kaplan mastery book advice Forum

[Ineedhelpplease]

im having lots of trouble with logical reasoning and i have the mastery book.. anybody have advice on how best to use it. i pretty much have a solid grasp on the logic, its just translating that into effectively answering the questions thats the issue. thanks

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I would recommend opening and reading it.

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JK

Have you identified the question types that give you the most trouble?

[Ineedhelpplease]

my fault man... there are just alot of people with stupid comments.... i apologize

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my fault man... there are just alot of people with stupid comments.... i apologize

It's not a stupid comment. Just about everyone asks how to improve LR at some time.

[nillumin]

I have the mastery book. Just bought it off someone recently and I love it.

I work full-time, so this is basically what I have been doing with it.

After work every day I have been going through 35 of one type of LR question/35 of either LG/RC /and then back to 35 LR. After I go through each section I look over the explanations. I am going to work through the entire book this way.

I feel like that by doing this I am getting better and will see progress. Simply because I hope that I am starting to become accustomed to certain types of questions and how to approach them (s/w, inf, flaw, princ, etc.).

After I am done with the mastery, I have the pacing/endurance (5 section tests). I don't feel as if I am ready to jump into those, as I haven't made the improvements I need to on LR/RC to see the significant improvement I'd like in my score (I studied the LRB/LGB and took the test in June 2010).

[Ineedhelpplease]

does anybody have a way to tackle those questions with abstract language?

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does anybody have a way to tackle those questions with abstract language?

???

The best way to tackle these questions is to keep reading them until you start thinking and reading logically. Why are you asking for a shortcut with abstraction?

[Ineedhelpplease]

no not a shortcut, but it seems i just keep making stupid mistakes and i say stupid because logicaly i understand. i just cant explain the lapse in answering questions. maybe anybody else has those issues or it can just be the difference between high scores and moderate scores.

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no not a shortcut, but it seems i just keep making stupid mistakes and i say stupid because logicaly i understand. i just cant explain the lapse in answering questions. maybe anybody else has those issues or it can just be the difference between high scores and moderate scores.

Sounds like a reading problem. Do you find yourself frequently re-reading the stimulus because you had an ADD moment while reading it previously?

[Ineedhelpplease]

yeah, i see myself doing that alot.. i find myself sometimes rereading a word alot only to find it doesnt help to answer the question and other times ill just miss a very important term. its weird sometimes after i check and see that i got a question wrong ill just return to that question without knowing the answer rework it and see something i missed or the logic behind the question..

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yeah, i see myself doing that alot.. i find myself sometimes rereading a word alot only to find it doesnt help to answer the question and other times ill just miss a very important term. its weird sometimes after i check and see that i got a question wrong ill just return to that question without knowing the answer rework it and see something i missed or the logic behind the question..

Learning to be a careful reader takes practice. I recommend that you take practice sections.

[Ineedhelpplease]

right now im averaging 17 correct on a logical reasoning section and without those mistakes or lapses im sure i could be at a -5 range.

[Ineedhelpplease]

thanks... do you recommend the mastery book?

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right now im averaging 17 correct on a logical reasoning section and without those mistakes or lapses im sure i could be at a -5 range.

Yep. Then I know I'm right to recommend taking practice sections. I'd start with the earlier sections (PTs 1-20). Take 2-3 of those a night for a week and see if/how you improve.

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thanks... do you recommend the mastery book?

I've never used it. I can only recommend the LR bible.

[Ineedhelpplease]

is there any "good" way of using the mastery book

[gdane]

Use Kaplan Mastery in conjunction with the Logical Reasoning Bible. Work through the logical reasoning bible and then work through the corresponding Kaplan Mastery sections. For instance, you would work through the "Must be true" section in the Logical Reasoning Bible and then work through the Kaplan Mastery "Must be true" section.

I've been doing this and it seems to be working. Ive worked through the Must be true, main point, strengthen, weaken and now I'm working through assumption questions. I get almost all of the 1 and 2 star questions correct. The 3 and 4 are giving me problems, but those are just so tough!

Make sure you understand what youre doing. Dont just do questions hoping that you'll figure out the right answer. Powerscore does a great job of telling you what is usually right and wrong in logical reasoning.

Good luck!

[Ineedhelpplease]

thanks... i have the bible, read through it twice. i really like the idea of reading through it again with the mastery sections. any limit put on how many qauestions a night?

[gdane]

Here's what I do. I'll read through the corresponding section, then I'll write what I read in my own words in a seperate notebook. Whenever I come across an important point, such as in justify questions where Powerscore said that a new element brought up in the conclusion is usually found in the correct answer, I make up my own example next to what I wrote to test my understanding of the concept. It seems like a waste of time, but its helped me "memorize" Powerscores "tips and tricks". So far I've gone through 4 chapters and I have about 9 pages of notes.

Good luck!

Right now I'm doing 15 questions at a time. I give myself 20 minutes. I do the 15, go over each and every one to see why I got it right/wrong. I also go through all the answers and figure out why they were wrong, then do another 15. As I get closer to the end Kaplan Mastery Ill start doing 15 in 15.