Why I HATE HATE...maybe STRONGLY Dislike the LR Section

[sunglee]

I'm in a venting mood and here it goes:

I'm taking a testmasters course, and I have the LR bible, but after a month and a half of studying my freking LR score keeps going down.

I'm get about 97% of the answers correct on LG and RC, BUT...that darn LR is trying to ruining me.

Are there any suggestions about the LR that anyone can offer to me. Also, my biggest problem is in the "must be true" sections.

Thanks my fellow LSAT-studiers

[Scentless Apprentice]

I mean, besides pointing you to the 'must be true' section of the LR bible, I'm not sure what posters will have to say without a more specific question.

I would put together all of the questions that you missed, and really go over the answer you picked compared to the correct answer. Hopefully you will begin to understand the flaw in your choices, and see more clearly what the correct answer choices have in common.

LR can be tricky, and this may be stupid to say, but I really try to have fun with it. When I approach a section I think to myself "ok, let's solve these little puzzles." I ACTIVELY read the stimulus. I almost view each stimulus as a little game, and I always think 'ahhh hah, tried to trick me, not this time", but, that may be because I'm a complete nerd.

[Lindbergh]

I agree with Lava that LR can actually be fun.  It's my favorite section.  I think of them as bite-sized snacks, compared to the longer and more draining RC Passages / Games.

To get better, and learn to love them:

1.  Do them untimed for now.  No sense rushing through them until you can really fully understand them untimed. 

2.  Spend a good amount of time on each one.  (Feel free to spend 15-20 minutes thinking through each one at this point.)  Make sure you fully undersatnd the question, the argument in the Stimulus, and all the Answer Choices.  Feel free to re-read each portion several times, especially the Stimulus.

3.  For the Stimulus, ID the conclusion, and then ask yourself how well the premises add up to the conclusion.  There's usually a hole or flaw, a gap between the premises and the Conclusion.  The correct answer will usually relate to this hole or flaw.  (When they ask about the quality of the reasoning of an argument, they're really asking how well the premises add up to the conclusion.)

4.  For Must Be True questions, there's usually no conclusion, just a bunch of premises (bits of evidence).  Remember that a "Must be True" MAY be a nice, sweeping conclusion to the premises, but it may also simply be something that must, in fact, be true based upon only one of the stated premises.  Don't worry about an answer choice being too easy -- if it must be true based on the premises, it's the correct answer. 

If you apply the above steps repeatedly, your score should improve.  Again, be willing to work slow at this point.  Once you internalize how to approach LR Q's, and develop the specific requisite mental muscles, you'll be able to naturally speed up.  But you need to develop the strength and understanding of those mental muscles before you'll be able to move more quickly with any accuracy.

[Scentless Apprentice]

There goes Lindbergh again, giving great LSAT advice.

MDIZZLE, I remember you posting something a few weeks ago..it may have been similar, maybe not. Anyways, please follow up and let us know what piece of advice you implemented, and how your progress has been.

Good luck.

[heyhithere]

Practice very slow until you get each question type down and internalize what you need to do for each question type. 

-Use a blank note card and block off the answer choices and question stem.

-Identify if it's an argument, and if so, identify the conclusion prior to looking at the question stem.  Underline the conclusion.  Force yourself to do this with every question.  Get the list of the order of objectives from the LRB and tape it on the wall in front of you; slowly read it before practicing each question (do this a while, and it'll help get you to maintain this mindset so that you develop good habits).

-If there's a flaw or the support between premises and conclusion are weak in the argument, identify it--speak it out loud (literally).  Do this for a few hundred questions at least.  Simply knowing the weakness somewhat intuitively, though of course helpful much of the time, won't help you as well as being able to express what the flaw/problem/weakness is prior to looking at the answer choices.  Contemplate what it is, argue about it if you have to, etc. 

-THEN, once all of this has happened, look at the question stem (again, all of this before you look at the answer choices).

Now, once you identify the question stem, you have to develop the habit of pre-phrasing the answer prior to looking at any answer choice.  Force yourself to do this.  Sit a few minutes if you have to before you look at the answer choices.  If you have to, get up and get a coke while you think about it if it's not coming to you. 

These are of course the basic steps that these classes are most likely telling you, but it is important to develop those habits.  I'd recommend developing the habit, for example, of applying the assumption-negation for any 'contenders' for assumption problems (even if you just know what the answer is without question), memorizing the causal reasoning steps for strengthen/assumption/weaken questions, etc.  But, it's not good enough to simply know the concept of what to do with questions involving causal relations in the stimulus--you have to practice those questions and learn to apply the methods they're teaching you such that that application becomes second nature.

