trouble with difficult questions Forum

[collegebum1989]

Got the Cambridge By Type for LR Questions and have been drilling by type. Not surprisingly, I'm noticing how I usually get ~85-90% of Difficulty 1 Questions, but around ~55-65% of Difficulty 4 Questions.

I understand the patterns and approaches to different question types, but for some reason, these never work for the more difficult questions. Any suggestions on how to improve on the difficult questions?

[TunnelVision]

I did that bundle a couple months ago. I started out probably where you are, but made quick improvements when I started writing out reasons for why I thought every choice was right or wrong. I mean more than just this is irrelevant or too strong. Really know why, and try to find answers that are obviously traps so you could notice them more quickly. Also, predicting the answer and knowing what assumption is being made before looking at the answers helps a ton on really hard questions. Literally, don't even look at the choices until you know otherwise you're more likely to err. Haha I am applying this same approach to RC, and it is helping a little but not nearly as much as it helped me for LR with accuracy.

[Jsa725]

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[collegebum1989]

I actually know what you mean! Like some questions will have "Some A..." in the stimulus, and the correct answer to an MBT question will be "at least one A", I've seen this many times before...

Hmm, so I gather just doing questions over and over and really writing out what's wrong and what's right? Right now, I do questions 5-6 times a week, and spend 6 hours one day of the week reviewing my entire week's work. Should I review questions the day I complete them or review them in large chunks to notice patterns?

Thanks a lot!

[Geetar Man]

I actually know what you mean! Like some questions will have "Some A..." in the stimulus, and the correct answer to an MBT question will be "at least one A", I've seen this many times before...

Hmm, so I gather just doing questions over and over and really writing out what's wrong and what's right? Right now, I do questions 5-6 times a week, and spend 6 hours one day of the week reviewing my entire week's work. Should I review questions the day I complete them or review them in large chunks to notice patterns?

Thanks a lot!

I think it helps to review them while they're fresh, that way you will know why you chose the answer and have a reason (the reason you chose the answer) to not do it again. Also, make sure you actually understand what the correct answer choice did to the argument/stimulus.

[Jsa725]

.

[Geetar Man]

I actually know what you mean! Like some questions will have "Some A..." in the stimulus, and the correct answer to an MBT question will be "at least one A", I've seen this many times before...

Hmm, so I gather just doing questions over and over and really writing out what's wrong and what's right? Right now, I do questions 5-6 times a week, and spend 6 hours one day of the week reviewing my entire week's work. Should I review questions the day I complete them or review them in large chunks to notice patterns?

Thanks a lot!

I think it helps to review them while they're fresh, that way you will know why you chose the answer and have a reason (the reason you chose the answer) to not do it again. Also, make sure you actually understand what the correct answer choice did to the argument/stimulus.

+1 also, use an index card to cover the answers and think of what the answer might be before you look at the 5 choices...remember the wrong answers in 3 star and 4 star categories are there to destroy you.

TCR. I've been using post its to study, covering all of the answer choices for almost all of the questions, writing down my pre phrased answer and then moving to the answer choices. I've seen some improvement with this method.