How to study logical reasoning effectively?

csharm002

Hello!

As some of you may see my name again, you may remember my absolute freak out about LG. Well fear no more! I've consistently gotten down to a -5 (-2, -3 BR) over a handful of preptests and feel much more confident. SO the next thing on the list is LR. This is without a doubt my worst section, as I know many others are in the same boat. I'm taking the June test (and will probably have to take the August test). Are there any strategies anyone has used to improve 3 to 4 questions in LR quickly? With this time constraint I know it won't be possible to get down to -5 or less, but I just wish to see a slight improvement. So, what works best? Drilling your weaknesses? Pouring over missed questions on PTs? I'm open to all suggestions and methods!

PFT Commenter

Big thing for me was timing. I am scoring around 160 currently, with LG being my best section (-3 to 5), and RC being my worst section (-7 to 9). LR has always been a section where I would do well under BR (usually around -3), but would struggle under timed conditions (-8 or 9). @Logician provided me with a strategy that has really helped me under timed conditions:

If you read the stimulus and do not understand the argument, immediately skip the question and move on. This is probably because either a) you are just missing a key insight into the argument or b) the question is really hard. If you do this properly, you will have time at the end of the section to come back to the questions you skipped.

The benefit of this is that you will be able to at least identify the low-hanging fruit, to capture easy points during your first pass through on a timed LR section. Then after you have at least looked at each question once, you can decide where to employ the remaining time to ensure you secure as many points as possible. The benefit of this strategy is that you do not spend excessive time on 170 curve breaker question (questions that you or I would likely get wrong anyway), and can instead spend more time on 3 or 4 star difficulty questions to boost you score.

I recently began employing this strategy, and I usually have about 10-12 minutes to invest in the 6 or 7 questions that I either need to guess on, or spend more time to dive into to figure out that correct AC. I think the biggest thing for a 150 scorer needs to do in order to break into the 160s is to develop a timing strategy that works for them.

For me, this strategy took my LR from a consistent -8 or 9, to a consistent -6 or 7, including a -5 on my last PT (PT85). Another thing that has helped immensely on LR has been to clearly differentiate between context, premises, and the conclusion of an argument. When I first started to PT, I found I was lazy and would not clearly differentiate the structure of the argument. I found once I clearly defined premises and conclusions, NA and SA, as well as flaw questions became exponentially easier.

csharm002

@"PFT Commenter" This is a great suggestion! I actually had just heard a similar method be successful with one of the people JY had interviewed on the podcast and was planning on trying it out. You're also right about finding a strategy to break into the 160s, as I am consistently in the high 150s and can't seem to move up. Thank you for the feedback!

Logician

@"PFT Commenter" glad to hear it's been working out for you and congrats on the score jump!

Cynthia-2

If your funds llow, I would mximize the time with one on one tutoring for the question types tht you are getting wrong. Yes, it does require money, but in the long run the benefits gained will far exceed the investment made.