Self-study
Hey everyone! I am currently studying for the June LSAT, and I have made great progress. My PTs are consistently in the raw 162-165 range, and BR in the 175-177 range.
My one real struggle has been getting a grasp of conditional reasoning questions. No matter how much I drill and review, I feel like I'm getting nowhere. Any advice on how to best tackle these?
3
4 comments
Can you get these right when not timed? Or do you struggle there, too?
How comfortable are you with diagramming conditional logic?
@Kevin_Lin I still struggle with it when it's untimed, but it becomes a little easier when I have more time to work it out.
I would say I am fairly comfortable with diagramming conditional logic, but the faster I have to do it, the more often I see myself falling into common traps.
@kat188 It looks like on the last few PTs, it's mainly a few of the Parallel/PF that have tripped you up, as well as some Pseudo-Sufficient Assumption questions where we're looking to build a bridge from the premise to the conclusion. I'd recommend re-doing all of the conditional-based Parallel, Parallel Flaw, PSA, Sufficient Assumption, and MBT questions you've either gotten wrong or flagged to date. Do these untimed.
When you work through them, stop to think about whether diagramming is helpful to solve the question and why you think it is or isn't. Don't immediately assume that it's always the right move. Some questions are more obviously about connecting different conditionals together. Others aren't and diagramming might not be useful for these.
After solving them, specifically identify what's challenging about them for you. Specific words in the stimulus? What the question stem is asking you to do? How a correct answer is worded? Is a wrong answer preying on an assumption that isn't warranted?
I think getting specific about what's difficult is important for improving here. The solution might be to memorize stuff like "only if" and "unless" and practice translating a bunch of different conditionals and quickly understanding what are valid and invalid inferences from conditionals. Or it might be to practice determining when to diagram and when not to.
@Kevin_Lin This is very helpful advice! Thank you!