Diagramming Forum

[poi]

I find myself rarely diagramming LR questions (only for the hard parallel reasoning and double-checking). During PTs thinking it through in my head seems to be enough, however, I'm afraid that on test day my head is going to be clouded from nerves/nausea/feelings of doom. Diagramming seems to be a more secure/nausea-proof way of working through the questions. Am I getting into some bad habits?

[sundance95]

No, you aren't doing it wrong. Practice like you play. You'll have nerves but you'll just need to settle them down on game day. Diagramming everything is a huge waste of time.

[bhan87]

I only diagram for certain types of questions. For instance, I will ALWAYS diagram:

1. Questions with conditional statements
2. Parallel reasoning questions
3. Assumption questions (particularly sufficient ones, but these often are heavy with conditional statements)

For other questions, I didn't find diagramming necessary, but I always liked to put a fat slash mark between each premise. That way, the stimulus doesn't look like a nauseating blob, but rather a manageable 3-4 pieces. I found that this allowed me to analyze the stimulus much more quickly and made it less overwhelming.

[Easy-E]

I only diagram for certain types of questions. For instance, I will ALWAYS diagram:

1. Questions with conditional statements
2. Parallel reasoning questions
3. Assumption questions (particularly sufficient ones, but these often are heavy with conditional statements)

For other questions, I didn't find diagramming necessary, but I always liked to put a fat slash mark between each premise. That way, the stimulus doesn't look like a nauseating blob, but rather a manageable 3-4 pieces. I found that this allowed me to analyze the stimulus much more quickly and made it less overwhelming.

I'm pretty green to this forum, but I believe TITCR. At least mine.