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Hi everyone, I'm just going through the LR Bible and was wondering whether you all tend to read the stimulus first (as recommended by Powerscore) or the question stem first (as recommended by Kaplan). I have always read the question stem first, since I took a class with Kaplan, but PS seems to offer some valid points on why a stimulus-first approach can be beneficial.

Not another one of these.

There is already a thread (or more) on this. Search it. Apparently the concensus was that SUPER awesome high scorers do stimulus first, and pretty good (160's ish) do stem first. I am one of these 160's people.

3|ink wrote:Not another one of these.

It looks like it...

The answer is that it depends on the person. I'm against it because most people reread the stimulus and/or question stem anyway so youre just wasting time by reading the question stem initially. Also, some questions are so easy that you dont need to read the stimulus/question stem more than once, but if you read the question stem first you will almost certainly reread it just to make sure that you know what the question stem is asking of you. That seems like a waste of time.

Good luck!

gdane5 wrote:

3|ink wrote:Not another one of these.

It looks like it...

The answer is that it depends on the person. I'm against it because most people reread the stimulus and/or question stem anyway so youre just wasting time by reading the question stem initially. Also, some questions are so easy that you dont need to read the stimulus/question stem more than once, but if you read the question stem first you will almost certainly reread it just to make sure that you know what the question stem is asking of you. That seems like a waste of time.

Good luck!

I disagree 100%. I read the stem first, and have never once gone back to re-read it. I actually have to re-read the stimulus if I read it first, because my mind wasn't narrowed in on exactly what it was asking for.

Barbie wrote:

gdane5 wrote:

3|ink wrote:Not another one of these.

It looks like it...

The answer is that it depends on the person. I'm against it because most people reread the stimulus and/or question stem anyway so youre just wasting time by reading the question stem initially. Also, some questions are so easy that you dont need to read the stimulus/question stem more than once, but if you read the question stem first you will almost certainly reread it just to make sure that you know what the question stem is asking of you. That seems like a waste of time.

Good luck!

I disagree 100%. I read the stem first, and have never once gone back to re-read it. I actually have to re-read the stimulus if I read it first, because my mind wasn't narrowed in on exactly what it was asking for.

People are different. I tried reading the stem first, but I found that I would have to reread it anyway just to make sure I was 100% sure that I knew what it was asking of me. Besides, it can also hurt you when you dont know what youre supposed to be looking for. You might think youre looking for an assumption, but what youre really supposed to be looking for is a flaw, but because you read the stem first you go through the stimulus thinking youre supposed to look for an assumption and you end up confusing yourself.

gdane5 wrote:

Barbie wrote:

gdane5 wrote:

3|ink wrote:Not another one of these.

It looks like it...

The answer is that it depends on the person. I'm against it because most people reread the stimulus and/or question stem anyway so youre just wasting time by reading the question stem initially. Also, some questions are so easy that you dont need to read the stimulus/question stem more than once, but if you read the question stem first you will almost certainly reread it just to make sure that you know what the question stem is asking of you. That seems like a waste of time.

Good luck!

I disagree 100%. I read the stem first, and have never once gone back to re-read it. I actually have to re-read the stimulus if I read it first, because my mind wasn't narrowed in on exactly what it was asking for.

People are different. I tried reading the stem first, but I found that I would have to reread it anyway just to make sure I was 100% sure that I knew what it was asking of me. Besides, it can also hurt you when you dont know what youre supposed to be looking for. You might think youre looking for an assumption, but what youre really supposed to be looking for is a flaw, but because you read the stem first you go through the stimulus thinking youre supposed to look for an assumption and you end up confusing yourself.

TITCR

You'll find people scoring 170+ on both ends of the spectrum.

3|ink wrote:Not another one of these.

This.

OP: For one, try searching before you ask a question. For two, try both and find out what works for you.

(I did pretty well with reading the stimulus first, and reading the question stem definitely wouldn't have worked for me)

3|ink wrote:Not another one of these.

+1

I just gave my advice the other day. STEM first!

gdane5 wrote:

Barbie wrote:

gdane5 wrote:

3|ink wrote:Not another one of these.

It looks like it...

The answer is that it depends on the person. I'm against it because most people reread the stimulus and/or question stem anyway so youre just wasting time by reading the question stem initially. Also, some questions are so easy that you dont need to read the stimulus/question stem more than once, but if you read the question stem first you will almost certainly reread it just to make sure that you know what the question stem is asking of you. That seems like a waste of time.

Good luck!

I disagree 100%. I read the stem first, and have never once gone back to re-read it. I actually have to re-read the stimulus if I read it first, because my mind wasn't narrowed in on exactly what it was asking for.

People are different. I tried reading the stem first, but I found that I would have to reread it anyway just to make sure I was 100% sure that I knew what it was asking of me. Besides, it can also hurt you when you dont know what youre supposed to be looking for. You might think youre looking for an assumption, but what youre really supposed to be looking for is a flaw, but because you read the stem first you go through the stimulus thinking youre supposed to look for an assumption and you end up confusing yourself.

This works the opposite for me. I don't even have to read the stem. I can glance at it and know EXACTLY what it is asking of me. Then I read the stimulus and immediately find my answer. I guess it is preference, but it is not at all confusing for me my way.

I don't even bother reading either. I just fill in designs on the bubble sheet, I'm killing it with like 20-30% accuracy.

naterj wrote:I don't even bother reading either. I just fill in designs on the bubble sheet, I'm killing it with like 20-30% accuracy.

la mayoooooo

I've always been a stem-first advocate, because knowing the question type tells you how to read the argument and prevents looking for the wrong things. If you're just asked for the main point, find the main point. If you're asked to strengthen/weaken/whatever, you also need to know assumptions/flaws as well as the main point, so you need to go a little farther. If you're asked to draw an inference, there may not be a main point anyway, so don't look for it. That sort of thing.