What do you guys read first?

mel_emm8

I was wondering whether you guys read the question stimulus or question stem first? Powerscore says stimulus first, but the Trainer says the stem first, and I'm trying to figure out which would be better to improve my LR score

PaperJournal

For someone that struggles to focus on the LR sections, I have found that reading the question stem first tends to work for me. It puts me in the proper mindset for what I am looking for in the argument (main point, weakening assumptions, etc.) and helps me understand the information they throw at you a little more. It's improved my LR score a bit if that helps!

Freddy_D

STEM first for me.

NotMyName

definitely the stem. primes me to read the question in a qt-specific mindset.

LSATcantwin

Stem - I don't see why you'd read the stimulus first. I want to know what I'm suppose to be doing, before I do it. Stim first seems back asswords to me.

TheMikey

Q stem first

TheMikey

I feel like Q stem first helps you to just know what your 1 job is for that stimulus.

Cant Get Right

Stem for sure.

Killmonger

Thats honestly the biggest hole in Power Scores curriculum. Teaching students to read the argument first. You're being forced to over analyze an argument when all the stem is asking is the MP or something simple. You can put your thinking cap on for certain question stems whenever you read the stem first. Imagine knowing what a baseball pitcher is going to throw and the location before he throws it. Im sure you'd have a better chance hitting it vs not knowing where the ball was going.

TheMikey

@"marvin.dike" said:
Thats honestly the biggest hole in Power Scores curriculum. Teaching students to read the argument first. You're being forced to over analyze an argument when all the stem is asking is the MP or something simple. You can put your thinking cap on for certain question stems whenever you read the stem first. Imagine knowing what a baseball pitcher is going to throw and the location before he throws it. Im sure you'd have a better chance hitting it vs not knowing where the ball was going.

THIS

reading the Q stem first makes your life a tiny bit more simple..

Alex

Question stem fo' sure! Though I suppose I can understand PS's reasoning for advocating reading the Stim first.

Victoria14

Stem for sure. I honestly don't short term retain all that well, and once I know what I need focus on (say main conclusion for example) my brain basically deletes that information. It forces you to go back and reread which is a waste of time. So read the stem first, it should help you focus on what you need to know.

Paul Caint

Feel like I'm in the minority here, but I do the stimulus first. It's generally worked for me - I like to get a big-picture idea of what the stimulus is saying and then figure out what they want.

Alex

@pcainti said:
Feel like I'm in the minority here, but I do the stimulus first. It's generally worked for me - I like to get a big-picture idea of what the stimulus is saying and then figure out what they want.

It definitely works for some people, and to be honest when I only used Powerscore before I found 7Sage, that's what I did. I don't think one way is definitely better than another, so I'm happy you're doing what works for you.

Mitchell-1

Always stem first. This was one of the biggest things I got out of 7sage. I stopped having to reread parts of, or worse entire, stimuli. This saved me so much time on LR sections that I went from barely finishing to typically having time to look over the tougher questions a second time (though this has gotten me into trouble on occasion :-p )

OlamHafuch

Stem first. PS is basically the only prep company that advocates stimulus first, and though they claim to have to come to this from decades of working with students, it's hard to understand their logic. They argue that reading the stim first forces you to waste time by reading the stem twice, but I think that the focus that you gain from reading the stem first will easily gain that time back.

LSAT Warrior Princess

Yes, I have this same question!

JY said to read the question stem first. A podcast that I listen to (The Thinking LSAT) said to never read the question stem first. They said that PowerScore said to read the stimulus first and they said that they could never trust anything that that prep company said after that. I'm pretty sure one of them has their own prep company. The Thinking Fox? Or something like that.

This doesn't make sense to me though. I find that reading the question stem is EXTREMELY useful. You know exactly what you are looking for and what the answer should look like while you are reading the stimulus.

Any thoughts?

eesLSAT2017

This is the reason I dislike PS. The instructor keeps harping on reading the stimulus first and I hate it. I get questions much faster and with much more accuracy if I read the question stem first.

SD_SaraE

STEM! But many of the videos I have seem of JY taking PT's he seems to read the stem after the stimulus. I've always found it puts me in the right frame of mind for the question ahead.

OlamHafuch

I would venture to say that if time was not an issue, there would probably be an advantage to looking at the questions before RC, too. Alas, for most, time would be an issue.

Alex

@uhinberg said:
I would venture to say that if time was not an issue, there would probably be an advantage to looking at the questions before RC, too. Alas, for most, time would be an issue.

Yeah, I think if I had unlimited time I'd find it helpful to have the questions in mind as I read. Even if most passages ask the same types of questions, for the ones that ask specific lines/words/inferences, it would be helpful.

Alex

@eesLSAT2017 said:
This is the reason I dislike PS. The instructor keeps harping on reading the stimulus first and I hate it. I get questions much faster and with much more accuracy if I read the question stem first.

LMAO! They do, especially in their in-class course, haha.

Yeah, you definitely have to do what works for you. I agree reading the Q-stem is the way to go for most people. > @"LSAT Warrior Princess" said:

Yes, I have this same question!

JY said to read the question stem first. A podcast that I listen to (The Thinking LSAT) said to never read the question stem first. They said that PowerScore said to read the stimulus first and they said that they could never trust anything that that prep company said after that. I'm pretty sure one of them has their own prep company. The Thinking Fox? Or something like that.

This doesn't make sense to me though. I find that reading the question stem is EXTREMELY useful. You know exactly what you are looking for and what the answer should look like while you are reading the stimulus.

Any thoughts?

Yeah, I think you should experiment with both methods and see what works for you. I have spoken to a few high scorers who swear by reading the stimulus first. Powerscore and these high scorers claim that by reading the stem first you end up utilizing mental energy trying to juggle the stem while reading the stim. They say it interferes with truly and objectively understanding the argument/stim as well as you could have.

I too find it more useful and effective to read the stem first. I suspect that people who start with PS might get so used to reading the Stim first that they attribute some of their success to it. It probably does work better for some people, but always do what works best for you.

conrad.p

You need to be flexible with this. There is no answer. It would be foolish to subscribe to reading the stem first on every question no matter what or else reading the stimulus first on every question no matter what. I can assure you that these methodological tweaks are not the secret to some new-found amazing score. You need to spend 80 hours doing LR questions, and then develop your own sense of when to read the stimulus/stem first.