Scorers in the high 160's and 170+: What is your LR implication question strategy? Forum

[cm4998]

Hello everyone! I've been seriously prepping for my LSAT for almost a month now and I've been struggling with Logical Reasoning implication questions (conditional diagramming, non-diagram, must be true, soft must be true and must be false). I'm currently taking a Blueprint course which has been extremely helpful and we've just moved on to Characterization LR questions (flaw, describe, main point, etc.). These are actually pretty easy for me, and I tend to get almost all of them right. I want to spend significant time drilling implication questions as I have a pt coming up real soon.

For those of you who have scored very well on your LSATs, what is the best strategy when dealing with implication questions, both diagramming and non-diagramming? What is the best way to drill LR questions in general? and how can you increase your timing with LR questions? (I also struggle with that as well, as sometimes implication questions take me a long time to reason them out).

I have the Powerscore bible for LR, but I don't want to use it yet and want to save it until after my Blueprint course so that I can fine tune skills as I plan to study for another 9 months or so afterwards. Any advice on implication questions or LR in general is welcomed! Thanks!

[RamTitan]

I've gone through three phases of LR drilling:

1. Bibles/drill by type
2. Drill entire LR sections and BR them (this is where timing improves)
3. Drill only the 10-15 hardest questions of each section (but do like 60 in a row) so you get used to dealing with difficult stims on a regular basis.

For implication questions, I compare each answer choice to the stimulus and see if is valid or not. This is where being a fast reader is important.

[Instrumental]

For those of you who have scored very well on your LSATs, what is the best strategy when dealing with implication questions, both diagramming and non-diagramming?

I don't have a particular method, for those any different than the other questions. I don't diagram any out either. I try to just look at it as just a normal question someone has posed instead of a serious test question and I have found that it has helped me get in a mindset that better understands everything being stated. I try not to over scrutinize the question because overthinking can get me lost sometimes. If there are a lot of conditional statements, that will usually require me to dig in deeper. I just try to understand what each conditional means, and then I'll compare what each answer choice said to the prompt and see if the logic is congruent.

What is the best way to drill LR questions in general?

I've just been doing PTs 4 times a week and reviewing the ones I got wrong and analyzing my thought process when going through each question. Doing the PTs will help you work on your timing best of course. I haven't explored other drilling types though so hey, maybe I could improve from another method. My wrong answers are completely inconsistent from a specific type so I don't feel a need to focus on any type though.

how can you increase your timing with LR questions?

Keep in mind that every time you need to re-read a question, that's another question you could have read through. Try your best to grasp all the information of the prompt in the first go and then For each answer, either cross it off or keep it in your mind as a possibility. Try to gauge the validity without re-reading the set up if you can. For some questions it's best to go through all the answer choices, for some, the right answer is so obviously right that you can skip the rest and save yourself some time. Those are usually the ones where you already have the answer in mind before you even start reading the choices. And then on the last four or five questions, there are usually a couple that are really long and obvious time sinks so I do the shorter ones first. If you're going to make it through all the questions, it doesn't really matter, but it still makes me feel better about my pacing to save the longest for last.