Those Pesky Quantity Terms
By now if you’ve been studying for a while, either on your own, in a course or with a tutor, you’ve encountered the ubiquitous “quantity terms” scattered throughout the test: some, most, majority, etc. You may have been surprised to learn that “many” does not mean “most” and that “some” can include “all.” (You may even have slammed down your pencil at this discovery.)
The quirkiness of LSAT quantity terms can be frustrating when you first encounter it, but it isn’t as counterintuitive or labyrinthine as it initially appears to many (but not most). The key question to keep in mind at all times when it comes to a quantity term is: what’s its maximum, and what’s its minimum?
Here’s a useful guide. Once you commit this to memory, you should be in good shape to take down the LSAT on its own quantity terms (har har):
|
Term |
Min |
Max |
| Some/sometimes | more than one | all |
| Many/often/frequently | more than one | all |
| Most/usually/typically/ordinarily | more than half (more than 50%) | all |
| Majority | more than half (more than 50%) | all |
| Vast majority | more than half (more than 50%) | all |
| More often than not | more than 50% of the time | up to 100% of the time |
| Likely | more than 50% chance | up to 100% chance |
| Unlikely | zero/nothing | less than 50% chance |
| Not unlikely | 50% chance or higher will occur | up to 100% chance |
| Less than likely | zero/nothing | up to 50% (not more, but could just be at 50%) |