Trying to catch my girlfriend cheating... Forum

[Geetar Man]

I've suspected for some time now that my girlfriend is cheating.

The usual signs... Phone rings but if I answer, the caller hangs up. My girlfriend has been going out with the girls a lot recently although when I ask their names she says, "Just some friends from work. You don't know them." She didn't have many friends when I first met her, and now all of a sudden, she does?

I always stay awake to look for her coming home, and how she gets home, but she always ends up walking down the driveway.
Sometimes I can hear a car driving off as if she got out around the corner. But why? Maybe she was in a taxi?

I once picked up her phone just to see what time it was and she went crazy, screaming at me saying that I should never touch her phone again and asked why I was checking up on her.

I told her I was just checking the time and she totally freaked out on me. It was very unusual.

Anyway, I have never disclosed the subject with her. I think deep down I didn't want to know the truth but last night again, she went out and I decided to really check in on her this time.

I decided that I was going to stand in my office by the window and watch for her to come home, that way I had a good view of the street.

It was at that moment standing by my desk, that I was reading a few assumption questions, when I noticed the difference between a necessary assumption and sufficient assumption.

Is this something I should make sure to be able to recognize come test day?
Powerscore does not differentiate between the 2 types of questions and I think it is extremely important to recognize the difference.
If so, how crucial is it that I know the difference between to two? And will the answer to the proper assumption be different in terms of modifiers, respective to the assumption type?

Thanks!

[johansantana21]

150

[BlueDiamond]

hahaha you got cheated on

[Geetar Man]

150

QUE?

[20130312]

It was at that moment standing by my desk, that I was reading a few assumption questions, when I noticed the difference between a necessary assumption and sufficient assumption.

Is this something I should make sure to be able to recognize come test day?
Powerscore does not differentiate between the 2 types of questions and I think it is extremely important to recognize the difference.
If so, how crucial is it that I know the difference between to two? And will the answer to the proper assumption be different in terms of modifiers, respective to the assumption type?

Thanks!

That was actually pretty funny, but...

IBTL

[Geetar Man]

It was at that moment standing by my desk, that I was reading a few assumption questions, when I noticed the difference between a necessary assumption and sufficient assumption.

Is this something I should make sure to be able to recognize come test day?
Powerscore does not differentiate between the 2 types of questions and I think it is extremely important to recognize the difference.
If so, how crucial is it that I know the difference between to two? And will the answer to the proper assumption be different in terms of modifiers, respective to the assumption type?

Thanks!

That was actually pretty funny, but...

IBTL

It was meant to be a joke, but at the same time has a real question. I hope it doesnt get locked.

[Genki]

I've suspected for some time now that my girlfriend is cheating.

The usual signs... Phone rings but if I answer, the caller hangs up. My girlfriend has been going out with the girls a lot recently although when I ask their names she says, "Just some friends from work. You don't know them." She didn't have many friends when I first met her, and now all of a sudden, she does?

I always stay awake to look for her coming home, and how she gets home, but she always ends up walking down the driveway.
Sometimes I can hear a car driving off as if she got out around the corner. But why? Maybe she was in a taxi?

I once picked up her phone just to see what time it was and she went crazy, screaming at me saying that I should never touch her phone again and asked why I was checking up on her.

I told her I was just checking the time and she totally freaked out on me. It was very unusual.

Anyway, I have never disclosed the subject with her. I think deep down I didn't want to know the truth but last night again, she went out and I decided to really check in on her this time.

I decided that I was going to stand in my office by the window and watch for her to come home, that way I had a good view of the street.

It was at that moment standing by my desk, that I was reading a few assumption questions, when I noticed the difference between a necessary assumption and sufficient assumption.

Is this something I should make sure to be able to recognize come test day?
Powerscore does not differentiate between the 2 types of questions and I think it is extremely important to recognize the difference.
If so, how crucial is it that I know the difference between to two? And will the answer to the proper assumption be different in terms of modifiers, respective to the assumption type?

Thanks!

[Geetar Man]

I've suspected for some time now that my girlfriend is cheating.

The usual signs... Phone rings but if I answer, the caller hangs up. My girlfriend has been going out with the girls a lot recently although when I ask their names she says, "Just some friends from work. You don't know them." She didn't have many friends when I first met her, and now all of a sudden, she does?

I always stay awake to look for her coming home, and how she gets home, but she always ends up walking down the driveway.
Sometimes I can hear a car driving off as if she got out around the corner. But why? Maybe she was in a taxi?

