LR Tips Forum

[typ3]

So I've gotten my scores consistently to
-0/-1 LG
-0/-2 RC
-6/-10 LR

Any tips? I've done well with the denial test and LRB but I seem to always miss problems when I'm debating between two answer choices. Would reading an additional informal logic book help apart from re-reading LRB and rewriting the questions I missed?

I seemingly always miss about 2 assumption questions throughout the sections, the rest are random misses here or there.

[KibblesAndVick]

You probably already know this, but you're in great shape. If you've already got LG and RC down you're more than half way home.

If you're having trouble with assumption questions (or if you notice any other type that is throwing you off) you might want to use a book that sorts questions by type. I know Kaplan makes one, and I believe there are also master lists of the LR questions by type somewhere. With something like that you can just drill those question types repeatedly. Hopefully this will smoke out whatever you're doing wrong.

This is general advice, but its importance makes it worth repeating. Make sure you know why the right answers are right and the wrong answers are wrong. On the LR problems that gave me the most trouble I found it useful to hand write an explanation for the right answer choice and the temping wrong answers. This, or alternatively explaining it to someone else if you have a study partner or tutor, will force you to explicitly state the reasoning and logic. When I was screwing up a LR question it was often because of an assumption or mistake I hardly knew I was making. I would have something backwards in my head and forcing myself to write it all out would make the problem clearer.

hth, and good luck!

[TheLuckyOne]

You're missing those "little" words that make you fall for a trap. Read closer, you should be able to justify exactly why A is better than B, and what testmakers did there. As soon as you get it, you will be in great shape.

Seriously, to be able to pick up those little words is all it takes.

[typ3]

I've been using the kap mastery book and blazed through their question types. Over the entire assumption section I correctly marked 81% of them the first time. I'm going to wade through those 23 problems and rewrite them. Kap mast is the biggest time saver on all the prep.

[TheLuckyOne]

ummm, is this ^^^ blatant Kaplan trolling

[typ3]

I'm not trolling for them. I just make comments here and there about the book since there are a handful of elitists on this board who believe the only way to a 180 is with only using PS/TM material. There are some things worthwhile to glean from k/pr and the other prep companies *see pity pikes guide. There's no prep panacea if you will.

[skip james]

ummm, is this ^^^ blatant Kaplan trolling

um.. Kaplan mastery is actually a pretty decent resource. You can't just buy it in a bookstore, either you have to take the course or acquire it secondhand off of amazon.

[CMDantes]

...

[noelleF]

Guys...Kaplan Mastery is the GOLD standard for LSAT prep!

It's completely different from the Kaplan books u find @ the bookstore. Since you can only get it in their classes it uses only real questions. It's legit. Pithypike and many others on this board swear by it as much or maybe even more than the bibles.

[TheLuckyOne]

Guys...Kaplan Mastery is the GOLD standard for LSAT prep!

It's completely different from the Kaplan books u find @ the bookstore. Since you can only get it in their classes it uses only real questions. It's legit. Pithypike and many others on this board swear by it as much or maybe even more than the bibles.

The point here in not Kaplan = good/bad, but OP's switching from "HELP, I SUCK!" to "Hey, folks, Kaplan Mastery rocks! problem solved!"

Oh, by the way, a quick glance at his posts only reinforces my theory.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

So I've gotten my scores consistently to
-0/-1 LG
-0/-2 RC
-6/-10 LR

Any tips? I've done well with the denial test and LRB but I seem to always miss problems when I'm debating between two answer choices. Would reading an additional informal logic book help apart from re-reading LRB and rewriting the questions I missed?

I seemingly always miss about 2 assumption questions throughout the sections, the rest are random misses here or there.

1) Speed up on the first ten if you can keep accurate (1st ten in ten minutes), which will give you extra time for the trickier questions.
2) Don't be afraid of skipping harder Q's or ones that just don't click iniatilly and come back to them.
3) Pay attention to new terms in conclusion for Assumption. If no obvious term or scope shift, try to find a gap in the arg and then look for something that will plug that gap then.
4) Go over missed questions thoroughly. Write out the reasons why the for answer choices were absolutely incorrect and why the correct answer was correct.
5) Pay attention to wording. Be wary of answer choices with strong wording when stimulus contains weaker langauge.

[Shrimps]

4) Go over missed questions thoroughly. Write out the reasons why the for answer choices were absolutely incorrect and why the correct answer was correct.

You should not so much care about the correct answer to a certain question (who cares about it? You're not going to see it again), but about your own thinking that led you to the wrong answer. For each wrong answer, you should be analyzing yourself far more than analyzing the question. Make a spreadsheet of wrong answers and next to each one write an explanation of what particular lapse in reasoning led you to it. See if there's a trend (that's why I generally dislike grouping wrong answers by type of question, i.e. Main Point, Inference, etc. - they force you to focus on the questions instead of your own faulty thinking).

And again, doing the "Oh, I got it! That one is obviously the right answer, duh" routine for your review is a waste of time. Recall your thinking process. That's what's important. And until you get down to 0-2 mistakes per each LR section, I wouldn't recommend taking full timed PTs. Review after EACH section, while you still remember what you thought as you answered each individual question.

[Richie Tenenbaum]

4) Go over missed questions thoroughly. Write out the reasons why the for answer choices were absolutely incorrect and why the correct answer was correct.

You should not so much care about the correct answer to a certain question (who cares about it? You're not going to see it again), but about your own thinking that led you to the wrong answer. For each wrong answer, you should be analyzing yourself far more than analyzing the question. Make a spreadsheet of wrong answers and next to each one write an explanation of what particular lapse in reasoning led you to it. See if there's a trend (that's why I generally dislike grouping wrong answers by type of question, i.e. Main Point, Inference, etc. - they force you to focus on the questions instead of your own faulty thinking).

And again, doing the "Oh, I got it! That one is obviously the right answer, duh" routine for your review is a waste of time. Recall your thinking process. That's what's important. And until you get down to 0-2 mistakes per each LR section, I wouldn't recommend taking full timed PTs. Review after EACH section, while you still remember what you thought as you answered each individual question.

I agree with the focus being on figuring out what led you to choose the wrong answer. Being able to explain why the correct answer is the correct answer can be very helpful though, esp for Q's that have nastier formal logic and parallel reasoning Qs. I focused more on the Q's and the patterns you start to notice in incorrect and correct answers more than my own thought process. To each his own though if it works for you.