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Related Discussions
How to Read LR
Redentore3337
Alum Member
Hello 7sagers,
Iv been studying for 8 months. Went through the CC, did Powerscore, did Manhattan Prep, and I'm still getting -8, -7, -6, with my BR usually being around -4, -6. I feel like I've made a lot of traction when it comes with RC and LG. With RC, I realized that If I just read it slower with a narrator's voice in my head as I'm reading it, that I was able to retain a lot of the information and structure, with very minimal notations. With LR though, I feel like my strategy is obviously off, something about how I'm reading it, my focus isn't where it needs to be, I'm not sure. I try to read them with an eye for the conclusion and premise, but when I'm cognizant of this, I feel like I'm not understanding it completely if that makes sense. I'm BR'ing correctly, I write all the answers I get wrong in an excel spreadsheet and go through each answer and reason it out, and I'm going to continue to do this but I think something is off with my reading strategy and my focus. Because I'm missing questions that I know, that are so obvious when I go to BR.
Just casting a large net here and seeing if others have felt this way, and what they did to master their focus and reading ability on LR, or any general tips on combating this would be much appreciated.
Comments
hi,
yeah LR is a very complicated section. There is a lot more going on throughout an LR section then LG and even RC. I would appreciate if you could give a little more background. Do you struggle with every LR type or just a a few specific question types?
for myself what has brought me down to consistently missing 1-2 was memorizing common flaws and getting down formal logic.
when it comes to structure it helps if you zero in on what's important i.e. if it's a MP I just look towards which direction the structure of the stimulus is headed.
If it's a flaw, we want to isolate exactly why the premises don't logically lead to the conclusion.
I would tell you that if you have trouble identifying conclusion and premises you should revisit the Grammar section of the CC and perhaps the LR section on Main Conclusions.
hope some of this helps
It varies which LR questions I struggle with. I'd say weaken, pseudo sufficient asssumption, some necessary assumption, and some flaw questions are probably my biggest weak points.
For memorizing common flaws, wouldn't that just help you with flaw questions specifically? I feel like my formal logic is pretty solid, the issue for me is when to write down the logic and when not to.
I don't usually have trouble identifying conclusion and premise. It's when I'm deliberately focused on it that it seems like I lose comprehension of the stimulus.
It's like with RC, at first I tried notating everything, but that didn't help me at all and I was losing focus on the structure and main points by trying to notate every thing that seemed significant.
So I'm reasoning that, my problems with LR, might be due to some inefficiency in terms of how I'm reading it and where my focus is shifting
I think everyone has to find their own groove. It seems you’ve found that groove for RC but not LR. For me, I like to put my pencil down a lot because it helps me really focus in on the stimulus. You probably know these tips already, but here are some reminders:
1. Invest good time in the stimulus. Putting time in the front end will save you time in the back end.
2. Don’t linger if you don’t know the answer or are hazy about the stimulus.
3. The LSAT is an exam of seconds. So, personally, it is an exam of quick decision making. Spending 3 mins on a question could mean lost time on 3 or 4 other questions.
4. Be patient with yourself. Just as you’ve found your groove for RC, you will find your groove for LR. It may take lots of trial and error, but you have to keep adjusting your approach to find your groove.
Hope that helps ~
Thanks man,
When you say you put your pencil down, do you mean that you read the stimulus with your pencil guiding you? Did you always do that or is that something that you think helped you focus?
I think this is something that many people don't fully come to but once you realize that every flaw, weaken, strengthen, SA are the same, .A flaw ask you to speak out the problem, A weaken asks you to actually identify the flaw and expose it with a scenario. every strengthen question asks you to shore up the flaw in the argument. and SA questions ask you to find the link between premise and conclusion which is a flaw.
Memorizing common flaws will help you with at least 3 of the 4 above and is a game changer for speed and accuracy
Ok, I see. Are there any resources besides the CC that you'd recommend for memorizing common flaws? Or would you say the CC is the best place for that?