I once picked up her phone just to see what time it was and she went crazy, screaming at me saying that I should never touch her phone again and asked why I was checking up on her.

I told her I was just checking the time and she totally freaked out on me. It was very unusual.

Anyway, I have never disclosed the subject with her. I think deep down I didn't want to know the truth but last night again, she went out and I decided to really check in on her this time.

I decided that I was going to stand in my office by the window and watch for her to come home, that way I had a good view of the street.

It was at that moment standing by my desk, that I was reading a few assumption questions, when I noticed the difference between a necessary assumption and sufficient assumption.

Is this something I should make sure to be able to recognize come test day?
Powerscore does not differentiate between the 2 types of questions and I think it is extremely important to recognize the difference.
If so, how crucial is it that I know the difference between to two? And will the answer to the proper assumption be different in terms of modifiers, respective to the assumption type?

Thanks!

[20130312]

These two question types, while similar, have some key differences. I'm surprised Powerscore doesn't differentiate, I know Testmasters did make a distinction.

Necessary questions often contain: depends, required, relies, assumes
Sufficient questions often contain: follows logically (or properly drawn) if ... is assumed, allows, justifies

Also, the negation test only works on necessary questions.

[ggibelli]

this should definitely be your personal statement

[Geetar Man]

These two question types, while similar, have some key differences. I'm surprised Powerscore doesn't differentiate, I know Testmasters did make a distinction.

Necessary questions often contain: depends, required, relies, assumes
Sufficient questions often contain: follows logically (or properly drawn) if ... is assumed, allows, justifies

Also, the negation test only works on necessary questions.

Sounds good. What about words in the answer choices?

I read an article stating that sufficient questions will have answer choices with "harder" language and necessary question answers contain "softer" langauge. Is this credited?

[zworykin]

Powerscore doesn't differentiate between necessary and sufficient assumptions?

They're completely different! How on earth can they not make a distinction?

Yes, you need to recognize and understand the difference between the two!


A necessary assumption is one that MUST be true for the argument to follow. It's often going to be a pretty weak statement.
A sufficient assumption is one that, on its own, with no help from any other factors or assumptions, would be enough to guarantee that the argument would follow. These tend to be fairly strong statements.


For example:
Sally is coming over to John's place for dinner tonight, and she really, REALLY likes rhubarb pie. John is baking a rhubarb pie for tonight's dessert. Thus, it is clear that Sally will sleep with John tonight.

Necessary assumptions:
Sally sometimes sleeps with men ("sometimes" is super weak... but if this isn't true, the argument falls flat).
John sometimes sleeps with women (see above).
Sally won't be called away due to an emergency and have to leave town before dinner.
John won't blow up the house in his misguided attempt to bake his way into bed, killing himself in the process.
etc. etc.

Sufficient assumptions:
Sally sleeps with anyone who bakes her a pie she really, REALLY likes.
Sally sleeps with anyone she eats dinner with.
Sally sleeps with any man named John she comes in contact with.
Any woman who eats dinner with John sleeps with him.
Any person who bakes pie for someone else ends up sleeping with them. (All of these are very strongly worded--and also pretty ridiculous in scope. But that's totally alright! Any of them would be sufficient to validate the argument.)

[Geetar Man]

Powerscore doesn't differentiate between necessary and sufficient assumptions?

They're completely different! How on earth can they not make a distinction?

Yes, you need to recognize and understand the difference between the two!


A necessary assumption is one that MUST be true for the argument to follow. It's often going to be a pretty weak statement.
A sufficient assumption is one that, on its own, with no help from any other factors or assumptions, would be enough to guarantee that the argument would follow. These tend to be fairly strong statements.


For example:
Sally is coming over to John's place for dinner tonight, and she really, REALLY likes rhubarb pie. John is baking a rhubarb pie for tonight's dessert. Thus, it is clear that Sally will sleep with John tonight.

Necessary assumptions:
Sally sometimes sleeps with men ("sometimes" is super weak... but if this isn't true, the argument falls flat).
John sometimes sleeps with women (see above).
Sally won't be called away due to an emergency and have to leave town before dinner.
John won't blow up the house in his misguided attempt to bake his way into bed, killing himself in the process.
etc. etc.

Sufficient assumptions:
Sally sleeps with anyone who bakes her a pie she really, REALLY likes.
Sally sleeps with anyone she eats dinner with.
Sally sleeps with any man named John she comes in contact with.
Any woman who eats dinner with John sleeps with him.
Any person who bakes pie for someone else ends up sleeping with them. (All of these are very strongly worded--and also pretty ridiculous in scope. But that's totally alright! Any of them would be sufficient to validate the argument.)

