Parallel Method of Reasoning - Strugglin' #help

LAWYERED

Hi everyone,

I am really struggling with Parallel Method of Reasoning Questions. I just finished the CC lessons on it and I feel like I still don't have them down in terms of timing and/or the method. I feel like I spend way too much time on them and I am considering skipping them when I see them on the real test so that I don't let them turn into a time-suck.
Interestingly enough, on my diagnostic I got all 2 of the Parallel Method questions correct...so idk why these problem sets are such a struggle. It often feels as if I don't even understand what the stimulus is trying to tell me...like I get confused and stressed by these questions.

Thoughts? Advice? Opinion on skipping these questions?

Either way, I think I'll come back to these lessons in a couple of weeks when I feel like I've thoroughly forgotten them...

Ohnoeshalpme

Parallel method and parallel flaw are the hardest question types by most standards. They require a significant amount of time and engagement to get correct. I’ve played around with the numbers and as a general strategy, I’d say it’s a pretty good idea to skip these immediately when you come across them. They take up a crazy amount of time and accuracy tends to be low. You could spend 2-3 minutes on a parallel method or parallel flaw and make little to no progress.

In terms of test-taking strategy, I think it’s inportant to remember that for a 170, you can still miss 3 questions per section. Allow yourself to skip these and come back to them at the end. If you don’t reach 100% certainty or run out of time with one of these left, it’s not a huge deal.

That being said, they are a great resource for practice and their arguments tend to be the most simple of any question type. If you are great at internalizing arguments and prephrasing, parallel flaws aren’t actually that scary.

LAWYERED

Thank you soooo much! I feel so much better just knowing that other people struggle and getting confirmation that the skipping method is a good idea. Also, I had no idea that you could miss three questions per section and still get a 170. wow

ebalde1234

@Ohnoeshalpme said:
Parallel method and parallel flaw are the hardest question types by most standards. They require a significant amount of time and engagement to get correct. I’ve played around with the numbers and as a general strategy, I’d say it’s a pretty good idea to skip these immediately when you come across them. They take up a crazy amount of time and accuracy tends to be low. You could spend 2-3 minutes on a parallel method or parallel flaw and make little to no progress.

In terms of test-taking strategy, I think it’s inportant to remember that for a 170, you can still miss 3 questions per section. Allow yourself to skip these and come back to them at the end. If you don’t reach 100% certainty or run out of time with one of these left, it’s not a huge deal.

That being said, they are a great resource for practice and their arguments tend to be the most simple of any question type. If you are great at internalizing arguments and prephrasing, parallel flaws aren’t actually that scary.

How many points are you missing though if you skip pf qs ? I’ve seen them pop up more recently

keets993

For parallel reasoning and parallel flaw it means that you're not adequately grasping the structure of the stimulus. They are perfect examples of how tackling answer choices without a good grasp of the stimulus can be erroneous. I found that the thing that was most helpful for me on these questions was breaking down the wrong answer choices and making them into correct ones, using both english and lawgic (where applicable)

For example:

Stim: All jedi use the force. Luke is a jedi. Therefore, Luke uses the force.

This is classic:
A -> B

A

B
Here we have answer choices:

A) All fruits are delicious. Some delicious things are healthy. Therefore, some fruits are healthy.
B ) All apples are red. All apples are delicious. Therefore, all red apples are delicious.
C) All pizza tastes good. Hawaiin is a type of pizza. Therefore, Hawaiin pizza tastes good.
D) Dinosaurs are sometimes purple. Barney is a dinosaur. Therefore, Barney is sometimes purple.
E) Black is the absence of color. Color is beautiful. Therefore, black is not beautiful.

So, obviously, C has our parallel form (P -> G; affirm the sufficient (P); therefore, we can conclude the necessary (G). That's half the work. The other half is in understanding and translating the other answer choices. There's actually two benfits to this. First, you can see how manipulative the structures are and reinforce your fundamentals. Second, you get more exposure to different types.

This post is getting long. But try to figure out why A, B, D, and E are wrong. And more importantly, how you can make them into the right answer choices! AND, if the reasoning is valid or invalid. Hope that helps

These are time sinks and it's probably best to skip them on the first round, but often the structure of the stimulus is really simple. Also, it's okay if they're time sinks for you as you go through the core curriculum. You shouldn't have to worry too much about timing right now, focus on mastering the fundamentals.

Adam Hawks

You should not skip a PR question, they are long, but they tend to be straightforward and simple as @keets993 said. She did a great job describing how to do PR. PR questions are usually logically sound so you don't have to look for a flaw like in Parallel Flaw questions.

Wrong answers in PR questions will misrepresent the logic (e.g. A---B therefore B--> A or A--> B therefore A --> B)

They will take about 2 to 2:30 minutes, but they are really simple once you are more familiar with the test.

Ohnoeshalpme

@ebalde1234 said:

@Ohnoeshalpme said:
Parallel method and parallel flaw are the hardest question types by most standards. They require a significant amount of time and engagement to get correct. I’ve played around with the numbers and as a general strategy, I’d say it’s a pretty good idea to skip these immediately when you come across them. They take up a crazy amount of time and accuracy tends to be low. You could spend 2-3 minutes on a parallel method or parallel flaw and make little to no progress.

In terms of test-taking strategy, I think it’s inportant to remember that for a 170, you can still miss 3 questions per section. Allow yourself to skip these and come back to them at the end. If you don’t reach 100% certainty or run out of time with one of these left, it’s not a huge deal.

That being said, they are a great resource for practice and their arguments tend to be the most simple of any question type. If you are great at internalizing arguments and prephrasing, parallel flaws aren’t actually that scary.

How many points are you missing though if you skip pf qs ? I’ve seen them pop up more recently

About 1 PF expected per section and one Para per section. So that's 4 for an entire test.

ebalde1234

@Ohnoeshalpme seems like the returns are slim for someone who doesn’t grasp it .. time better spent on na / sa type perhaps

Ohnoeshalpme

[deleted]?

Ohnoeshalpme

@"Adam Hawks" said:
You should not skip a PR question

I think this prescription is too strong. In my case, I've found that I save much more time in a section by skipping these questions immediately on principle and then returning to them once I've picked up all of the other questions. The idea is to attempt these questions last so that you've had a chance to grab all of the low hanging fruit. None of us would agree that you should just skip them and never look at them ever again.

I think that eventually, if you're scoring -2/-3 consistently on LR that you don't need to skip anything, but the idea is that for the vast, vast majority of test takers, it makes clear sense to skip the most-missed and most time consuming question type.

Ohnoeshalpme

@ebalde1234 said:
@Ohnoeshalpme seems like the returns are slim for someone who doesn’t grasp it .. time better spent on na / sa type perhaps

Generally speaking, yes. Obviously the strategies for a student aiming for a 160 are going to be different than for a student trying to score a 170.