Thoughts needed: Helping someone with logical reasoning Forum

[Dotson525]

Two of my friends and I will be taking the Feb. 2011 LSAT. One of our friends is having difficulty in logical reasoning.
Listed are the major problems:

1. Inconsistent scores within both logical reasoning sections in one test. (In one test, 18 correct in one section, only 10 in the other)
2. Somewhat struggling with inference questions.
3. Correct answer many times was a contender.
4. Misses info within stem, that would lead to correct answer from contenders.

In addition, these books have been used our study:
1. Powerscore: Logical Reasoning Bible
2. ExamKrackers: Complete Study Package (Contains seperate books on LG, LR, and RC)
3. Kaplan Premier
4. Kaplan 180
4. Princeton Review: Cracking the the LSAT
5. 10, 10 more, and next 10 LSAT Preptest
6. More recent official prepest
7. Superprep

Our friend is currently not working: can spend up to 8hrs a day to study.
Individual does be from self study.

My other friend and I disagree of what should be done.

Friend: Found inexpensive online class/lesson. Thinks this should be included.
I: Continue to take tests. Mistakens will lessen due to practice.

Need thoughts from someone outside our little circle.
Thanks,

[DarkPhantom]

As long as he is going back and figuring out why he missed the questions, practice definitely helps. However, if he is only taking the tests over and over without going back and reviewing his mistakes...it is pointless to an extent to keep practicing...

On my diag PT...I was missing almost -9,-10 in each RC section...but have brought that down to -5 or less by simply going over what was wrong and reading the LRB - as long as you actively and aggressively go through the LR - you should be ok. You can't skim over it.

[well-hello-there]

#1 is normal. I would miss zero on one section and 6 on another sometimes. Some sections are harder than others.

Y'all should do a section of Logical reasoning at the same time. after the 35 minutes is up, don't look to see which answers are right. Start at question #1 and explain amongst yourselves why you all picked the the same answer. If anybody picked a different answer than the other people picked, explain yourself and then let the other people rebut.

often times you will all know which answer is right before checking the answer sheet and the person who might have picked a wrong answer will concede their error.

This worked very well to get me from the high 150's into the high 160's. It starts to lose effectiveness however as you start scoring in the high 160's.

Also, arguing who is right and wrong before you look to see what the right answer is can at times cause people to get their feelings hurt. Be careful about how you argue your point or it can quickly devolve into hurt feelings and a defunct study group.

[DarkPhantom]

^what he said, if pairing up with someone - make sure to remain objective...

[robotclubmember]

Friend: Found inexpensive online class/lesson. Thinks this should be included.
I: Continue to take tests. Mistakens will lessen due to practice.

Doing more and more tests without revisiting theory is terrible advice. It's a great way to waste time and burn through limited tests. You can't brute force your way through everything in life. What I would recommend is that he tallies up the questions he gets wrong by question type. I.e., Assumption, MBT, Weaken, Flaw, etc. Then just thoroughly revisit the chapters on the question types specifically with the materials you already have and take notes throughout. Your friend needs to understand what questions challenge him the most and why he is getting wrong, and how to get them right. Then maybe he could grab the question type training book from PS and drill question types. Some argue this doesn't help because you should practice with tons of different questions to simulate an actual test. Well, of course do that, but also add question type training. It's so close to test day, you have to be smart with your time, identify the weaknesses and hit them specifically to get the most mileage out of your study time. He doesn't need lessons but he does need strong theory. Just doing a bunch of tests over and over and not understanding the theory behind the questions is an awful idea though. He still needs to do the tests, but that by itself won't yield optimal results. That said, I agree with your other friend's idea more than yours, but think neither of them is the really correct answer.

[Dotson525]

Thanks for the input!

We decided to do another review from the materials we have. Then have him take tests to reinforce the material.
Hopefully this helps.

[Dotson525]

After reviewing the test, we listed his problem areas. During the weekend, he study the problem areas from the listed books. Tested again, he increased 2 points. Again, we reviewed the errors. Funny though, he immediately realized his error, and was able to explain the correct answer choice. Similar to his performance before the review.

Now: LR 18 correct
Goal: LR 20-22 correct

Materials:
ExamKrackers: LR book
PowerScore LR bible
Princeton Review: Cracking the LSAT

My friend noticed an Online course that was inexpensive
Test Sherpa Lsat: includes 8 hour lesson

With only a month left, should additional material be introduced?
Also has anyone used Test Sherpa?