Good explanation. Yeah, Powerscore just bundles both assumption types together. This is a HUGE flaw in the book because those questions are asking for 2 different types of answers.

[Geetar Man]

this should definitely be your personal statement

I was thinking about doing something funny for my personal statement, but I wasn't sure how that would look to the ad comms.

[LSAT Blog]

Some important reasons to be aware of the difference:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=171115

[kennethellenparcell]

I think it's absolutely crucial to recognize the difference between sufficient and assumption questions. PS not differentiating between the two is bad, I always thought they did...

Necessary - this is an assumption that is absolutely necessary for the argument to work. Without it, the argument falls apart. I recommend you check out the negation technique. The correct answers for necessary assumption questions will typically have weaker language, which is why the negation technique works. Become best buddies with the negation technique.

Sufficient - this is an assumption needed to guarantee the conclusion of the argument. Negation technique will not help you here. You need to identify the answer choice that will ensure the conclusion. These answer choices will usually have stronger language. Also, questions of this type usually follow more of a pattern - i.e. Premises: If A => B. If C=> D. Conclusion: If A => D. A sufficient assumption here to make the conclusion true would be If B=> C. Identifying these patterns will help you out. Become best buddies with these patterns.

Also, yo girl sounds like a b. Or maybe she's just trying to get you a really glorious Christmas present that requires a lot of secrecy.

[Angrygeopolitically]

Um.... powerscore does differentiate between necessary assumption and sufficient assumption.

They call Necessary assumption- assumption questions. And sufficient assumption- justify the conclusion questions.

[zworykin]

...

Sufficient - this is an assumption needed to guarantee the conclusion of the argument. Negation technique will not help you here. You need to identify the answer choice that will ensure the conclusion. These answer choices will usually have stronger language. Also, questions of this type usually follow more of a pattern - i.e. Premises: If A => B. If C=> D. Conclusion: If A => D. A sufficient assumption here to make the conclusion true would be If B=> C. Identifying these patterns will help you out. Become best buddies with these patterns.

...

And, as always, remember that they will almost certainly NOT give you "If B => C" as an answer choice; instead, they'll give you "If not C => not B" because they're tricky like that.

[Mce252]

What the hell? You have completely frustrated my morbid curiousity about your girlfriend cheating on you.

[Geetar Man]

I think it's absolutely crucial to recognize the difference between sufficient and assumption questions. PS not differentiating between the two is bad, I always thought they did...

Necessary - this is an assumption that is absolutely necessary for the argument to work. Without it, the argument falls apart. I recommend you check out the negation technique. The correct answers for necessary assumption questions will typically have weaker language, which is why the negation technique works. Become best buddies with the negation technique.

Sufficient - this is an assumption needed to guarantee the conclusion of the argument. Negation technique will not help you here. You need to identify the answer choice that will ensure the conclusion. These answer choices will usually have stronger language. Also, questions of this type usually follow more of a pattern - i.e. Premises: If A => B. If C=> D. Conclusion: If A => D. A sufficient assumption here to make the conclusion true would be If B=> C. Identifying these patterns will help you out. Become best buddies with these patterns.

Also, yo girl sounds like a b. Or maybe she's just trying to get you a really glorious Christmas present that requires a lot of secrecy.

Yeah, this is really good advice so thank you for that.

[Geetar Man]

Um.... powerscore does differentiate between necessary assumption and sufficient assumption.

They call Necessary assumption- assumption questions. And sufficient assumption- justify the conclusion questions.

Yeah, I just saw that. I guess I was expecting them to talk about the sufficient assumption questions under the "assumption" topic; the sufficient questions are called justify the conclusion questions and that's why I didn't recognize it at first.

[JamMasterJ]

This thread. It didn't go where I was hoping it would. Should've noticed it was in the LSAT thread

[Grizz]

actually pretty funny

[Geetar Man]

This thread. It didn't go where I was hoping it would. Should've noticed it was in the LSAT thread

Sorry to disappoint.

actually pretty funny

This is what i was actually intending!

[kwais]

Um.... powerscore does differentiate between necessary assumption and sufficient assumption.

They call Necessary assumption- assumption questions. And sufficient assumption- justify the conclusion questions.

One of the many reasons I don't recommend people use PS for LR