What is your 50-50 strategy, How can I stop falling for the most attractive wrong answer choice?

yeasm22s

For LR and RC (especially with LR) when I go back and forth between two answer choices I always end up picking the wrong one. In my BR I can come up with all the reasons for picking the wrong one and not the other (right) answer choice. Can someone please share what they do when they are going back and forth between the right answer choice and the second best answer choice? I have tried going back to the stimulus, doing grammar analysis, locating referential phrases, identifying the gap between the premise and the conclusion, analyzing why I didn't pick the right answer choice. But I still end up picking the wrong one timed (and also sometimes during BR). Any suggestion would be really helpful!!

Isaac Bensaid

practice

mnnazir919

I try to rephrase both the stimulus and the answer choices extremely low-resolution. I say to myself "Ok, the stimulus is saying X, the question is asking for Y" and I try and predict an answer choice without looking at the choices themselves. Even if the prediction is off it can serve as a good jumping point/template for the right answer choice. In the event I can't predict, and/or I am torn between 2 equally attractive choices, I paraphrase each answer into the most simplest form and compare them against my low-resolution stimulus summary and pick the one that fits the most into what the question is asking.

Another good strategy is to compare the two answer choices and understand what scope is each trying to approach and accomplish. Is one focusing on one part of the stimulus and the other is very big picture, etc? Comparing the approaches of both answers to one another can help decipher trap choices. Re-identifying the argument also helps, I find myself getting stuck between 2 choices when I didn't really understand what the argument was/what it was exactly saying.

Glutton for the LSAT

I reread the stimulus and try to see which answer choice is the most descriptive relevant (i.e., can I find direct textual evidence in the stimulus to support this answer choice?). This has been a tremendous amount of help!

canihazJD

Situation dependent, and in no particular order of effectiveness:

Clarify the argument

Examine how the answers are different

Parse out AC language and try to assign each element to the referent in the stimulus

Subject answers to question type strategy/right answer criteria

Skip and come back

...or a combination thereof.

Riddled Basins of Attention

^^^ Lots of good information above.

I'd add that it's useful to know the common characteristics of correct answer choices for each question type. For example, correct answers for Sufficient Assumption questions tend to use strong language while correct answers for Necessary Assumption, Must Be True, and Most Supported questions tend to use weaker language. Please note: the content of the stimulus/argument will ALWAYS trump secondary concerns like language strength in determining the correct answer. However, this method can be crucial for picking up points when you're down to two answers and it's time to move on. If you do have a bit more time, and you know what to look for, focusing on differences in language strength can help you identify what differentiates two similar answer choices.