Formal Logic Perfect!

Of the many tough demands that the LSAT, GRE, GMAT and LSAT make on us, one of the toughest is the use of formal logic. In my years of experience with standardized testing instruction, some students have trouble with reading comprehension, some have trouble understanding arguments, and some have trouble with math, but almost everyone has a hard time with formal logic.

And, of course, that's why the testmakers put formal logic on those tests in the first place. Remember, standardized testing is usually not about what you know, but about how well you think. Critical thinking--the ability to not just memorize and regurgitate what you've been told, but to evaluate it objectively--is a key skill in higher education, as well as in life. True critical thinking began in Greece a mere couple thousand years ago, and the scientific method it bore (the method that has brought civilization everything from antibiotics to the internet) has only been in wide use for about three hundred years. In that time, mankind has advanced by thousands of years. Without formal logic and critical thinking, we'd probably still all be wearing loincloths and dying of smallpox; it's important stuff.

With that in mind, I've been working for the past couple of months to design a class in formal logic that would allow students from various tests to improve their skills in one forum. Formal Logic Perfect will focus on the formal logic concepts that are tested repeatedly on tests like the LSAT, GRE, and GMAT. In the class, I'll teach my students core and advanced formal logic formulations, with special focus on the types of arguments--valid and flawed--that those tests often use. Although you'll also learn some academic theory, this is meant to be a practical class geared toward helping students get your best possible scores on the LSAT, GRE, GMAT, MCAT, or SAT by helping you master formal logic that is even more advanced than what you'll see on those tests.

One of the great things about the class is that you'll learn several different methods for sketching and evaluating arguments, so that you can either pick the one that works best for you and stick with it, or use various methods as the situation merits. I'm hoping that students who complete this course--eight two-hour sessions over two months--will come away with the skills to make the problems they're going to see on their tests look simple by comparison. It will be a challenging class, though, especially if you're a high-school student studying for the SAT, so be ready for some hard work! And of course, as always, anyone who has questions about the course is welcome to contact me directly, or come and meet with me at the Yotsuya center. See you in class!

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・【How are you Studying, Part II】2010.01.20 (Wed)