Mindset for LR question Forum

[kkilambi]

For people who perform exceptionally well in the logical reasoning section,I need some help.

Say you are approaching an LR stimulus, what goes in your mind.
Do you read it like a story visualizing what is happening and not worry about the conclusion, comeback again and split them into support and conclusion


My mind wanders a lot sometimes I read the words but nothing gets registered into my mind losing out precious seconds. I am sure it happens to many of us here... how do you fix the problem?

Thanks
Krishna

[Blueprint Mithun]

For people who perform exceptionally well in the logical reasoning section,I need some help.

Say you are approaching an LR stimulus, what goes in your mind.
Do you read it like a story visualizing what is happening and not worry about the conclusion, comeback again and split them into support and conclusion


My mind wanders a lot sometimes I read the words but nothing gets registered into my mind losing out precious seconds. I am sure it happens to many of us here... how do you fix the problem?

Thanks
Krishna

Hey, interesting question. I know that everyone puts a lot of importance on "reading for structure," and rightly so, but it's important to understand the content of the stimulus, otherwise you have very little to go off of. I do try and visualize what is being described as I first read the stimulus. The thing is, once I understand what's going on, I can usually almost immediately identify what the conclusion is, what is a premise, etc. I don't need to read the stimulus again, I can just sort of go, "Oh, here's the conclusion, this is the key piece of evidence, this is where the gap is," and so on, except in the case of tougher questions, where it may take longer or a re-read or two.

What I've done is trained myself to interpret every stimulus as an argument, as a series of logical steps, so once I understand the content, the structure sort of naturally falls into place. Having a different approach for each question type also helps make the process a lot easier. If it's a flaw or assumption question, I'm anticipating a gap in logic, and that makes me more prepared to understand the argument's structure. If it's a must be true question, I'm expecting a series of facts, and I know that I'll have to try and synthesize my own deduction. If it's a main point question, I'm paying extra close attention to whether or not each statement supports another statement.

I would probably say that there are questions where a strong understanding of the content of the stimulus isn't necessary for being able to find the answer. However, it makes it a LOT easier to anticipate likely answers and figure out why certain answers don't work, which are both important skills for building both accuracy and speed.

If you're spacing out, I'd suggest trying to make the question more interesting for yourself. Visualizing the stimulus can be a good way of doing that - it forces you to really engage with the question on a mental level.

[kkilambi]

Thanks for the response Mithun That definitely helps.