Always choose wrong AC pf 2 ACs in LR...Please Help!

krystalszerszen

I have noticed a pattern for a while where I often am down to two answer choices in LR and whenever this happens I typically choose the wrong answer choice (AC). Yesterday on Prep Test 82 I got 4 questions wrong in one LR section and 5 in the other. In the section with 5 wrong, every single question I got wrong I had narrowed it down to 2 ACs and had chosen the wrong answer. Either I am the world's worst guesser or I am falling into some trap I am unaware of.

These are also the only questions in the section where I had not crossed out all of the incorrect answers. I very rarely cross out the correct answer but I am not always able to see which one is correct. I had also flagged all of the questions I got wrong on the one section and most of them on the other LR section so I am aware of the questions I am struggling with as I'm taking the test.

If I could get my LR down to -1/2 I would be ecstatic because my LG was only -1 yesterday due to a dumb sorting mistake I made, otherwise it would have been perfect. RC is always hit or miss for me.

Does anyone have any advice for choosing the right answer when it's down to two choices? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Jonathan Wang

You just have to remember that you're not "choosing" between 2 answer choices any more than you were "choosing" between 5. One answer is correct and the other four are incorrect, and it doesn't matter how many other options are left - if an answer is wrong, it's wrong no matter what else is out there. You eliminated three answer choices already; eliminate the fourth the same way. You said so yourself - these are the only questions where you didn't cross out the incorrect answers. What prevented you from doing so? That's your culprit.

If you're unable to eliminate, then that's where the learning of this question is going to kick in. Ask yourself what the (objective!) reason is that the wrong choice is wrong, why did you not see it that way, and how can you see it next time. Obviously, you should understand the right answer choice and how it works too. At the end of the analysis there should be a pretty sizable gap between the two in your mind; if there's not, it's time to seek out additional help for that question.

krystalszerszen

Thanks so much!

okkkkkkkkkkk

You are falling into some trap you are unaware of. Remember, there is no guessing in LR, consider that every wrong answer choice is intentionally designed to be attractive.

To directly address your concern, yes there is something for you to further improve on if you're finding yourself in the situation you've described.

On a more elaborate note, I've been studying LR for sometime and have managed to get -1/-2 on timed LR and -1/0 on BR. Usually the -1/0 on BR for me comes to down heavy conditional question, SA/PSA/Flaw, that require relatively excessive diagraming of conditionals.

I saw the greatest improvement in my LR the moment I understood that the "answer to an LR question is in the stimulus". Its very simple, if I go into the answer choices already knowing what the correct answer would/should address, then I'm highly likely to immediately select the correct answer after skimming through the choices while easily eliminating the others without falling into traps. If I read the stimulus, and couldn't figure it out, then I'm likely to spend significantly more time looking through the answer choices, thinking deeply about each one and whether its right or wrong, while also being increasingly more likely to pick the wrong one and ultimately also wasting a bunch of time.

There is a process to LR, an ACTIVE Process that you must keep in mind while you go through that section, this process is what gave me the most improvement:

1) I read the stimulus, mentally note the conclusion, the premises, and then in my own words I summarize the argument presented in the stimulus, while also noting what is potentially wrong with it. If I identify it is a premise set and not an argument, I simply do the same but instead I note to myself what the inference is likely to be.

At this point, I have a good understanding of the argument, and I am already anticipating the correct answer choice.

2) I move to read the question stem, based on the question type, I categorize the answer as needing to be either powerful or provable (concept from Ellen Cassidy Loophole book, very good LR guide book).

3) Based on 1 and 2, I am able to select the right answer choice with high confidence, while also quickly eliminating wrong answer choices.

In my opinion, if you go into the answer choices hoping to find the answer somewhere there, you will almost always be spending way too much time on the question, getting it wrong, or both. You should know the answer, roughly at least, before going looking at the answer choices.

okkkkkkkkkkk

In my opinion, if you go into the answer choices hoping to find the answer somewhere there, you will almost always be spending way too much time on the question, getting it wrong, or both. You should know the answer, roughly at least, before going looking at the answer choices.

Actually I shouldnt have said this, because many times my process wont necessarily lead to anticipating an answer choice, maybe because the argument is extremely sound, or perhaps overly ambiguous. In any case, the process will provide you with a better understanding of the stimulus, and a more simplified version. Which will ultimately up the chances of settling on the right answer choice.

