for granted and leaves unsead

A

assumption

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9
Q

these questions ask you to identify an assumption of the author’s argument

A

assumption questions

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10
Q

this technique requires you to logically negate the answer choice under consideration, which results in a negated answer choice that attacks the argument. if the negated answer does not attack the argument, then it is incorrect

A

assumption negation technique

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11
Q

the purpose of this technique is to take an Assumption question, which is generally difficult for most students, and turn it into a Weaken question, which is easier for most students

A

assumption negation technique

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12
Q

ask you to identify the answer choice that cannot be true or is most weakened based on the information in the stimulus

A

cannot be true questions

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13
Q

asserts or denies that one thing causes another, or that one thing is caused by another

A

causal reasoning/causality

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14
Q

the event that makes another occur

A

cause (C)

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15
Q

cause and effect reasoning appears in many logical reasoning problems, often in the conclusion where the author mistakenly claims that one event causes another

A

causal reasoning

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16
Q

when one event is said to make another occur

A

cause and effect (CE)

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17
Q

a flaw where the author assumes as true what is supposed to be proved. the premise supports the conclusion, but the conclusion equally supports the premise, creating a “circular” situation where you can move from premise to conclusion, and then back again to the premise, and so on

A

circular reasoning

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18
Q

raises a viewpoint at the beginning of the stimulus and then disagrees with it immediately thereafter. this efficiently raises two opposing views in a very short paragraph. these stimuli are recognizable because they often begin with the phrase, “some people claim…” or one of the many variations of this phrase

A

commonly used construction

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19
Q

a table that lists all the major additive inferences that can be drawn by combining two relationships

A

complete table of formal logic additive inferences

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20
Q

arguments that contain more than one conclusion. in these instances, one of the conclusions is the main conclusion, and the other conclusions are subsidiary conclusions (also known as sub-conclusions).

A

complex argument

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21
Q

makes an initial conclusion based on a premise. the author then uses that conclusion as the foundation (or premise) for another conclusion, thus building a chain with several links

A

complex argument

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22
Q

a statement or judgment that follows from one or more reasons. are supposed to be drawn from and rest on the premises

A

conclusion

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23
Q

when a conclusion indicator and premise indicator are placed back to back, separated by a comma

“Therefore, since…”
“Thus, because…”
Hence, due to…”

A

conclusion/premise indicator form

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24
Q

take the statements under consideration for the conclusion and place them in an arrangement that forces one to be the conclusion and the other(s) to be the premise(s). use premise and conclusion indicators to achieve this end. once the pieces are arranged, determine if the arrangement makes logical sense

A

conclusion identification method

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25
Q

the broad name given to logical relationships composed of sufficient and necessary conditions

A

conditional reasoning

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26
Q

consists of at least one sufficient condition and at least one necessary condition

A

conditional statement

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27
Q

often brought up using the “if…then” construction

A

conditional statement

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28
Q

an answer choice that appears somewhat attractive, interesting, or even confusing. any answer choice that you can’t immediately identify as incorrect

A

contender

29
Q

denies the necessary condition, thereby making it impossible for the sufficient condition to occur

A

contrapositives

30
Q

a relationship where two values move together

A

positive correlation

31
Q

a relationship where two values move in opposite directions (such as with age and eyesight - the older you get, the worse your eyesight gets)

A

negative correlation

32
Q

a premise that actually contains an idea that is counter to the argument.

bring up points of opposition or comparison

A

counter-premise (also called adversatives)

33
Q

contain statements that eliminate ideas or assertions that would undermine the conclusion

A

defender assumptions

34
Q

the practice of creating symbolizations for commons stimulus elements (such as a conditional relationship), or making the stimulus in a way as to make certain parts more easily identifiable (such as the conclusion)

A

diagramming

35
Q

indicates that the two terms must always occur together. typically introduced in any of the following three ways:
1. use of the phrase “if and only if”
2. use of the phrase “vice versa” (as in “if A attends then B attends, and vice versa”)
3. by repeating and reversing the terms (as in “if A attends then B attends, and if B attends then A attends”)

A

double arrow

36
Q

indicates that two terms cannot occur together. not only prohibits one scenario - one where the two terms occur together

A

double-not arrow

37
Q

the event that follows from the cause

A

effect (E in diagramming)

38
Q

at least one of the two (note: this definition implicitly allows for the possibility that both elements occur, and the existence of this possibility makes diagramming sentences containing the term confusing. a careful examination of the definition reveals that a conditional relationship is at the heart of the construction: since at least one of the terms must occur, if one fails to occur then the other must occur)

A

either/or

39
Q

when attacking parallel reasoning questions, compare the big-picture elements of the argument: intent of the conclusion, force and use of the premises, the relationship of the premises and the conclusion, and the soundness of the argument. the four tests you can use to evaluate answers are Match the Method of Reasoning, Match the Conclusion, Match the Premises, and Match the Validity of the Argument

