Do you read every answer choice? Forum

[swc65]

Yes/177.

Read them, at least in LR and RC. LSAC deliberately designs questions to have one appealing contender early and then the credited response later. If you're a slow reader, work hard on prephrasing.

This. If you do read, I would say it is essential to have an idea of what the answer is!

[invisiblesun]

Yes with these exceptions:
1) LG in general
2) LR parallel reasoning questions where the answers take up the entire half of the page- on these i try to quickly eliminate/skim

179

[Jeffort]

How did the read or not read every answer choice strategies seem to go for people that took the test last weekend? Obviously scores aren't out yet, so what is the confidence in performance level of people that went each way or both ways?

People get 180s without reading every single answer choice.

That being said, it's not the best strategy for most people, especially if you're still not near 100% accurate with games or with LR.

I completely agree. My problem with the other poster was his condescension. If one of his students asked him about this strategy, he probably wouldn't say, "That's a dumb question. You'd have to be stupid to use that strategy." But for some reason, he feels that's acceptable on a forum. I personally don't think it's a good idea to skip answer choices. But I don't think it's a stupid method for an advanced test taker because I often know precisely what the correct answer will say before I read any of the answer choices.

I didn't say people that use the strategy of not reading all the answer choices are stupid, I said using that strategy to cut corners in order to save time is stupid (with some exceptions like LG questions). BTW, when a student I'm working with asks whether or not it is a good idea to select an answer choice before reading all of them (or I see them selecting an answer before having read all of them) I do tell them it is a dumb idea if they have time to read all of them.

[jerrymander]

I always read every answer choice, but not with the same level of focus and attention to detail.

This is because many times on LR and RC problems, there is an answer choice specifically designed to be confusing and drain your time - if you stare at it and try to decipher it, you will often lose 30 secs. to a minute, just on that choice. So if I have an answer that I already like, I will usually not waste time on this type of answer choice, and just proceed. I will, however, mark the question for review - by forcing myself to make quick decisions, I am always left with ~5 minutes at end to review these types of questions.

I call these answers 'time sinks', and I avoid wasting time on them because that is what the test makers want you to do. If, however, I've gone thru all five answers and nothing pops out, then I find that its usually that damn confusing answer that I need to pay more attention to. PERFECT EXAMPLE: Car theft question on October 2010. "Abandon" was the uber-complex answer that turned out to be right, which I chose in the end.

In addition, I never read all the answers on identify the main point and sufficient assumption (justify the conclusion) questions. There is always one correct answer, that can almost always be pre-phrased, and there is literally no reason to do anything but a quick skim of the rest.

Also, on parallel reasoning questions that lend themselves to a clear diagram, I usually pick first answer that fits. This takes practice to recognize correctly, but you can save a lot of time here once you get good at this.

Overall, as you practice more, you will find you can get away with a lot of quick skimming of answers, on MOST problems (but not all). Your intuition gets refined and you start to anticipate exactly what test makers are looking for. It took me about ~15 PTs until I finally started to feel this.

My PT average is 176. Felt great coming out of december, except for LG of course.

Hope this helps.

[Chimica]

Yes.

I read something on this forum once. I forget who posted it but it said "If I get a question wrong, I have made two mistakes. I have picked the wrong answer and I have rejected the correct answer"

As I finish in time in LR and RC, I always read all answers and refuse to circle the correct one until I have rejected all the others.

In logic games, I will read all unless I am time crunched and I decide the odds of my making a mistake is less than the odds of my missing questions because I don't finish.

166 in June

[58932ugahoige]

Typically a 172-175 scorer, I don't read all the answer choices.

Often what I"ll do is put an "X" beside the questions where I didn't review each option, and a star with a circle on the tough ones. I finish with time to spare, start with the tough ones, then review the ones where I didn't read every choice.

Often on easy questions I know the answer before I get to it though.

[Adjudicator]

I usually read every answer choice, mainly because I'm never short on time in LR.. I usually finished LR with 7-8 minutes left over, so there's no reason to skip anything.

However, I know I was occasionally guilty of skipping some answer choices when I found an answer choice that was more or less identical to my own pre-formed answer.

175.

[Canadiana]

I find that it is too dangerous to skip answer choices. I think many of my errors in LR are caused my me choosing an answer that is close to my prephrased answer but subtly different so that it cannot be correct. If I read all the answer choices, I usually catch this mistake.

[iceland]

Only on LG and RC.

[gbpackerbacker]

Even if you are initially certain that the first choice is correct? How do you usually do?

e.g. Yes/161

Always. Dont ever skip. I scored a 170 in October for what it's worth.

+1 to a T

[JazzOne]

How did the read or not read every answer choice strategies seem to go for people that took the test last weekend? Obviously scores aren't out yet, so what is the confidence in performance level of people that went each way or both ways?

People get 180s without reading every single answer choice.

That being said, it's not the best strategy for most people, especially if you're still not near 100% accurate with games or with LR.

I completely agree. My problem with the other poster was his condescension. If one of his students asked him about this strategy, he probably wouldn't say, "That's a dumb question. You'd have to be stupid to use that strategy." But for some reason, he feels that's acceptable on a forum. I personally don't think it's a good idea to skip answer choices. But I don't think it's a stupid method for an advanced test taker because I often know precisely what the correct answer will say before I read any of the answer choices.

I didn't say people that use the strategy of not reading all the answer choices are stupid, I said using that strategy to cut corners in order to save time is stupid (with some exceptions like LG questions). BTW, when a student I'm working with asks whether or not it is a good idea to select an answer choice before reading all of them (or I see them selecting an answer before having read all of them) I do tell them it is a dumb idea if they have time to read all of them.

You said that the entire topic was "silly" and that failing to follow your strategy was "stupid." Calling it "dumb" was just icing. I don't even disagree with your strategy, but how can you deny that the post was condescending? Hey guys, don't even bother to discuss this silly topic because it's stupid. And dumb. GTFO.

[NZA]

Depends?

On some LR questions, there is only one logical answer. And once you find it, bubble, glance at the others, move on.

I scored a 169, so not as great as some other folks, but, that's what I did.

[DoubleChecks]

anyone else find it interesting that this thread topic, for some reason, draws in a disproportionate amount of high scorers? lol

i mean, most of their responses arent even shocking (yes i do read; sometimes dummy check; not on LG!)...but for some reason its like moths to a candle haha