Which LR questions do you actually diagram? Forum

[flat-fifth]

I'm finishing up LRB and diagramming problems is really time consuming. Which LR problem types do high scorers commonly diagram on test day?

[Steve2207]

You diagram all 4 games if you want to be sure of your answers.

[ManOfTheMinute]

You diagram all 4 games if you want to be sure of your answers.

LR vs LG

[Dr. Dre]

Diagram LR questions that have conditionals as premises and/or conclusion.

Look at key words like:

unless
until
without
except

thus
so
therefore
then

[Steve2207]

You diagram all 4 games if you want to be sure of your answers.

LR vs LG

my bad

[Mik Ekim]

Ideally, you should feel confident that you can diagram anything you need to, and that you can do so with it being so time-consuming --

In terms of strategy, what I suggest you try is that you diagram when you need to -- that is, when you can see that the problem is too hard to solve without a diagram. This will happen in certain Sufficient Assumption, Inference, and Matching questions. In my experience, that's typically what high scorers do.

HTH -- Mike Kim, co-author Manhattan LSAT

[Skill Game]

I only diagram on questions that present you with several different conditionals or a chain of conditionals to link together.

[flat-fifth]

Thank you all for your responses!

[sighsigh]

The only reason why you would ever write something down is if you can't remember it all in your head. You should never diagram unless you absolutely have to. Notating conditional statements on paper takes time, and if the stimulus is not written in an ultra-clear way you will have trouble notating the information in a clear and concise manner.

You should only ever notate when there are a large number of obvious conditional statements in a stimulus, because otherwise it will be difficult to remember them all when forming conditional chains (especially if they make use of words like unless, without, only, etc.). I find only some Must Be True and maybe Parallel Reasoning questions fall into this category.

[bp shinners]

The only reason why you would ever write something down is if you can't remember it all in your head.

I strongly disagree. It's much easier to mess something up when you're trying to remember it than when you write it down. When you keep it in your head, it's ephemeral and easily confused, especially since the people who write the test are actively trying to get you to misremember and mix things up. One of the reasons I regularly score so well on tests (besides too much practice) is that I don't think I can A Beautiful Mind the test and I write everything down. It takes less time than constantly re-reading the stimulus to make sure you didn't mix anything up in your head.

To OP-
The right answer is you diagram anything that has conditionals and will be useful. Rules of thumb, though:
Must be True (~50%)
Sufficient Assumption (~50%)
Parallel (~50%)
Parallel Flaw (~15%) - estimate
Flaw (~7.5%) - estimate
Soft Must Be True Principle (~95%) ("Which one of the following most closely conforms to the principle as stated above?")
Must be False (usually has either a description of a situation, in which case I don't diagram, or a rule to be broken, in which case I do)

If I'm in one of those questions and see something diagrammable, I diagram. In other question types, I make a call based on how many conditionals there are.

[A.Taarabt7]

do top scorers ever mark up LR questions ie underline conclusion? (Other than diagramming the conditionals of course)

I have the pdf of some PTs and would rather drill various types of LR by looking at the cpu screen rather than copy/paste the question onto word doc, or print out the entire page and just do one-two questions.

[Clearly]

I personally diagram almost none of them. Maybe 1 every 4 sections. Only conditionals IF I can't follow them and internalize them, and must be true if it really calls for diagramming.

I'm really just posting to say I love OP's username.

[ZGr88n]

To be honest I don't ever diagram any of them.

[bp shinners]

do top scorers ever mark up LR questions ie underline conclusion?.

I strongly recommend underlining the conclusion. The AC you pick will almost always have something to do with the conclusion, and your last check before marking it down on your sheet is a quick cross-reference against the conclusion to make sure there's nothing you're missing (like a qualifying statement - "If the data are correct, then...").

Depending on your propensity to skip over them, I also sometimes advocate circling logical force keywords, especially "can" since it's so easy to neglect. It's the red-headed stepchild of logical force words in the English language.

[cricketlove00]

I occasionally diagram parallel reasoning/flaw questions and maybe inference questions, but for the most part I just mark the crap out of the conclusion/premises.

Find what works best for you.