Verbal logic

[ipmed]

Anyone have any rules about the logic to answer questions on verbal.
For example:
If A = B does not mean that C = B
1. if salmon are going extinct because of overfishing does not mean that trout are going extinct because of overfishing, even if trout are in fact going extinct.

If A=B does not mean that B=C unless evidence in passage
1. If all people release melanin when they sleep also sleep better does not mean that releasing melanin helps a person sleep better

Unsure about the last one?

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[DrknoSDN]

Honest suggestion that helped me out tremendously... "Don't use logic".

I was doing awful on verbal until i learned to set my pen down and stop marking up the passage except to circle the "most correct" answer.
Using the "if the passage says A, then B is/isn't also true" leads you into a lot of trick answers that sound good but are not the best choice.

The best way to take the tests is to read with interest, understand that the passage is from a real author who had a real point that they were trying to convey to readers, and then look at the question stem to see how strongly worded the question is.

Also pay attention to key words such as "based on the passage it could be concluded that" would be a very narrow answer.
By comparison "from line 1-5 the author probably meant..." gives you much more freedom to stretch or make conclusion that you wouldn't want to do when trying to draw from direct evidence presented in the passage.

My scores improved dramatically when I stopped trying to take verbal like I took PS and BS.
Practice a lot but it's more important to determine what you are doing that is leading you to incorrect answers.
Also read the 30+ Study habits thread. Some random persons post changed the way I approached verbal and I am very grateful.
Hope that helps. GL

 

[ipmed]

I disagree with you. I wish my verbal dident drop, and I wasent struggling to get it back up, so I could offer some cocky rebuttal citing my score. However, i disagree with you, and think that the mcat verbal tests logic as much as the lsat on certain questions.
take a look at verbal question I posted. It proves my point

 

[jlescher]

If all people release melanin and quality of sleep varies, then simply releasing melanin does not lead to good sleep. The passage may discuss a correlation between quantity of melanin and quality of sleep that would clarify the relationship. Is this the answer to the question "1. If all people release melanin when they sleep also sleep better does not mean that releasing melanin helps a person sleep better"?

If all people release melanin(A) and quality of sleep varies(B), then releasing melanin(A) does not lead to all people sleeping well(C)

((A and B) --> ~(A and C)) This could be flawed, I took logic about 6 years ago.

This takes way too long. You're right, the question provided proves you need logical reasoning to get questions right. That does't mean you need to write out the operations or think about sentential operations to figure it out.

 

[NextStepTutor_2]

Hi ipmed. Good question!

The test can, indeed, test your ability to use logic to answer questions. Your cited question certainly illustrates this point—thanks for including it. One approach to working with these logic questions is to read every word very carefully in the question. Often, the answer choices or wording of the question, will betray incorrect answers.

Notice that the first part of the question says "all" recent cases involved massive state intervention. The second premise says that development is "BEST promoted." So we know from this that every case of successful development has involved state intervention; however, development does not require a high degree of political stability. Development is helped along by political stability (note the operative word "best").

By keying into words indicating absolute conditions (all), you will be able to more aggressively eliminate choices like b, which your screenshot shows was incorrectly selected. Also be aware that the logic question here asks what is most reasonable. By knowing that (b) is simply incorrect, you can eliminate it.

I hope this helps you! For some more general strategies on verbal, feel free to check out this link:
< http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...tical-analysis-and-reasoning-skills.1053557/>