Admittedly, sometimes things don't click, something about the stimulus is just so foreign to me that I cant wrap my head around the argument being presented. PT 57, S2, Q7, ( I got a -2 on timed take of this LR, and -1 on BR), this is the question I couldn't get timed nor on BR. Despite being one of the apparently easier questions in this section, I simply could not wrap my head around the stimulus. It happens, it is what it is.

okkkkkkkkkkk

Further example of my process, PT 57, S2, Q 10.

Process:

1)
Conclusion: "On our farm we have great concern for our cows environmental condition"
Premise: Increase cows comfort
Intermediary conclusion: Increase cows comfort also increases profit

What I then say back to myself: 'Increasing your cows comfort is equal to being concerned for your cows environmental condition. Really? Oh it also helps to boost your profit, go figure. '

At this point, I have some understanding of the argument. The sarcastic remarks I tell myself are reflective of skepticism, at this point I am skeptical of the farmers claims, particularly that he has great concern for his cows environmental conditions. On an intuitive level, I understand I can weaken this argument by saying he cares about the profit, and not the environmental conditions. I can similarly strengthen this argument by mitigating this, I understand that the correct AC for a strengthening question stem would address the farmers interest in profit, specifically would down play such interest while supporting a greater concern for the cow itself. I also note that the stimulus oddly equates a cows comfort with its environmental condition. In this sense the conclusion in the stimulus is too strong/broad for its premises. I think nothing more and move on.

With this in mind, I move on to the question stem.
"of the following propositions, which one is best illustrated by the dairy farmers statements"

2) The answer must be provable, not powerful. (concept from Loophole Ellen Cassidy's LR book)

AC: A) Conditional + physiology of milk? What in the hell? Immediately eliminate.
AC: B ) Ok sounds good
AC: C) More than other animal? Stimulus makes no mention of other animals. Immediately eliminate.
AC: D) Prescriptive answer choice; (telling us how something should be done when the stimulus doesn't do that.) Huge no, immediately eliminate.
AC: E) Stimulus makes no mention of "ThE KeY To MaxIMIzInG ProFIts" (Insert DJ Khalid). Immediately eliminate.

krystalszerszen

Thank you so much! That is all very helpful. For the last Question you gave as an example I would most likely get stuck between B and E and not be able to distinguish the difference between increasing and maximizing profits under the time pressure and anxiety of the test so I could see myself falling into that trap but I also see why E is incorrect.

JD__2528

I was having a similar problem and really wanted to perfect my LR. In order to solve this, I recently changed my wrong answer journal format and it helped me with the down-to-twos. I kind of came up with my own methods to cope with the situation when I'm down-to-two.

Like many others, this doesn't mean you're comparing between the two answers. There will always be one right answer, and it won't pop out by comparing it against another attractive one. This is more of a method to really say a firm no to the wrong tricky answer that was fighting for your attention - makes you read answer choices very literally and critically.

On a google sheet, divide sheets into Q types (Strengthen/Weaken, Flaw, NA, SA/MBT, etc) and write down in each column,
(1) argument (not the stimulus itself, your organization of the argument)
(2) gap/flaw in reasoning (Strengthen/Weaken, Flaw) or chain of inference (MBT, Inference Qs, SA), paradox (evaluate, resolve)
(3) right answer (in full sentence)
(4) why they are right AND why it's tough for you to notice: this is not relevant to the stimulus in that 'oh i just misread the stimulus'. it's more about the answer choices themselves - how they are phrased, how they went extra/irrelevant/omitted/changed subject/requires assumption/subtle wordings.
(5) wrong answer (in full sentence): not all other fours, but just the one that was left for down-to-twos
(6) why it's wrong + why it's hard/attractive: again, not just about the stimulus, but more of answer choices themselves.
(7) tips to overcome / common trap used

I also applied a hashtag system to see if I tend to have a pattern in wrong answers. I might find a certain type of question, common trap, argument strategy challenging OR I might find that I always fall for a specific type of answer choice. You can use it for any type of the above (1)~(7) cell. Some of mine were #changingsubject #detailsinwording #requiresassumption #causationcorrelation #addinginfo #misspointatissue #keywordinconclusion. Because it's written on a google sheet format, it's really easy to search for these keywords and see if the questions or answer choices have anything in similar.

• I also use it to keep my 'identifying argument' skill sharp. I would just read the organized argument and prephrase what's wrong/missing and check. This way I'm not losing much energy by going through a whole question.