Honing LR Skills

emichael

Hi everyone,

I'm studying for the September LSAT, and am currently isolating parts of LR that I find especially difficult. I was wondering how you'd suggest most effectively going about drilling the fundamentals when it comes to question types you're struggling with? Do you, for example, re-watch core curriculum videos, re-acquaint yourself with fundamental concepts, and pluck the specific question type from practice tests to drill? Or something else entirely? I find that a great majority of the fundamentals make sense to me theoretically, and certain questions click right away when I apply my strategies, but there are certain questions that, no matter how long I drill the fundamentals, I can't seem to 'get' the answer (get it right away, or get it without first consulting the answer and working backwards from there). Often, I've noticed that the topic of the stimulus correlates with my anxiety about completing the question and my understanding of the argument. Of course, an unwelcome topic shouldn't impede my analysis of an argument, but it often does.

Any thoughts on how to re-learn question types or overcome topic anxiety? Thanks so much!

Mellow_Z

Something that has really stuck with me, was the advice to seek other means of touching up these skills. Examples of this are some of the other LSAT Books (Manhattan, Power Score, The LSAT Trainer). I really found that manhattan made a great book to compliment the 7sage curriculum. As I get stuck on certain question types I go back to 7sage’s CC, and then go through MH’s corresponding chapter. MH typically goes into more detail as far as explaining the question type and talking about strategies for the given type. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes a different style of material might click with you better.

GrecoRoman

I second @Mellow_Z with searching for other sources to complement your strategy. I like to google and search for different strategies when I run into an issue with certain problem types or RC in general, etc. But ultimately it just came down to me drilling problem types to finally break through. The one that was hardest for me at first were flaw questions. I couldn't for the life of me figure out the flaw before going to the questions on most problems but after drilling and watching J.Y's explanations on the vids it just eventually sunk in. I never had a eureka moment, I just started seeing the flaws far more often and that was that. Same with parallel reasoning. Just keep at it and you'll get it and check other sources when you hit roadblocks for some insight that may help you out.

Cant Get Right

One thing that happens at a certain level of prep is that question-type stops being the thing that really identifies what has gone wrong on a question. If you keep reviewing question type and feel like you really do understand, then you probably do. Dig deeper. I most commonly see grammar and linguistic issues being the most common mistakes with folks in your position, so make sure in your review that you're breaking down the language of the stimulus and ACs as well as the logic. You should also be writing out explanations for why each wrong answer is wrong. If you can start classifying wrong answer types and identifying them quickly when you see them again, you'll avoid a lot of errors. Another part of pushing forward and advancing from the question-type stage of prep is to develop a good pacing strategy. Record your test as you take it, then use a stop watch and a spreadsheet to account for every second. That will give you an objective view of your performance which you can gain huge insights from.

Alex

@Mellow_Z said:
Something that has really stuck with me, was the advice to seek other means of touching up these skills. Examples of this are some of the other LSAT Books (Manhattan, Power Score, The LSAT Trainer). I really found that manhattan made a great book to compliment the 7sage curriculum. As I get stuck on certain question types I go back to 7sage’s CC, and then go through MH’s corresponding chapter. MH typically goes into more detail as far as explaining the question type and talking about strategies for the given type. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes a different style of material might click with you better.

Yeah, I love 7Sage more than anything, but The LSAT Trainer and specifically Manhattan LR helped me see LR a bit of a different way. Not better. But different and perhaps something worth trying.

Also. Going over the CC again isn't a bad idea, only try taking notes. Even if you never use them it forces us to pay attention and absorb the information better!

emichael

Thanks, everyone!

dantlee14

I also really highly recommend the blind review calls. They helped me on LR tremendously; it forces you to explain your reasoning, and to figure out exactly WHY an answer is a better choice than another (if you're at all like me, you might constantly find yourself deciding between two answer choices - blind review has helped me hone those skills tremendously, and it's showing in my PT results).

emichael

@dantlee14 Deciding between two contenders is perhaps my biggest struggle. Thanks for your response!