LR: always end up with two answer choices Forum

[deblaw]

omg, I always end up narrowing down two possible answers on LR questions!
Would I ever be able to pull out one correct answer through practices? What is the smart way of approaching?

[am060459]

well i think you are approaching the LR section correctly by first eliminating the wrong answers.

when you are stuck with two answer choices,pay attention to the little things. its usually is the scope, relevance, language or someother factor that makes one answer choice the better answer choice.

[Sloth Hero]

With LR there really are only two answer choices. 3 of them can almost always be quickly written off as 'false'. You'll get good at figuring out the problem with the one -- just make sure when you PT and find yourself struggling between 2 answers, that you mark the answer that you thought was the next best contender. That way when you review, even if you got the question correct, you can learn why exactly that pther answer choice was wrong. This is crucial to your LR ability.

[KevinP]

With LR there really are only two answer choices. 3 of them can almost always be quickly written off as 'false'. You'll get good at figuring out the problem with the one -- just make sure when you PT and find yourself struggling between 2 answers, that you mark the answer that you thought was the next best contender. That way when you review, even if you got the question correct, you can learn why exactly that pther answer choice was wrong. This is crucial to your LR ability.

+1

Also, Manhattan's LR guide suggests comparing each answer choice directly back to the stimulus, and not to each other. I've found that extremely helpful in determining the correct answer since it usually hinged on a keyword.

[GeePee]

I haven't forayed into the LSAT Discussion forum in a while, but here it goes:

This means that you need to spend more time reviewing your completed exams/sections and distinguishing between the close answer choices. Keep track of the mechanisms that differentiate between the credited response and the almost credited response for each question type -- there are only so many ways that the LSAT writers can offer up appealing but incorrect answers. Look for your own weaknesses and guard against them when you get into situations with two closely related but obviously distinct answer choices. In time, you will internalize the process and develop your own mental checklist of "tricks" -- conflating necessary and sufficient conditions, failing to eliminate all alternatives, using a quantifier that does not follow from the premise(s), and misidentifying argument parts are just some of the common ones that LSAC likes to throw into every exam. Just continue to make sure you're sharpening your skills rather than just blindly chasing scores, and you should see the "two answer" frustration diminish over time.

[bp shinners]

With LR there really are only two answer choices. 3 of them can almost always be quickly written off as 'false'. You'll get good at figuring out the problem with the one -- just make sure when you PT and find yourself struggling between 2 answers, that you mark the answer that you thought was the next best contender. That way when you review, even if you got the question correct, you can learn why exactly that pther answer choice was wrong. This is crucial to your LR ability.

+1

Also, Manhattan's LR guide suggests comparing each answer choice directly back to the stimulus, and not to each other. I've found that extremely helpful in determining the correct answer since it usually hinged on a keyword.

Specifically, I would start by comparing it to the conclusion (which you should have underlined as a matter of course).

[soj]

This means that you need to spend more time reviewing your completed exams/sections and distinguishing between the close answer choices. Keep track of the mechanisms that differentiate between the credited response and the almost credited response for each question type -- there are only so many ways that the LSAT writers can offer up appealing but incorrect answers. Look for your own weaknesses and guard against them when you get into situations with two closely related but obviously distinct answer choices. In time, you will internalize the process and develop your own mental checklist of "tricks" -- conflating necessary and sufficient conditions, failing to eliminate all alternatives, using a quantifier that does not follow from the premise(s), and misidentifying argument parts are just some of the common ones that LSAC likes to throw into every exam. Just continue to make sure you're sharpening your skills rather than just blindly chasing scores, and you should see the "two answer" frustration diminish over time.

+1

Start by identifying the differences between ACs you were wavering on. That should help you justify why one answer is correct and another is wrong. Do that for a while and you should develop the kind of sense GeePee is talking about.