What Next? Forum

[ColumbiaOrBust]

So I mentioned this in a post the other day, but as I switched from the earlier LSATs to the PTs between 40-60, my score dropped from around 170ish to 162ish. I've eliminated all the major weaknesses in LR, my weakest section, so I'm no longer getting say, 4 of the flaw in the reasoning questions wrong. Now it's just one from each question type. Does anyone have any suggestion for minimizing or eliminating these? I'm finding it much more difficult since I can't really focus on one specific type, since it's one question or so wrong from each of the different LR types. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[dietcoke0]

How's your timing? If you have trouble on the first go with a problem, I annotate it, don't quite get it, come back to it. Usually on the second go makes a lot more sense. Maybe my subconscious is working on it, or maybe just bad timing for that exact question (LSAT Bastards) but I usually have a better time when something doesn't pop.

[ColumbiaOrBust]

Timing isn't an issue. I generally finish each section with about 3-5 minutes left. It seems that on most of the questions in LR that I get wrong, I can narrow it down to 2 options, but they generally look so similar to me that I can't quite figure out which one is correct. Usually when I go back to it, I'm frustrated by not being able to figure it discern the key difference between the two, so that probably has an effect on my ability to finish the question off. There are usually about 5-6 of these per section for me, and they're almost always the only ones I get wrong.

[bp shinners]

How are you ultimately deciding between the two answers? Are you comparing them back to the conclusion of the argument?

[imjustjoking22]

The best advice I got for LR was just that every wrong answer is 100% wrong for some reason. If you're really agonizing over 2 choices over and over and picking the wrong one, I'd guess you're not reading carefully enough- a word makes a BIG difference. Try to push on each answer choice- could it be wrong? If so, then it is. If you have to make a complex argument for why an answer might be right, then it's not.

[bp shinners]

The best advice I got for LR was just that every wrong answer is 100% wrong for some reason. If you're really agonizing over 2 choices over and over and picking the wrong one, I'd guess you're not reading carefully enough- a word makes a BIG difference. Try to push on each answer choice- could it be wrong? If so, then it is. If you have to make a complex argument for why an answer might be right, then it's not.

Also, there should be two steps (well, more, but bear with me so I can make a point) to analyzing an answer choice. The first is comparing the words with logical force in the answer choice to the stimulus. Look to see if the mosts, alls, shoulds, wills, can'ts, etc... line up to eliminate answer choices.

If that doesn't get rid of 4 of them, compare the subject words to what's left. Quite often, the test is going to equivocate between two terms that, to you, sound exactly the same (Consumer Price Index and Production Costs, Losing Weight and Losing Fat). If it does that, it's wrong (and probably the sucker choice).