Could Be True vs. Must Be True (LSAT)

Two types of questions that'll often show up on the Logic Games section of the LSAT are "could be true" questions and "must be true" questions. These two question types show up throughout all sections on the exam, but this post will focus on the Logic Games. Distinguishing these question types allows for an important strategy.

Let's say you're given a "could be true" type question. You work out a solution and that solution appears in one of the answer choices. Because your solution appears in a choice (and assuming you've worked it out correctly), the solution could be true. You've got to work quickly on this section, and so at that point it's best to pick that answer and move on. You've found an answer that could be true and that's what you were asked to do. 

"Must be true" questions provide an added layer of difficulty. Once again, let's say you've worked out a solution correctly that appears in an answer choice. In a "must be true" question, the fact that an answer that you've worked out appears in a choice doesn't tell us as much. It tells us that that answer could be true, but there might be other solutions that also could be true. So you need to keep working through each answer choice to see if any others also could be true. 

You'll very likely eliminate some of the choices (because they must be false), but you might be left with more than one answer choice that could be true. At that point, you need to attempt to see if one of those choices need not be true even though it could be true. The goal is to eliminate and there will only be one answer choice that under all circumstances with the constraints set forth in a given question must be true. 

In short, "could be true" questions are less time consuming than "must be true" questions for the reasons stated above. Though sometimes even the must be true questions will go very quickly, depending on the diagrams that you've previously drawn. 

A key to the LSAT is to pay close attention to the question types on all of the sections, not just on Logic Games.