My LR analysis and which option should I use to improve. Forum

[paulshortys10]

Background Info-
LR has always troubled me from the start. Recently though I did some hard analysis of LRB and manhattan LR which improved my scores a bit for about 4-5 PT's(-9 combined on LR). I have regressed somewhat however on my last 2-3 PT's (-15 on LR today). Which leads me to think I need to dive back into the fundamentals, start from 0 and relearn everything again.

Last 6-7 PT analysis.
I noticed I rarely miss more than 1-2 of the first 15 LR questions of any section. MOST of my misses happen in the last 5 questions. Now obviously this could be because those are actually harder. However, I always finished a timed section with 2-3 unanswered questions(from lack of time obviously). Out of the Non-time related wrong answers, MOST of the time i've narrowed it down to 2 answer choices, I struggled with it for a minute or two, and then i get the answer incorrect. So the problem is that I can never finish an entire section because I struggled with a couple ones earlier, And I make the wrong choices a lot when I'm down to 2.
I think I'm fairly good at understanding the passage and what i need to do to cut down 3 wrong answers immediately, it's just those last two AC's that waste my precious time and get me wrong answers. It's very rare the occasion that I miss one just because i'm lost and have no idea how to answer it. So in conclusion, most of my misses come from wrong choices when i'm down to 2, which in turn leads to more misses due to less time to answer the last questions.


Now to my options
I'm going over the basics all over again in the next couple days. However, I know you won't get better and faster unless you put in the practice. I haven't done almost all of the questions from PT's 1-28. So what should I do with them?

1.Do the LR sections from 1-28 individually and timed(some untimed maybe if helpful). I think this would help me with my timing in some ways.

2.Use those questions form 1-28, but do them using the Kaplan Mastery and focus on 1 LR type at time. If I notice patterns, then I will obviously knock off answer choices quicker, therefore improving my accuracy and speed. The only thing about this though is that I don't have a specific problem with any 1 section, my misses come from all dif types.


CLIFFS-
1.I suck at LR
2.Misses come from last 2 AC choices and timing
3.Should I do timed LR practice or focus on LR by type?





I have other questions regarding the trends of successful LR takers.
1. Do you ALWAYS isolate the conclusion, when there is one of course (BY always I mean it in the LSAT sense, 100% of the time)
2.I'm assuming the most of you knock off wrong answer as a procedure of solving an LR question. SO, when you're down to 2 AC's, do you look for the CORRECT AC or look for the WRONG AC?
3.Same as above, but what are the types of things you look in terms of one choice being better (language ect ect)


Thanks for your time.

[Verity]

Do Kaplan 180. You'll start to own the harder, end-of-section questions, but you may start slipping on the easy questions by making dumb mistakes. Add some more practice, and you should be all good.

I have other questions regarding the trends of successful LR takers.
1. Do you ALWAYS isolate the conclusion, when there is one of course (BY always I mean it in the LSAT sense, 100% of the time)
2.I'm assuming the most of you knock off wrong answer as a procedure of solving an LR question. SO, when you're down to 2 AC's, do you look for the CORRECT AC or look for the WRONG AC?
3.Same as above, but what are the types of things you look in terms of one choice being better (language ect ect)

1. What do you mean by "isolate?" if you mean "recognize," then yes, always.

2. You compare both, looking for weaknesses in each. Often the "close, but no cigar" answer trips people up bad. Find the stronger answer, don't just eliminate one.

3. Depends on the question. Give an example.

PM me. I've been tutoring people on the LSAT (a lot of LR recently too, for some reason).

[paulshortys10]

Do Kaplan 180. You'll start to own the harder, end-of-section questions, but you may start slipping on the easy questions by making dumb mistakes. Add some more practice, and you should be all good.

I have other questions regarding the trends of successful LR takers.
1. Do you ALWAYS isolate the conclusion, when there is one of course (BY always I mean it in the LSAT sense, 100% of the time)
2.I'm assuming the most of you knock off wrong answer as a procedure of solving an LR question. SO, when you're down to 2 AC's, do you look for the CORRECT AC or look for the WRONG AC?
3.Same as above, but what are the types of things you look in terms of one choice being better (language ect ect)

1. What do you mean by "isolate?" if you mean "recognize," then yes, always.

2. You compare both, looking for weaknesses in each. Often the "close, but no cigar" answer trips people up bad. Find the stronger answer, don't just eliminate one.

3. Depends on the question. Give an example.

PM me. I've been tutoring people on the LSAT (a lot of LR recently too, for some reason).

1.By isolate I mean like separate it from the pack, as in do you circle it or underline it or something?
2. I basically want helpful suggestions as to what to do when i have eliminated the 3 wrong ones, and i have the right one or the final wrong one to choose from. I hear it's important to compare the final AC's to the stimulus, not to each other. What other kinds of things are important? such as language, connection to conclusion... I know it all depends on the type of Q.

[glucose101]

I pikachu too!

[Verity]

Do Kaplan 180. You'll start to own the harder, end-of-section questions, but you may start slipping on the easy questions by making dumb mistakes. Add some more practice, and you should be all good.

I have other questions regarding the trends of successful LR takers.
1. Do you ALWAYS isolate the conclusion, when there is one of course (BY always I mean it in the LSAT sense, 100% of the time)
2.I'm assuming the most of you knock off wrong answer as a procedure of solving an LR question. SO, when you're down to 2 AC's, do you look for the CORRECT AC or look for the WRONG AC?
3.Same as above, but what are the types of things you look in terms of one choice being better (language ect ect)

1. What do you mean by "isolate?" if you mean "recognize," then yes, always.

2. You compare both, looking for weaknesses in each. Often the "close, but no cigar" answer trips people up bad. Find the stronger answer, don't just eliminate one.

3. Depends on the question. Give an example.

PM me. I've been tutoring people on the LSAT (a lot of LR recently too, for some reason).

1.By isolate I mean like separate it from the pack, as in do you circle it or underline it or something?
2. I basically want helpful suggestions as to what to do when i have eliminated the 3 wrong ones, and i have the right one or the final wrong one to choose from. I hear it's important to compare the final AC's to the stimulus, not to each other. What other kinds of things are important? such as language, connection to conclusion... I know it all depends on the type of Q.

It's tough to give a hard and fast one-liner for approaching these problems. There are lots of traps you have to look out for, like scope shift, exaggeration, tense shift, contradiction, etc. You learn all of this by doing many, many problems. But you do have to compare AC's to see which is the best answer. That, of course, cannot be done without reference to the stimulus. But the LSAT is subtle. It's not an arithmetic exam, with one answer. You have to find the best answer.

And yes, you have to identify the conclusion right away. Circling or underlining is up to you.