A

elemental attack

40
Q

a common error of reasoning that involves the misuse of evidence in one of these ways:
1. lack of evidence for a position is taken to prove that position is false
2. lack of evidence against a position is taken to prove that position is true
3. some evidence against a position is taken to prove that position is false
4. some evidence for a position is taken to prove that position is true

A

errors in the use of evidence

41
Q

a common error of reasoning that involves judgments made about groups and parts of a group

A

errors of composition and division

42
Q

occurs when the author attributes a characteristic of part of the group to the group as a whole or to each member of the group

A

error of composition

43
Q

occurs when the author attributes a characteristic of the whole (or each member of the whole) to a part of the group

A

error of division

44
Q

a common error of reasoning that involves confusing the sufficient condition with the necessary conditions. Note: authors can either mistake a necessary condition for a sufficient condition or mistake a sufficient condition for a necessary condition

A

errors of conditional reasoning

45
Q

with these questions, you must decide which answer choice will allow you to determine the logical validity of the argument. use the Variance Test to prove or disprove answers as needed.

A

evaluate the argument questions

46
Q

in Must Be True and Method questions, these answers take information from the stimulus and then stretch that information to make a broader statement that is not supported by the stimulus

A

exaggerated answer

47
Q

when placed in a question, it negates the logical quality of the answer choice you seek. it turns the intent of the question stem upside down

A

except

48
Q

a common error of reasoning that involves taking a small number of instances and treating those instances as if they support a broad, sweeping conclusion

A

exceptional case/overgeneralization

49
Q

a collection of statements without a conclusion. make a series of assertions without making a judgment

A

fact set

50
Q

the correct answer to a Must Be True question (and other First Family questions) can always be proven by referring to the facts stated in the stimulus. an answer choice that cannot be substantiated by proof in the stimulus is incorrect

A

Fact Test

51
Q

a common error of reasoning that involves an author using an analogy that is too dissimilar to the original situation to be applicable

A

false analogy

52
Q

a common error of reasoning that involves assuming that only two courses of action are available when there may be others (for example, “you are either rich or impoverished”) - not to be confused with a situation where the author legitimately established that only two possibilities exist. phrases such as “either A or B will occur, but not both” can establish a limited set of possibilities, and certain real-world situations yield only two possibilities, such as “you are either dead or alive”

A

false dilemma

53
Q

consists of question types that use the stimulus to prove that one of the answer choices must be true. no information outside of the sphere of the stimulus is allowed in the correct answer choice. includes the following question types: Must Be True/Most Strongly Supported, Main Point, Point at Issue/POint of Agreement, Method of Reasoning, Flaw in the Reasoning, and Parallel Reasoning/Parallel Flaw

A

first family

54
Q

questions that contain a stimulus that ends with a blank space. the question asks you to fill in the blank with an appropriate answer

A

fill in the blank

55
Q

questions that ask you to describe, in abstract terms,, the error of reasoning committed by the author

A

flaw in the reasoning questions

56
Q

a standard system of translating relationships into symbols and then making inferences from those symbolized relationships

A

formal logic (FL)

57
Q

all question types are variations of four main question “families,” and each family is comprised of question types that are similar to each other

A

four question families

58
Q

consists of question types that use the stimulus to prove that one of the answer choices cannot occur. no information outside the sphere of the stimulus is allowed in the answer choices. includes the following question type: Cannot Be True

A

fourth family

59
Q

some authors misuse information to such a degree that they fail to provide any information to support their conclusion or they provide information that is irrelevant to their conclusion

A

general lack of relevant evidence for the conclusion

60
Q

answers that start out by describing something that in fact occurred in the stimulus, but often end by describing something that did not occur in the stimulus. found in Must Be True, Method, and Flaw questions

A

half right, half wrong answer

61
Q

certain concepts that automatically imply other things. for example, a discussion of “all animals” thereby includes cats, zebras, lizards, etc. in this way, elements that are not explicitly mentioned in the stimulus can still validly appear in the right answer choice

a concept first introduced in Must Be True questions, but one which can play a role in other question types as well.

A

idea umbrella

62
Q

something that must be true. you must find an item that must be true based on the information presented int he argument

A

inference

63
Q

a common error of reasoning (also known as a self-contradiction) that occurs when an author makes conflicting statements

A

internal contradiction

64
Q

premise + answer choice = conclusion

a useful tool for understanding how Justify the Conclusion questions work. if the answer choice is correct, the application of this formula will produce the given conclusion. if the answer choice is correct, the application of this formula will fail to produce a given conclusion

A

justify formula

65
Q

questions that ask you to supply a piece of information that, when added to the premises, proves the conclusion

A

justify the conclusion questions

66
Q

when this term appears in a question stem, you should treat it exactly the same as “except”
note: this advice only holds true when this word appears in the question stem

A

least

67
Q

details the relationship between all, most, and some

A

logic ladder

68
Q

an answer choice which immediately strikes you as incorrect

A

loser

LSAT LR (1 decks)

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