Skipping Questions

guitarnara

When you skip questions do you still circle an answer choice and come back to it, or leave it blank untill you come back to it at the end?

And are there different skipping strategies for LR/LG/RC?

runiggyrun

I think the vast majority of people bubble in their most educated guess before moving on. That's because more often than not you run out of time before you get to go back to all skipped questions, and there's no penalty for guessing. It also lessens the chance of a catastrophic bubbling error where everything gets accidentally shifted up.
I only bubble at the end of a page spread for LR, end of passage for RC and end of game for LG, so I'm talking about really skipping a question, not just answering passage/game questions out of order, because they don't get bubbled till the end anyway. Once I'm ready to turn the page, yes, something gets bubbled for every question.
Might want to have a special way to circle a question where you guessed as opposed to one where you weren't sure, to be able to go back quickly to the skipped ones.

Ron Swanson

I think that the answer to your main question depends on personal preference. Are you someone who will definitely remember to come back to the question you skipped? Or are you better off putting an answer down because you don't always give yourself enough time to come back or are prone to forgetting under timed pressure.

As far as individual sections go, you should listen to the skipping strategies webinar. For some people, it's tough to move on to other passages or games and then switch gears back to the passage/game for the question they skipped at the end of a section. Again, it comes down to your own comfortability. That's why you have to take a bunch of PTs! Check out that webinar, try out some strategies, and hone your personal skipping method!

twssmith

Please check out the webinar with a panel of Sages giving their personal experiences with different skipping strategies!
https://7sage.com/discussion#/discussion/6882/ended-skip-it-skipping-strategies-panel-w-jy-jimmy-allison-corey-nicole-tues-9pm-et

No one size fits all and as someone that is working on that aspect of PT phase, I asked @c.janson35 Sage Corey about this very topic during his office hours tonight about the process.
It takes time and practice to learn a strategy that works best for you personally especially LR. From my recent experiences, make sure you develop a process that is consistent to ensure you do not have bubbling errors. As for me, I will leave a blank on Q's that I skip immediately when I am not clear on the stimulus. The biggest lesson I learned on my last section - when I had time left over - I could not immediately identify the highest priority questions to maximize the few minutes I had left remaining so I am working on a notation system to mark what questions that need immediate attention. Maybe a huge "S" in the middle of the Stimulus might work>> "S" for skip or a plea for Superman to appear??

LG and RC have different strategies because they are comprised of 4 individual compact components. Skipping entire passages or games to move on to the next can be advisable under certain conditions but skipping an individual question will likely require you to re-immerse yourself in the game or passage, however - skipping difficult substitution rule Q's in LG can be advantageous.

As many have advised before and Corey said tonight, it takes time and practice to perfect the best skipping strategy. Please share any personal experiences as you develop your strategy!!

Hope this helps:)

stepharizona

For me I always skip PR questions to the end. I mark the smallest of on the score sheet and bubble A as a guess... there is no reason for A other than if i see the little dot and A I know it was a PR question. The dot does not register when being graded (I did this on my actual LSAT and had no issues), but mind you it really is the smallest of dots.

I skip PR questions as they are a time suck. I often get them right, but they will take me about 2 minutes. I also put a best guess answer and a tiny tiny slash on the answer sheet for a question I am not sure about. So once I finish the section I will go back to dashs first then the PR questions. Im slowly discovering that id I cut and run on a question early that i am unsure about, if I get a second look I can get the correct answer. I've been practicing this on timed LR drills and I did it on the PTs I took a while back and it really helped.Following this strategy I can finish a section about 6 min early and then review the questions. I am hoping over the 8 weeks of tests I completely get this nailed down.

Whatever guessing strategy you pick just make sure your practices. You had to find what works best for you, this happens to be the system that Im finally sticking to that seems to work well for me. The big thing I am working on is cutting and running from questions, as I am learning often I just need a few minutes away to see the right answer... think of it like a BR, but still within the timing limits of the section.

danielznelson

I normally skip questions without answering, though, on test day, I'm probably going to at least bubble in my guess before moving on. This really only because the proctor may short takers on time, something I know even some people on 7Sage have experienced before.

This may not be recommended by others, but for some RC passages, for example, I skip tough main point questions, going back to them when I've gone through all of the other questions. This way, I almost always have a better idea of what the main point was, and answering the other questions gives me confidence to tackle that question.

Cant Get Right

@stepharizona said:
id I cut and run on a question early that i am unsure about, if I get a second look I can get the correct answer.

Yeah, I’ve noticed this as well. I often can’t figure out why I was struggling with a question when I return to it. I’ve found this incredibly effective, especially for questions 1-12 or so.

@danielznelson said:
I normally skip questions without answering, though, on test day, I'm probably going to at least bubble in my guess before moving on.

Don’t show up on game day and deviate from what you practiced. Pick one and do it for both PTs and the real thing. If you’re worried about getting shorted on time, a great feature of the 7Sage proctor is you can bump your time down a minute or two.

@runiggyrun said:
a catastrophic bubbling error where everything gets accidentally shifted up.

This is my worst nightmare!

