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Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 8:46 am
by flannelman
Am I nuts or has anyone else noticed a trend which would seem uncharacteristic of LSAC. Correct answers of huge parallel reasoning questions seem to be A quite often, so often in fact I wonder what the most common correct answer choice statistics look like for PR questions. My money is on A... Which seems less evil than normal for the workings of LSAC.
I would expect that many people rush through these and when they find something that looks right, move on to the next question. If A looks right and actually IS, well shucks LSAC, thanks for making this your most popular selection... or not. That plus after a long horrid PR i would expect them to have the exam taker waste an extra second or two by moving all the way over the scantron to D of E. Anyone have any insight?

Re: Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:34 am
by niederbomb
E is common as well.

So, the answer is a whole lot likelier to be either A or E than it is to be anything else.

Same is true on synthesis question following an RC passage: "Which of the following best expresses the main point of the passage?"

I've often wondered about this too.

Re: Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:37 am
by kkklick
I find that when the answer is E, C is often the very attractive trap choice. Just my 2 cents.

Re: Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:39 am
by mst
Regardless of whether there is one or not, I feel like this could be more of a distraction information-wise come test day than it could be helpful... The people who make this test are arguably the best standardized test-makers in the entire world. I really doubt they aren't using a randomizer or something... Eventually an anomaly will show up after thousands of questions. But past tests are not a predictor of future answers...

Re: Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:01 am
by gambelda
mst wrote:Regardless of whether there is one or not, I feel like this could be more of a distraction information-wise come test day than it could be helpful... The people who make this test are arguably the best standardized test-makers in the entire world. I really doubt they aren't using a randomizer or something... Eventually an anomaly will show up after thousands of questions. But past tests are not a predictor of future answers...
Still, I think one like myself could gain from this knwledge by skipping B,C,D and read A,E first on those pesky PR questions that come later in the LR section when you're short on time.

I think I had noticed this happening but never made the connection. I'll keep that in mind. I don't mind reading AC's out of order.

Re: Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:52 am
by Nonok
There's a lot of statistical information at the end of the LRB. I suggest you check that out. Towards the end of the section, there are lot of D's and E's. PR questions are typically towards the end of sections too.

Re: Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 11:58 am
by smithjackson
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Re: Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:56 pm
by 2014
I always have thought that A is a trap answer. From what I have seen it consistently deals with the same subject matter as the stimulus, but the pattern of reasoning is different. So like if the stimulus talks about teachers and students, A will as well and be incorrect whereas perhaps C will be correct while talking about employers and employees.

Re: Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:59 pm
by vanwinkle
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Re: Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 6:58 pm
by flannelman
re: "There's a lot of statistical information at the end of the LRB. I suggest you check that out. Towards the end of the section, there are lot of D's and E's. PR questions are typically towards the end of sections too."

Right that becomes fairly pertinent I too was aware of some sats showing D and E being the most common answer toward the end of a test. Additionally it is my understanding that this is not an anomaly but a choice of the test makers. They increase the difficulty of the test by default knowing that most testers read answer choices in order throughout the exam. Knowing that if you additionally get a Parallel Q toward the end of the test the probability of the answer being A or E (or arguably D) is far higher than that of B or C. So one might save a solid min on the question and still get it correct. Still I would love to see a spreadsheet of correct answers to PQ over the years.

Re: Most common Answer choice for Parallel Reasoning Q's

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 8:52 pm
by Sandro
while sitting here and saying choosing answer choices based on trends is silly you cant help but agree that chances are there arent going to be stings of A answer choices on the hardest questions towards the end. That doesnt really help but maybe if you narrow some down...