only lessons I'm learning from PTs: Forum

[meadow201]

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[Micdiddy]

1. read all the choices
2. in RC, read the surrounding sentences too

Other than that, everything else is "no duh" or some aspect unique to the question's context and not generalizable to other questions. Something like "I wouldn't have thought this journal's featuring famous authors helps its subscription in a way this other journal cannot imitate"

Am I supposed to be learning anything else?

Yes. You should learn that the bolded doesn't really exist. Subject matter is the least important thing, ask what role the information plays in the argument, and why it fits as the right answer. Every single stimulus is basically a carbon copy of a different one, and pt's help reveal this.
Also, taking pt's is important just or the mechanical repetition of taking the test, getting used to it, etc.

[meadow201]

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[Micdiddy]

1. read all the choices
2. in RC, read the surrounding sentences too

Other than that, everything else is "no duh" or some aspect unique to the question's context and not generalizable to other questions. Something like "I wouldn't have thought this journal's featuring famous authors helps its subscription in a way this other journal cannot imitate"

Am I supposed to be learning anything else?

Yes. You should learn that the bolded doesn't really exist. Subject matter is the least important thing, ask what role the information plays in the argument, and why it fits as the right answer. Every single stimulus is basically a carbon copy of a different one, and pt's help reveal this.
Also, taking pt's is important just or the mechanical repetition of taking the test, getting used to it, etc.

Yea I get that. LRB says to weaken a causal claim, one of the things you can do is identify an alternative cause

so a recent question I answered incorrectly said something like.

A reduces accidents.

What weakens this?

D and E both looked like alternative causes. During the test I picked E because D had something funny with many and E looked stronger. After the test, I stared at the two choices for about 2 min before realizing that E doesn't actually reduce accidents, it just reduces injuries after accidents occur.

Something like that. Does X reduce accidents, or injuries? I know what to look for but a question like trips me up sometimes

Sure, and recognizing that will help you not pick a similar wrong answer on the next cause and effect question. You'll remember "is this actually an alternate cause, or does it deal with a different effect?"

[meadow201]

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[Micdiddy]

so should I keep a journal of all these mistakes (I don't make that many) or just keep it in my head?

Either. I cut out every single LR question I missed and pasted it in a journal with written explanations of why I choose the wrong answer and why the right answer is right.
I would not recommend this for everyone, I was missing probably at most 5 LR a diag when I started this. Anymore than that and it could be a huge time sink, but it really helped me with pattern recognition.

[meadow201]

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[Micdiddy]

I miss at most 3/test in LR, with no discernible pattern (the question types, stems, etc)

This journal will help you find any hidden pattern as well. What are your other sections like? -3 a test is already pretty good so perhaps your time will be better spent elsewhere (though striving for perfection is perfectly legitimate as well).

[meadow201]

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[Jeffort]

Since you are scoring near perfect your list of mistakes/weaknesses to fix is obviously going to be small, leaving you with few new things to learn from additional tests other than that everything you currently know and are doing is good and is working properly, therefore keep doing it!

When consistently scoring near perfect, it's typical that a few of the lost points are simply due to random types of simple careless errors, such as one you said about not reading and considering all five ACs before selecting an answer. Since you said that has happened to you a few times, stop doing it to shortcut questions and also make sure to concentrate fully and analyze thoroughly on all questions to minimize the chance of careless mistakes. There are different types of careless mistakes so its normal for your list of errors to be different per test, but with most of them still qualifying as careless rather than concept/understanding/logic based issues. Pretty much every type of careless error is simply caused by not focusing and thinking to 100% capacity about a question, but instead getting a little bit mentally lazy and skipping a step or just not thinking something through as hard or thoroughly as you could and should have.