Try many different strategies and see which one helps you develop the most confidence, allowing you to go through LR almost unconsciously. RC is a great example of this with the paragraph summaries. The intent behind this is to force you to consider structure and rhetorical purpose. Once you get good at this, the summaries are less important because you know exactly what you need to hone in on to succeed. LR is similar in that you need to understand the stimulus in a robust manner. I tried many strategies to do this from diagramming every argument to tracking every word with my pencil. These strategies are kind of like training wheels to help you develop the confidence you need direct your focus in the right areas.
Thanks Lucas,
Yea, at this point, I feel like I got the fundamentals down, its just finding and implementing a strategy that will work for me. I need something that hone's in my focus, because I know how to identify the conclusion and premise, and I understand conditional logic. It's just zero-ing in on the stimulus. So far, I've found the pencil strategy, so I'm going to try that.
@Redentore3337 Nope, there are times where I literally put my pencil down. I don’t do it all the time, but when I do, it really gives me a sense of calm. I think it is a variation of hunt mode. You are taking the driver’s seat and hunting for the correct answer. Typically, you can do this for SA, NA and flaw questions. But it can really vary for what questions I’ll put my pencil down. It is really hard to explain, but simply put, it helps you out by giving you a sense of calm and control during an exam. I think it is worth trying out.
I really think the CC is good make flash cards and go through them for a couple of days 2× times a day.
Also make it a habit to employ identifying cookie cutter flaws during BR. many LSAT questions repeat but w different words. you will start to notice patterns in Flaws and make sure to write it down every time.
also during my own personal BR I write down the conclusion first and than work backwards to the premise no matter the structure it presents itself in the stimulus this has helped me loads.
I write:
conclusion
why?
Premise:
flaw:
and than I analyze the AC.
this brought me from -6/-7 to around -3.
hope this helps
this applies to all strengthen. weaken flaw and SA questions and very often for NA questions
I usually only use my pencil to eliminate answers. I was going to try reading though the stimulus with a pencil, as I remember JY said thats what he did. But you're saying you sometimes just put it down for certain questions. Thats interesting.
Ok, I usually do write the conclusion and premise but don't write the flaw down when I'm BR'ing. I'll try doing that.
What do you mean exactly by cookie cutter flaws?
It means a flaw in an argument that we see many times throughout tests for example we see the author confuses necessity and sufficiency all the time so I would note this in the effort that I realize it faster the next time I see it
Ok gotcha. Thanks!
Understanding flaws is crucial to Flaw questions, assumption questions and weaken/ strengthen. I had a hard time intuitively understanding common flaws until I Read the flaw lessons in the LSAT trainer. Instead of memorizing all the individual flaws. Mike Kim categorizes them in a very particular way that gives you a glimpse of how the test makers make arguments in the LSAT. once I understood that, Flaw, NA and SA became much more transparent.
On the same boat here! Found my groove for RC but I'm still struggling to find a consistent groove with LR. I found one for BRing LR but timed is different.... The one time I scored high in LR near my goal was the time I went through the questions with incredible speed and I trusted my gut instinct. I tend to linger and question my AC so when I tried this out on the last PT I did, I was surprised at the result.
I also deployed a skipping strategy and it helped with the speed. I'd have maybe < 10 mins left and it gave me time to revisit those skipped questions and the questions I was uncertain about.
That's really interesting. So now I have two strategies that I'm going to try: Spending more time in the stimulus and going through it with a more fine tuned approach, letting the pencil be a guide, and going fast and doing it on pure instinct. Hopefully there is a sweet spot somewhere in the middle. Let me know if that keeps working for you. I'm determined to find a way that works, I know there has to be.
Yea I have the LSAT trainer and its been very helpful for RC, but I still havn't found a useful way to employ its LR strategies. I'm gonna go back and revisit that chapter though.
Ok so I need to take my own advice haha. The last few days I lost my confidence in LR and bombed it today on my PT. I came back to tell you something else that someone suggested to me in regards to LR: doing confidence drills!
Well, the going as fast as I could strategy didn't work, and the read slower didnt work. I think that was me just trying to make sense of things/ justify how long I've spent on it without much traction.
But when I went back I realized I was missing a bunch of the same question types again, so I'm actually drilling now and going back to the CC and really getting the strategies down for each question type. Has confidence drills helped you?