How do you review wrong LR ?s need advice... Forum

[orzo]

I am trying to come up with a system to review the wrong LR questions I get wrong. I'm not talking about keeping tally, but rather specific ways to review the ones I get wrong. Do you rewrite each one over and over? Memorize them? What are some of the ways to study from the LR questions you got wrong? Any tips would be helpful...

[Good Guy Gaud]

I used to write out explanations explaining why each choice was either correct or incorrect. I found it to be helpful.

[MrBalloons]

The way I've been doing it is not unlike what a lot of the guides around here will tell you. Write out why each wrong choice is wrong and why the right one's right.

I've been doing this for every question in untimed drills. Just writing down what goes through my head as I read it. It helps in a number of ways, I think, if only to make you more intentional about your choice. It's also been revealing that choices are usually wrong for a lot of the same reasons.

In any case, I'd recommend doing this at least for the ones you miss, if not for them all. I don't know what good memorizing uncredited responses will do for you, so I wouldn't waste my time there.

[Good Guy Gaud]

I'm going to take what the above poster said one step further and say you should ABSOLUTELY write out explanations for EVERY LR question. You may be surprised to see that sometimes you get the question right but for the wrong reasons. And anyways, if you were correct for the right reasons the first time around, writing out the responses won't be time-consuming.

[Manhattan Prep Matt]

I'd recommend answering the following questions while reviewing:

1) Why is the right answer right?
2) Why are the wrong answers wrong?
3) What about the wrong answer I selected made me think it was right?
4) What about the right answer I eliminated made me think it was wrong?
5) What language in the stimulus should I have focused on? In the answers?
6) What other questions that I've done have tested the same concept?
7) How could I have arrived at the right answer more quickly?
8 ) "Next time I see ____________, I will __________________."

You can whip up a spreadsheet to track this, and then, at the end of the week, go over all of your notes to see what patterns emerge. This will catch errors in reasoning instead of question types you're weak at, and the former is much more important to diagnose than the latter. Most people fix the reasoning errors inefficiently by just working on question types, whereas most people have the same problem across question types. Focusing on the reasoning errors will get you where you want to be a lot faster than focusing on question types.

[BlueprintJason]

I think what the other posters have contributed above seems like the right approach.

I would add that another thing to focus on is whether or not you used the right process in attacking this specific question type. Especially at the beginning (or multiple months out from test day even with experience), focusing on the correct process of getting to the correct answer is just as important as the particulars of this question context. Spotting where you erred in the process of solving the problem is very important and might tell you which skill to focus on.

For example, let's say you have a main point question:
(Here are my steps for this one, roughly)

1. Read the question. It tells you to match the main point of the argument with the description in the answer choices.
2. Read the stimulus. Look for prem/con indicator words, look for claims that support other claims, look for opinions.
3. Ask yourself: What is this author trying to prove at the end of the day? Why are they boring me with this?
4. Underline where in the argument the source of the main conclusion lies. Note any secondary conclusions to avoid.
5. AC's have a three part test here:
A) Is the argument logically committed to what the answer says? Did they clearly say or imply it? If not, eliminate. If so, move on.
B) Does this answer choice receive any measure of support from evidence elsewhere in the argument? If no, eliminate. If so, keep going because it is at least some type of conclusion.
C) Does this conclusion in turn support a different conclusion elsewhere? If so, eliminate, because it is a secondary conclusion! If not, it's your winner.

I would then ask myself the normal/conventional questions above and relate your errors to a step in the process as well as more generally.

When you review focusing on where you went wrong in your "solving process," you accomplish two goals simultaneously. 1) You figure out if there is a particular step that is causing you trouble, then you can focus on improving that step in subsequent drilling. For example, you might find that step 5C is where you are usually missing things, you'll now go into future questions highly attuned to remembering that even if you determine it is some type of conclusion, you still need to make sure it's not a secondary conclusion. 2) Perhaps more importantly is the speed element this builds over time. When you review in terms of process, you internalize your steps so that you don't have to consciously think about them when you are doing battle in a real PT. Reviewing like that, over time, allows you to streamline things and master your method.

As you get deeper into the process and almost to the real test, it probably won't be as helpful to think in terms of steps as it would be just to go through the answer choices and determining where you went wrong.

However, I'll add a strategy for long term (re)review that I found helpful.

After you review and learn a question, the temptation is to put it away and it is done. I think this is a mistake and why some students don't reach their full potential.

For any question that you either miss or have trouble with the first time around, I would print out another copy of the question, cut it out in a rectangle, and lightly write the correct answer on the back. This way you can test yourself if you really learned the information and strategy for this in the long term. After a few weeks, you can shuffle the deck and go through these. It's nice because you can do it on the subway, treadmill, or whatever. Even if you remember the answer, you should still think through the problem trying to apply the model thinking process that you've learned and reviewed. This is good practice even if you get the answer right from memory. You're in essence massaging the brain to remember the correct pathway to take for this type of situation. You'll also spot traps that the test-makers set for you and learn how to avoid them too, because you've asked yourself the questions about each answer choice as well in your review.

HTH and good luck!

Jason

[orzo]

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. This section is the hardest for me and I was struggling..thanks for the helpful tips I'm going to use all of them