Eliminating Answer Choices

DinnerAtSix

Happy Sunday, everyone!

I'm currently working through the Core Curriculum, and for the harder problem sets in the Logical Reasoning modules (mostly Sufficient and Pseudo-Sufficient Assumption questions sets) I'm able to eliminate 3/5 answer choices without any problem. Of the remaining two answer choices (which is always the correct answer choice and one incorrect one) I end up eliminating the correct answer choice and choosing the incorrect one, even after carefully considering both options and writing down explanations for why I eliminated or chose each AC.

Has this ever happened to any of you, and what did you do to correct it?

Thank you for all your help ~ it has been invaluable in my study prep!

fmihalic2

Hm, interesting. Could you give a specific example? I may use a different system on assumption questions than you do as I've learned a lot of logic in my major and have always handled the assumption questions with ease and accuracy so, if it's not broke...

Some assumptions will bring the argument to validity or near validity, others would destroy the argument entirely or severely weaken it if they were true and some are more subtle.

Mellow_Z

This occurrence is fairly common. Since you are consistently getting these questions wrong, somewhere along the line your understanding is flawed. You are making the same mistake over and over, which is a good thing. At least in the sense it's easier to identify what that mistake is. If you missed half of them and got the other half correct, it could be a confidence thing, which would be harder to diagnose.

Anyway, you should see some sort of pattern as to why you are getting these choices wrong. Once you identify what it is you're doing incorrectly, you need to figure out how to remedy it (easier said than done, right?). Maybe head back to the curriculum and read through the comments to see if you can pick up any more insight on the given question types. Another recommendation I would make is to check out the respective chapters in the Manhattan LR book or maybe the LSAT Trainer. The different books often provide slightly different information; some cover certain areas better than others. They might cover in more detail, an area that you are struggling with. Some of the other guys who have gone through the test can likely provide more info than I can (at least more applicable info since I was super general and vague). Don't be discouraged though! This is definitely fixable!