Self-study
Hi - first time posting on 7S!
Self-studying the LSAT and was wondering if people always map logic for Logical Reasoning questions. I'm not sure if it's a waste of time, but is it worth the seconds to write down a quick logic map (like the one for this answer's explanation)? I was able to answer this question in my head (and not write down anything). Just wanted to know what's best practice!
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3 comments
I'd say people scoring in the 170s who are trained with diagramming will diagram on average about once or twice on a section. If you got this question right without drawing anything out AND completed it in a time that allowed you to have enough time to work on other questions as much as you wanted, then there's no problem. However, if you completed it in something like 30 seconds or more above the target time, you should consider whether that extra time would have helped you get another question correct. Ultimately diagramming can help you solve certain questions more quickly. But you'll have to figure out yourself whether it would have helped in thise case. Maybe try doing the question again with at least some form of note-taking / visualization on scratch paper and see if that gets you to the correct answer more quickly.
For me, this can be a question type I still struggle with. So, I like to write out the chain and give my best answer within a minute or so and flag the question. Then, if there's time at the end, I like to come back and really double check my lawgic mapping and answer. But that's just me! I've seen most people recommend not using the scratch paper at all.
I don't, I feel it takes me longer to write it out than it does to answer it in my head. What helped me was to really deeply understand the conditional logic behind it and then start noticing the patterns throughout the test. The logic map is only necessary for really deeply enmeshed conditional chains during my drills when stakes are low, for practice. I wouldn't risk it on test day.