For example, what are you suppose to do for a weakening question that ends with a causal conclusion?  What about if there's a conditional statement as its conclusion?  The answers to those questions should be immediate to your memory; but it's not sufficient to be able to simply answer those questions--you have to be able to know how to apply these concepts when taking the test, which again, requires painstaking, slow, methodical practice, until it becomes second nature.  In other words, you want to get to the point that once you read that question stem, you know exactly what to do, because you painstakingly went through all of those steps so slowly for hundreds of times that it has become second nature. If you're worried about wasting answer choices, do this on older tests; do it on questions you've done before, etc.  The idea is to develop these habits solidly so that they're second nature.  I can learn the concept of addition, but without practicing adding, I'm not going to be that good at it.  Similarly, you have to practice consciously applying these methods you're learning so they become second nature.

If you don't learn to consciously apply those methods they're teaching you (or the methods taught in the LRB) such that it's second nature, then 3/4's of what you're conceptually learning in that class/book is a waste, because once that timer starts on a timed test, most of the conceptual knowledge would be thrown out the window and you'd be taking it on pure intuition because you won't have time to recall all of the information that they're feeding you in the class (or the information that you've learned from the LRB).  But if you learn how to apply those methods such that the application of what you're learning becomes second nature, you'll have a lot more control over what you're doing.

Think about all of those processes that go on prior to even looking at the answer choices.  Once you have those habits down, this will help you tremendously, but don't practice too speedily until the above steps are internalized such that you don't have to think about it, because it is really really easy to get sloppy and jump to the answer choices after you've done a few hundred problems or more.  This way of practicing is a bit grueling because it requires a lot of patience, but it forces you to apply what you're learning in class/from the books.

[Scentless Apprentice]

heyhithere, great post!

[drupito]

It has already been mentioned vaguely but the thing that I found most useful was going through the questions slowly (using the advice previously given) and write a short sentence of why each AC is either correct or incorrect.  Although this process takes a long time it really gives you a good idea of what to look for.  And I suggest that you write it out because I noticed when I was studying LR I would just say to myself, "oh, I see why that is wrong" and then move on. Make each of the ACs make sense to you why they are right or wrong.  This helped me progress from missing 10 per section to missing 2-3 per section. Hope that helps. 

[ChiGirl]

I am SO WITH YOU on this.  Please let me know if you find any tactics that work for you.

I'm in a venting mood and here it goes:

I'm taking a testmasters course, and I have the LR bible, but after a month and a half of studying my freking LR score keeps going down.

I'm get about 97% of the answers correct on LG and RC, BUT...that darn LR is trying to ruining me.

Are there any suggestions about the LR that anyone can offer to me. Also, my biggest problem is in the "must be true" sections.

Thanks my fellow LSAT-studiers

[blueskies6]

I always think 'ahhh hah, tried to trick me, not this time", but, that may be because I'm a complete nerd.

Haha I love it 

[ChiGirl]

Let's do a little experiment here and see what kind of a Blonde you are (based on your reactions).  I like how you're so intrigued by handle dimwit.   Bitchy demanding serve me and give me what I want for nothing in return type? Oh no. Hot and also down to earth somewhat and willing to do some work and be cool at times (maybe still demanding, but that is acceptable in this scenario)? If you think so. Acting like you want to go to LS type to mix with the guys that will be making the money so you can tie one down and then 'flake out' on following through once you get a credit card (your soon the be Mrs. Blonde statement is interesting)? I'd love to say "yes" to get a reaction out of you so YES!!   Really wanting to be a Playboy model type? No comment. Really a man? Guess you'll never know. Smart sharp on top of things girl that was cursed with the dumb bimbo look that gets everyone to judge you by when they read the book by its cover? Oh no. (I'm hoping for this one but not optimistic)

Take note that heyhithere and others posted some tactics, you should read them if you didn't before you posted. Really bad ASSumption Clifford.

God bless and good luck.  Thanks. Looks like you'll need both more than I will.

Oh & thanks for ruining another thread a-hole.

I am SO WITH YOU on this.  Please let me know if you find any tactics that work for you.

I'm in a venting mood and here it goes:

I'm taking a testmasters course, and I have the LR bible, but after a month and a half of studying my freking LR score keeps going down.

I'm get about 97% of the answers correct on LG and RC, BUT...that darn LR is trying to ruining me.

Are there any suggestions about the LR that anyone can offer to me. Also, my biggest problem is in the "must be true" sections.

Thanks my fellow LSAT-studiers