@nicole.hopkins @Pacifico I could use your wisdom.

The Trainer PREACHED to eliminate all wrong answer choices first for 99% of questions then chose the right answer. Do you do this? I have found that it really is taking me more time and that it is making me consider answers I never would have. I have adapted this skill when I run into hard questions and has helped 10000% but this book was hell bent on doing it every single time. I am averaging about -2 per section LR. What do you guys do?

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9 comments

  • Wednesday, Nov 11 2015

    I'm not super consistent in applying this as there are certain questions for which I know I have the right answer. So rather than looking at 125-130 ACs per LR section I probably only look at about 100 of them or so. I'm down from averaging -5/-6 to averaging about -3.5 per LR section , but I don't think not reading answers is necessarily my issue. For questions I get wrong it's usually one of three things: Lost focus on conclusion, fell for trap answer, or misread. Very rarely do I miss a question because I didn't even look at an answer. And as @bondo007man235.janson35 said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. You should be able to tell pretty easily during BR why you get certain answers wrong, so if this is never the issue then don't sweat it. Just because one resource tells you to do something a certain way doesn't mean it's sufficient or necessary to do so in order to perform well.

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  • Wednesday, Nov 11 2015

    @bondo007man235 funny you say that because I have been thinking about it and this is 100% what I do. Perhaps I am overthinking it in that I don't have a full process set up for it but I 95% of the time know why mine is right and why the others are wrong. Good call

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  • Wednesday, Nov 11 2015

    At first I thought I didn't do this, because I never thought of my process in those terms before, but it's exactly what I do. I could be 100% wrong, but it seems like you may be overthinking what it means to eliminate wrong answer choices first. Before committing to an answer (even when it's an easy question and I'm fairly certain it's right), I will at least look at the others and make sure that I have a reason for them being wrong. That's it. Most of the time, it goes quickly. Occasionally, I'll come across a question where I identify what I think is the right answer without much difficulty, but some of the wrong choices are convoluted nonsense/gibberish and instead of wasting time trying to 100% decode and understand them, I just move on. I think that's fine.

    I haven't PTed in a while, but when I did, I averaged -1 in each LR section.

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  • Wednesday, Nov 11 2015

    If you're consistently getting -2, I wouldn't change anything. No need to stress out this late in the process about how something should be done if how it is actually being done is getting you results.

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  • Wednesday, Nov 11 2015

    @bondo007man235 also read Jonathan Wang's "Mavis Beacon" post. He talks about how new/better techniques are worse in the short term but better in the long run.

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  • Wednesday, Nov 11 2015

    Oh no.... this is not good DEC test is looming and here I am the village idiot....

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  • Wednesday, Nov 11 2015

    @bondo007man235

    said:

    I have found that it really is taking me more time

    This is most likely because you have not practiced this enough. The same thing happened to me when I first switched to POE but it is exponentially better in the long run.

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  • Wednesday, Nov 11 2015

    @bondo007man235

    said:

    Do you do this?

    Absolutely 100% of the time.

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  • Wednesday, Nov 11 2015

    I do it for almost all questions.

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