71 LR One Question 4
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Hey Dave,
On all of the questions I've done so far on this test you haven't invoked any conditional statements in your video explanations. I'm wondering since it has been hard for me to really understand how to apply them in these wordy arguments, is it even imperative for me to use them? Seems like I'm doing okay without them but I did "okay" before on my last LSAT and here I am preparing to take the LSAT again - - you know? In other words, do I need to use conditional language to increase speed, or will just being aware of the questions types and what to do for each suffice in speeding me up? Hope that makes sense. Thanks in advance!
Hey,
Yeah, I'd say the best way to think of conditional symbolization is as a tool - really, in pretty much precisely the way you'd think about a hammer.
When you're driving a nail, there's just nothing better for the job than a hammer. I mean, you could do it another way (whacking at it with your tape measure, or with the sharp end of your screwdriver, if you're really precise and awesome with a screwdriver), but for putting a nail in, the hammer is your best bet.
At the same time, however, you don't go running downstairs to your toolbox to fetch your hammer every time you need to push in a thumbtack.
Conditional symbols are like that hammer - you should use them when you find they help you see the relationships, and you should feel fine with not using them if you can decipher the relationship in the passage easily without them.
As to language cues that tell you that you've got a conditional relationship, I'll direct you to this document, which contains all the conditional language in the world*
(*probably not, really, but I am updating it every time I come across conditional language that isn't already on it. So, you know…).