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Hello all. Just finishing the SA question module in the Core Curriculum, and it's kicking my butt. I'm wondering if it's best to basically start it again from the beginning and really try to grok it, or push on and come back later in the hopes that it will make more sense.
Or maybe it's like any new & intense thing: you start out blazing but at some point you hit your first plateau, and you either have to take a break and come back fresh, or just grind through it. Thoughts?
Which answer, if true, most strongly supports the weary student's concerns? :)
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A lot of the other question types use similar logic/strategies as SA, so you'll still be getting better even if you're not focusing on it. I also found that my SA skills got way better after I took a week off. That being said, what also really helped me when actually doing SA questions was explicitly writing out all the premises and conclusion underneath like they do in the videos and making myself physically find/draw the missing link. Some other tips: strong language (ie. always, never) often indicates a good SA (sufficient=strong is how I remember), and most correct SA ACs involve the conclusion condition as a necessary condition, so I look for that first.
In my opinion, getting SA questions down requires a strong command of conditional reasoning (since that's what many assumption questions, especially SA, play on). I'd recommend working on getting an intuitive sense of what sufficient and necessary conditions are. I like to think of this in the context of daily life. So if I'm driving around, I think "The speed limit is 65, so driving 65 mph or less is a necessary condition for lawful behavior. But if someone is driving 65 mph or slower, does that guarantee lawfulness (the sufficient condition)? No -- because someone might still be texting, which is another necessary condition for lawfulness." That might sound silly, but it really helped me start to get comfortable with SA. Once you internalize what sufficiency and necessity mean in graspable, conceptual terms, I think you'll probably find SA questions more manageable.
Personal I didn't see much improvement until I finished most of LR. Then I saw a small jump. Then I started doing drills and entire sections/tests. That is what made a huge jump. Pushing through worked for me, the lessons really build on each other and help you learn more. But that said, if you are totally lost and literally cannot get a level 1 SA question right, then I would start over.