Logical Clues

The easiest way to distinguish what must be true from what might be true is to pay attention to Logical Clues. For example...

If and then tell you something about cause and effect. This statement tells you that if your score is high enough, it must be true that
you will be admitted to your first-choice school. In other words, if you were not admitted to your first-choice school, it could not be
true that you scored above the cutoff.

The following are some Logical Clues that frequently appear in Logical Reasoning questions.

Logical Clue Example Deductions

Sequence There are four cats in the household: Cici, Foster, Monty, and Whitney. Whitney is

larger than Cici. Foster is larger than Whitney. Monty is the largest cat in the

house.

Relative size of the cats: Monty > Foster > Whitney > Cici

Necessary

Conditions

Four diners sit around a round table: Julia, Amy, David, and Ben. Amy never sits

next to Ben. Julia will only sit to Amy’s right.

Amy and Ben sit opposite each other. Julia is to Amy’s right.

The order of seating (counterclockwise) is Amy, Julia, Ben,

David.

If/Then If Adam is a prize-winning playwright, then he must be talented. All prize-winning playwrights are talented.

All/Some/None All dinosaurs were reptiles. Some dinosaurs were bipeds. No bats are reptiles. Some reptiles were (are) bipeds. Some dinosaurs were not

bipeds. No bats are dinosaurs.

“If you score above your first-choice school’s cutoff score on the SHSAT exam, then you will be admitted to your first-choice

school.”