top scorers: to read or not to read the question stem first? Forum

[alexroark]

For people that scored 170+ im curious to know did most of you read the stimulus, or stem first? i have heard arguments to both sides. On the one hand people argue that you can narrow your focus and it saves time. On the other hand, some say it is too many ideas to juggle at once and only makes your job more difficult.

[MidwestLifer]

I went stimulus->stem->choices->stimulus again unless it was one of those questions where I know the answer before I even read the choices. But I read very quickly so this might not be realistic for others.

[fra]

Disclaimer: I haven't taken the test yet - I might bomb the actual test.

I've been consistently scoring 175-180 for the past several practice exams. I read the stimulus before the stem (I read everything in the order given).

I never have issues with time on sections. If you have issues with time I can see trying it both ways and seeing which works best for you.

[alexroark]

LR sections are the least worrisome for me in terms of time. I'm usually on par with the 15min/15question pace a lot of people talk about. I tend to prefer just reading and understanding the stimulus first before moving on. Was just wondering what most top scorers do.

[blueberrycrumble]

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[CincinnatusND]

I always read the stimulus first and never tried it any other way.

[MistakenGenius]

Post removed.

[Jeffort]

I tend to prefer just reading and understanding the stimulus first before moving on.

As long as you focus on this^ to make sure you analyze and really understand the stimulus pretty well before diving into the answer choices, it's really a matter of personal preference and figuring out which way works better for you in practice.

One of the reasons some prep companies/sources emphasize reading the stimulus before the stem is specifically to encourage students to prioritize thoroughly analyzing the stimulus/argument objectively before jumping into the answer choices since that's the most important factor successfully answering LR questions correctly depends on.

There are some benefits to reading the stem first (If it's a main point LR question, no need to analyze for flaws/assumptions before jumping into answers) but also some drawbacks, same thing with the opposite approach. Just make sure to analyze the stimulus adequately before diving into the answer choices regardless of whether you read the stem before the stimulus or not since fully understanding the stimulus is the most important task for accuracy and efficiency.

[Yardbird]

You shouldn't go by what "top scorers" did. I'm sure many read the stem first and others read the passage first. What is most important is that you comprehend the passage. If you aren't scoring well, you should work on comprehending the passage as a whole without direction from the question stems. If you don't improve your RC and you rely on stems to guide you, you may draw the short straw on a test where the stems don't provide much direction. The ONLY exception to not reading the passage first IMO is if you begin the last passage with less than 1/4 of your remaining time. Then reading the stems first and scanning the passage are better suited than guessing blindly. What works for you will vary from what worked for others based on your comprehension level. 174 with perfect RC section FWIW.

[chem]

Disclaimer: I haven't taken the test yet - I might bomb the actual test.

I've been consistently scoring 175-180 for the past several practice exams. I read the stimulus before the stem (I read everything in the order given).

I never have issues with time on sections. If you have issues with time I can see trying it both ways and seeing which works best for you.

Credited!

[jk148706]

I read the stem first to know what I was looking for in the stim

[3Takes]

Question Stem -> Stimulus -> Answer Choices

It definitely helps to know what you're looking for in the stimulus.

[sims1]

Once I had done enough LR practice questions, I found that reading the stimulus allowed me to predict what question would be asked (and subsequently the answer). With longer/more difficult questions this doesn't hold true, but I could usually zip through the first 15 questions mostly by reading the stimuli.

[w0w]

Ive taken 3 times

165, 166 -> Stimulus to stem

172 -> stem to stimulus

[Nulli Secundus]

This is literally less important than the color of your LSAT watch.

[Oskosh]

I read the question stem first (not a top test taker yet, but I do score pretty well on the tests)... However, for me it's psychological. I don't know why, but it comforts me to read the question stem first. It's almost as I'm being given an extra weapon so as to better answer the question. I read the stimulus as anybody else would (identifying the logical structure of the argument).

[KDLMaj]

Always read the stem first. The type of question should dictate HOW you read the stimulus and tells you what to expect.

if you're reading all of the stims the same way, you're probably screwing yourself over. And if you're having to routinely read the stim twice (because you went: stim ---> stem ---> stim) you're wasting time. People CONSTANTLY do that. They read the stim. Then they read the stem and say "OH, that's what I'm looking for!" and then read the stim all over again. That's your brain telling you that you can't find the answer until you know what you're looking for.

[Chrstgtr]

I usually didn't have problems with timing on tests but I always read the stimulus first and then the stem. Most questions are pretty easy so I usually got the answer right away without much thought. If it was one of the harder questions though I would then go back and reread the stimulus since I already knew what it was saying and knew what the stem is asking for.

