How to get the most out of every question.

nathanieljschwartz

Was wondering how people go about squeezing every question for all that it can teach.

Alex

@nathanieljschwartz said:
Was wondering how people go about squeezing every question for all that it can teach.

Great question!

Something JY advocates is to take all the wrong answer choices for a question and practice making them correct. This exercise has helped me become way better at parallel questions, flaw questions, and several more I once struggled with. It also helped my brain become more able to quickly recognize characteristics of incorrect/correct answer choices.

Another helpful exercise is to write out your own explanations, even for questions you may have gotten right but are still a bit fuzzy on.

nathanieljschwartz

Thanks @"Alex Divine" , iv been at this test for a long time. But i want to confidentily feel that i have mastered everything that i do.

Alex

@nathanieljschwartz said:
Thanks @"Alex Divine" , iv been at this test for a long time. But i want to confidentily feel that i have mastered everything that i do.

No problem! If I could give you any advice for that, as someone that has also been at this test for a while, I would say to go about it just like you are. Keep trying to get the most of every question. I can't tell you the breakthroughs, small and large, I've had by really examining each question during BR.

BinghamtonDave

For every PT I take, I read and analyze every LR question a minimum of 5 times for the cookie cutter ones and often upwards 20 times for the more difficult ones. I parse out the structure of the argument, I also parse out whether the argument employed conditional logic or causation and even if there is the presence of a valid or invalid argument form in the argument from the CC. I then look for the presence of an assumption(s). During BR, I do this before I even look at the answer choices. Eventually comes the videos on 7sage because often Mr. Ping offers insight that flew by me. I then look at the comment section, particularly for comments written by "Accountsplayable" or "Sami" because often their insight on questions is helpful. Long story short, I think it is possible to take an exam on a Monday and spend 3 hours each day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday really digging into all that exam offers.

There are many lessons to learn on I would say 99% of all LSAT questions. I come across the occasional question where I do not drain too much effort on this level of analysis. 52-1-16 is a perfect example of a rabbit hole I personally won't touch. I would rather spend 1 hour on cookie cutter strengthen questions than an hour on that question.

If I were to offer one piece of advice to someone trying to get a 165+ on the LSAT it would be to be completely comfortable with and confident in cookie-cutter questions. I find this to be a really underrated skill in many people's approach. Each question on this exam is worth 1 point.

David

ChaudhryS

Hey @BinghamtonDave can you further elaborate on "cookie cutter questions"?

TheMikey

Cookie cutter questions are questions that conform to a specific pattern that is seen over and over again a bunch of times.

for example, the correlation/causation flaw, whole to part flaw, etc. are all cookie cutter flaws

BinghamtonDave

@salmachh cookie cutter questions are those that employ a repetitive framework often unobscured by the clever ways the LSAT might obscure them. An example of a cookie cutter form would be: a claim that two things are correlated in the premise followed by a claim that on the basis of this correlation there is causation as a conclusion. When we see these things, in order to increase speed, we should have at our fingertips the ability to weaken that structure, strengthen that structure, parallel that structure etc. More specifically, what I mean by cookie cutter questions are those that are given in a form we are all familiar with in a really transparent way. High level test takers can often predict the answer choices on the basis of their experience with these forms and shave time off these questions.