Diagramming SA's

Marco Antonio

To all of you who are masters of SA's: do you diagram them on the actual exam? I feel that if I don't then, I won't get them correct. Should I diagram them on the exam, or do I just need more practice diagramming them in general

FixedDice

Better safe than sorry, no?

paulmv.benthem

For me, it really depends on the level of difficulty. In most cases, if I read the passage carefully, then I can usually pick out the gap. I'll then make a little annotation in the passage to highlight the gap, and then I will move onto the ACs to find a choice that will allow the conclusion to be properly drawn. In such instances, I find that the diagramming can sometimes become both time consuming and confusing.

For more difficult SA questions, however, I will often need to draw a crude diagram to the side of the passage. For instance, when the AC is describing a negation that allows a postive conclusion to be drawn.

I've found one of the most helpful forms of practice for tackling SA questions is to write down the passage in a document (I use Evernote) and write up a structural outline in my own words. Oftentimes, SA question passages reuse argumentative structures, meaning that reviewing past structures allows you to more easily conceptualize the structure mentally and then anticipate a correct AC. It takes time, but it's definitely worth it!

Keep up the great work!

akistotle

After practicing, you will be able to do it without diagramming.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
I write arrows on the stimulus and undeline the sufficient and necessary condition: "For something to be successful, →　it must B" and do everything in my head like:

"Something is not successful
Something is A
success → B

Ok, now we need A → /B"

Alex

@"Marco Antonio" said:
To all of you who are masters of SA's: do you diagram them on the actual exam? I feel that if I don't then, I won't get them correct. Should I diagram them on the exam, or do I just need more practice diagramming them in general

The thing is, don't try to take the test like a master until you have the skill set to back it up. One of the worst mistakes I've made in my prep was trying to take sections/PTs like someone who is scoring a 180 when I was far from it.

Ideally, you don't want to be diagramming out SA's on the test. I think if you can get really good at them, you won't need to diagram 99% of them. Although there was a tough one about sentient beings on PT62? that I had to diagram... But that's the only one I can remember having to diagram in all the PTs I've taken.

Yup! You got it! Tons of practice diagramming SAs will help you achieve a level of mastery. You've got the Ult + package so you have plenty of material to drill and practice on. Plus, JY's explanations always have diagrams in them for SA questions, which make it that much more helpful.

akistotle

@"Alex Divine" said:
Although there was a tough one about sentient beings on PT62? that I had to diagram...

I remember that one. I skipped first. lol
https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-62-section-4-question-18/