Also by reading the stimulus first I usually got a pretty good idea of what the stem was going to ask (especially for identifying weakness/flaw questions) so I felt super confident about my answers because they tended to match my predictions.

[ScottRiqui]

I took the LSAT twice, and went -3 combined in LR the first time, and -4 combined the second time. I always went straight through, from stimulus to stem to answer choices, but I was also very comfortable with reading/internalizing the stimulus and being ready to answer questions about it.

If I had been consistently getting the "WTF am I reading??" feeling during the stimulus, I'd have probably started off with the stem. But most times, the "key words and tricky phrases" pretty much jumped out at me while reading the stimulus anyway; I could usually tell what was going to be important before getting to the stem.

[Nova]

This is literally less important than the color of your LSAT watch.

no, it makes a difference.

most high scorers read the question first (so they know what to look for) but some prefer the stimulus first

[Adrian Monk]

Always read the stem first. The type of question should dictate HOW you read the stimulus and tells you what to expect.

if you're reading all of the stims the same way, you're probably screwing yourself over. And if you're having to routinely read the stim twice (because you went: stim ---> stem ---> stim) you're wasting time. People CONSTANTLY do that. They read the stim. Then they read the stem and say "OH, that's what I'm looking for!" and then read the stim all over again. That's your brain telling you that you can't find the answer until you know what you're looking for.

can you please help me understand how to read the stimulus for different question types? thank you so much!, you can pm me if u want too

[KDLMaj]

Always read the stem first. The type of question should dictate HOW you read the stimulus and tells you what to expect.

if you're reading all of the stims the same way, you're probably screwing yourself over. And if you're having to routinely read the stim twice (because you went: stim ---> stem ---> stim) you're wasting time. People CONSTANTLY do that. They read the stim. Then they read the stem and say "OH, that's what I'm looking for!" and then read the stim all over again. That's your brain telling you that you can't find the answer until you know what you're looking for.

can you please help me understand how to read the stimulus for different question types? thank you so much!, you can pm me if u want too

Sure thing.

For Assumption Family Questions your job is to identify the conclusion and paraphrase the evidence (always repeat the stim back to yourself as <Conclusion> because of <Evidence>. During that process you're also actively looking to identify the argument type. The question type will also tell you which argument types are more or less likely as well as the format of the answer choices. (Suff Assumption means probably a scope shift, etc And a causal argument- for example- is going to have VERY differently phrased answers depending on the type of question you're dealing with)

For inference questions your job is to paraphrase each chunk, look for connections/deductions between different ideas, and to closely note any degree or amount language. There's no reason to try to determine argument types, for example, because most of them aren't arguments at all.

For role of a statement questions, there's also no point in trying to figure out an argument type (mostly anyway- it can be helpful in harder ones). Your job is to quickly ID Ev and Concl and describe how the evidence gets to the conclusion if necessary.

etc etc

If you're reading every stim the same way, you're missing the point entirely. If the LSAT decides to group these things by question types,it's for a reason. Ignoring that means you're failing the core concept they're testing: pattern recognition.

[Nulli Secundus]

This is literally less important than the color of your LSAT watch.

no, it makes a difference.

most high scorers read the question first (so they know what to look for) but some prefer the stimulus first

Your explanation confirms this is useless. If all high scorers read stem first or if everyone who read stem first scored higher than the ones doing the opposite; you would have a point. What you are saying this "Some high scorers do this". I bet at least some high scorers also lift. Would you say lifting is necessary for a high score?

[BP Robert]

I would strongly recommend that you read the stem before going to the stimulus, because the stem literally tells you what kind of question it is. Your evaluation of the stimulus should be significantly different if you're reading a "Which of the following must be true?" question vs a "What is the flaw in the argument?" question, but it can't be different if you don't inform yourself in advance which type of question it is. Reading the stem first also enables you to anticipate while you read the stimulus, so it cuts down on time.

Additionally, I can't think of any reason why stimulus first could be said to be "better" than stem first. So based on the risk of a benefit and no risk of harm/opportunity cost, I'd suggest going with the stem first.

[portaprokoss]

I scored in the 99th percentile and I read the questions straight through. I think the read-the-question-first tips are for people who cannot hold the whole question in their head and need to constantly refer back to the facts.

The way to score really high on the LSAT is do enough practice questions that you get the easy questions instantaneously, without even thinking, 100% of the time. Then you have an inordinate amount of time to spend on tricky problems. That's the only "trick" there is to the LSAT. Just read the question and answer it; no bullshit technique will help.