Skipping is like Basketball (sort of)

john1234-1

Hi all -

Many of you have listened to the Skip It webinar, as have I, and have found it to be incredibly useful.

-side note, if you have not, I would highly recommend you do so asap-

I was thinking about how important skipping is and was trying to come up with a relevant analogy to help elucidate the implications of skipping. (they are already some great analogies out there both in the webinar and elsewhere, such as skipped questions operating as generating "a return on interest")

Anyways, here goes something that I think is a useful way to think about it. Suppose you are on a basketball court and you have a certain amount of time to attempt 100 shots. Each of the 100 shots are assigned from varying distances from the basket (the father away = the difficulty level of questions). And shot difficulty does not necessarily go up with the number of shots taken. Taking more time on a shot is correlated with a higher chance of missing, although taking the time to think about the best way to approach the shot can be of help. Your score is based off how many shots you made, regardless of difficulty. You are allowed to skip a shot and comeback to it at the end (if there is a full court shot, you can leave it for the end).

Now, suppose this is your strategy - you go in order, 1-100.
Why on earth would you leave layups at the end that you might not even get to?? And try half and full court shots (i.e. curve breaker questions), simply because that is the order they are presented in?

OR, you could go for all the layups, and short distance shots first, developing confidence along the way. Then with ample time left, think about your approach on the harder shots, with the potential help of coming back to them with a new approach. Every basket is the same in the game - one point - there are not three pointers. Which strategy do you think will guarantee a better score? Even if you are a great basketball player, this method would still be the way to go.

Skipping is a powerful tool and allows for you to perform at the upper end of you range. This mental framework has helped me think about test taking strategy since I have a good BR score but am suffering with lower PT performance, which I think is a common theme for many test takers. I think skipping is key for closing the gap.

If this post has confused you beyond comprehension, then I am quite sorry and I would suggest inducing some sort of amnesia. But for me at least, it helped me think about the importance of skipping. Let me know what you guys think. And please post if there is something in the analogy I forgot about that could make it more solid.

Admin edit:
https://7sage.com/why-you-must-skip-questions-on-the-lsat/
https://7sage.com/webinar/skip-it/

msk12345

Sure, but you aren't describing basketball. You're describing some entirely made up game scenario that would work for literally anything (e.g. throwing darts from varying distances, kicking field goals from differently assigned distances, or hitting pitches at different speeds). The headline should be instead "Skipping is like this entirely made up game I created for purpose of an analogy."

john1234-1

That's a valid point - and you're right, all those other examples work too! In fact, I'd encourage others to come up with their own games that they might have experience with if it helps them familiarize with the process. The point of this exercise for myself, at least, was to think about skipping strategy in a more accessible form, not necessarily to analogize skipping to something in its exact form. Apologies if the title misled you.

jcraigcan

The title is fine. Regardless of if the idea can also be like other games, it can still be like basketball. (I mean this is an LSAT forum right?). MSK, you may not have got to that part of the syllabus yet.

cdaddario2

@"Always Be Closing" I for one appreciate you taking the time to write and post the discussion above. Perhaps the title and analogy were not perfect, but I understood it perfectly well. Those that are not so fond of the title and analogy may have a small point, but that takes nothing away from the excellent example you gave us to think about as we work toward becoming proficient and hopefully masterful at taking the LSAT. I have found this Discussion Section in 7-Sage to be really quite helpful. So have many others. This forum is designed to help one another, be supportive and instructional. You have done just that. Thank You.

Bumblebee

Thank you for the solid analogy!

Go for the layups & short-distance shots early on= go for the low-hanging fruits first!

And we can always practice and get better at 3-pointers (level 5 questions)!

john1234-1

Thanks everyone. And @happyLSAT Exactly! Both good points. And we can also practice making sure we get those easy shots quickly (i.e. the first 10 qs in LR in 10 minutes, easy pure, one-to-one mapping sequencing games in under 5 minutes, etc.)

msk12345

My comment was dick-ish. Meant to be a little tounge in cheek. Sorry!

john1234-1

No worries @msk12345 ! It can be hard to convey tone / intent without your actual voice lol. It's all good