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This about conditional logic questions specifically. When you see stimulus' with conditional statements do you automatically begin diagramming beside the stimulus or do you go through the stimulus and then decide whether or not you want to diagram? What I'm finding I'm having trouble with is relying on conditional logic to the extent that I ignore the intuitive aspect of the stimulus because I know if I apply formal logic correctly that will lead me to the correct answer; whereas an intuitive analysis might fail me. How do you approach these question types?

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lol basically intuitive analysis: no diagramming and doing everything in your head based on your understanding of the premises and conclusion ie) no formal logic

CardozoLaw09 wrote:lol basically intuitive analysis: no diagramming and doing everything in your head based on your understanding of the premises and conclusion ie) no formal logic

It really depends. Read the passage first, if you got it in your head then you probably dont need to diagram. But there will be questions with more difficult stimulus. This is where you're gonna want to diagram.

CardozoLaw09 wrote:lol basically intuitive analysis: no diagramming and doing everything in your head based on your understanding of the premises and conclusion ie) no formal logic

I underlined each conditional logic statement when it appeared then diagrammed, I scored a 177, fwiw.

If it was really easy (like straight up If then) I diagrammed automatically. If it was kind of complicated I usually tried to do it without symbolizing anything and only did it if I had to.

I read it through first. If I can treat it as, what I would call "normal logic" I do that. As in I just juggle the info in my head like I would if this was a real life problem and I was solving it. If I can tell it's a heavy usage of formal logic I draw it out.

I tend to use formal logic when I can tell the question writers intended you to do so, and it's almost like our treat for being able to recognize that because the answer becomes apparent. Otherwise I find that you don't get as much output for the work you do for writing out the formal logic.

I actually had to make a conscious effort to remember to diagram sometimes. I was so worried about my pace that somewhere around the middle of my studying I just gave up doing it entirely. That was costing me a few questions, so I had to remember to throw down some diagrams when I needed to. Point being, timing is incredibly critical, and I think giving up diagramming for a bit (note I am not necessarily recommending doing this yourself) actually helped me figure out the limited instances where it was really important to diagram, but it is certainly not necessary for all the questions where it could be useful.

It definitely depends. Sometimes you'll encounter such simple formal logic that you can already guess the correct answer choice before you begin to read them. Other times it is more difficult. About 3/4 of the time I would diagram. Answers will always follow if you correctly diagram. It's just that sometimes it's unnecessary because it's already in your head. I suspect that there are a number of people faster than me that wouldn't have to diagram, and a number of people slower than me that would have to diagram everything. YMMV - HTH

I was quick to partially diagram things, just to make sure I didn't make silly mistakes. There was usually only 1-3 nasty formal logic questions though that I would completely diagrammed out. I think it's better to over-diagram than under-diagram. If I knew it was one of the nasty questions, lots of times I would just skip and come back to it so I could devote as much time as necessary w/o it screwing up my timing. (I went -3 total on LR misses on my last take, averaged -1 to -4 total LR misses on practice tests leading up to that take.)

CardozoLaw09 wrote:This about conditional logic questions specifically. When you see stimulus' with conditional statements do you automatically begin diagramming beside the stimulus or do you go through the stimulus and then decide whether or not you want to diagram? What I'm finding I'm having trouble with is relying on conditional logic to the extent that I ignore the intuitive aspect of the stimulus because I know if I apply formal logic correctly that will lead me to the correct answer; whereas an intuitive analysis might fail me. How do you approach these question types?

It is only the most difficult/convoluted questions that I diagrammed. You should be able to follow the steps mentally, but if you know you have a problem with these questions you should circle the number, answer quickly and return to the question at the end of the section. If you do that you should have time to check all of your answers and diagram any remaining problem questions.

Depends, easy = no, hard = yes. But I also leave those questions at the end because I find that they take x3 as long for me to do as every other question and if I do them in the order they came I fall behind (at least behind if I plan to finish with 2 - 3 minutes to spare) which usually results me possible freak-out/skim mode until I catch back up.

When I first took the LSAT, I diagrammed a few things.

When I take the LSAT now, I diagram everything I can. It just makes it easier to track everything.