@twssmith said:
LG and RC have different strategies because they are comprised of 4 individual compact components. Skipping entire passages or games to move on to the next can be advisable under certain conditions but skipping an individual question will likely require you to re-immerse yourself in the game or passage

These sections are trickier. For me, I’ve got to really have some intuitive insight as to why I’m struggling with a question. With RC, I sometimes just need some space from the material to let the information simmer. I can often knock these out quickly when I return at the end. If I know I’m missing something specific though, a detail that isn’t going to come forward with the simmering process, I really prefer to return to it before moving on to the next passage. With Games I’m able to reorient myself with things a lot quicker, and this quick reorientation frequently exposes whatever rule or inference I knew but was overlooking for a particular question.

MrSamIam

Personal preference. Here is my take:
It depends on my reason for skipping. If I read the stimulus and ACs, and I feel somewhat confident about an answer, I will bubble it in, and mark the question as "skipped."
If after reading the stimulus the only thing that comes to mind is "The only way anyone could understand this passage is if they were drunk while reading it" i'll skip the question entirely - and, mark it as skipped.

I have somewhat different skipping strategies for each section.

-LR: See above

-RC: See above + I skip the question with the intention of coming back to it after I complete the other questions for that passage. If the question still gives me trouble, I'll come back to it after I've completed the final RC passage.

-LG: I usually only skip questions if they seem like time sinks. For instance, "rule substitution" questions and questions where each AC posits a different scenario (ex: A) If X than..., If Z than...). I'll come back to these after I have completed all of the games. Otherwise, I just use my remaining time to try and eliminate a few ACs, then guess.

danielznelson

@"Cant Get Right" makes a good point, which should definitely be applied to everything in regards to the test. And I should have been clearer - by normally, I really only mean more often than not, since I have been switching back and forth between bubbling in and not doing so. But because I've just been now realizing that I should at least plan for the worst when it comes to time (a proctor shorting me five minutes, for example), I've had decided two PTs ago to bubble in for everything. It is still my preference, of course, and even though I probably prefer leaving skipped questions blank on my answer sheet, I'm too scared of the aforementioned possibility.

That stated, I ONLY fill in bubbles for skipped questions if I don't plan to revisit the question until the near-end or upon completion of the section. So if I'm skipping a question in a particular LG game or RC passage and plan to revisit that question before moving on to the next (or perhaps previous), I won't bubble in a guess. Instead, I revisit the question once more after finishing the rest in the respective game/passage. If I still cannot figure out the question, I DO fill in the bubble, because I probably won't revisit the question until after I've "completed" the section.

Occasionally, I have a difficult time parsing out language in a particular LR passage for the reason alone of not focusing. I will reread with an intentional focus, and if that still doesn't work, I move on to the next few on the page before going back. This is essentially akin to what I do with blank skipped questions in RC and LG. In the end, my personal preferences for bubbling v. not bubbling are tailored around time and the context of the situation. It perhaps isn't cut and dry as maybe bubbling in no matter what, but I've found it to be simple, reliable, and very helpful.

Cant Get Right

Man, if I got shorted five minutes I’d be careful with that too. I hope you’re planning to take your next test at a different testing center. You definitely don’t want to be worrying about that, so if you’ve got a strategy that eases your mind, go for it.

danielznelson

As far as personal strategies for skipping in general, I firmly stand by sometimes skipping difficult main point questions in RC. I may do a quick skim over the passage before deciding to move on, but I've found it to be very helpful to do the later questions before finishing up the main point question. I of course only do this when I am confident overall in my understanding in the passage. In other words, even though I'm having a hard time figuring out which answer choice is correct for the main point question, I feel confident in my overall understanding of what the passage was about, the specifics, and broad strokes painted, et cetera (that may seem paradoxical; I hope it's not). The questions often subtly suggest a particular main point to the passage. To me, it's a real "use the test to beat the test" technique. But doing this could potentially lead you to forget the passage as a whole in favor of the questions... which in turn could potentially lead you to readjust your perception of the main point, throwing off your chances to get the question right altogether. This hasn't happened to me, but it could and to anyone else as well. But doing this has helped me out in multiple cases.

stepharizona

@danielznelson said:
I normally skip questions without answering, though, on test day, I'm probably going to at least bubble in my guess before moving on

Be sure to practice this, otherwise it might throw you off... I knew it sounds silly, but always practice like its test day to build good habits

guitarnara

Wow, thank you all for your opinions. I watched the webinar last night and it definitely cleared up some cloud for me. As for the question about bubbling in, it was in regards to questions that you want to come back after the first round. A part of me still wants to guess an answer choice, just in case time runs out, while another part of me feels that it is counterproductive. If I follow through with the former route, there is the benefit of having an insurance. At the same time, however, if I were to go back to them, a second time, I would lose time erasing these "randomly picked" answer choices. I do want to make the distinction between this type of questions versus questions that I mark as being "not 100% certain" - usually ones where I get stuck between two ACs. For these questions, I would still bubble in an answer choice, since they are not random guesses. This type of questions would be looked at a second time, if after having looked at all my skipped questions, I still have time left. I know that JY, along with several other members of 7 sage, can pull this off, but I rarely have the time to do this. I have been trying to digest as much of the info as possible. Am I even making sense?

guitarnara

Oh and one more question!!! Some of you have mentioned marking a small dot beside any question that you skip, on the scantron answer sheet. Is this allowed? I read stories about people getting misconduct notices for writing outside the box.

danielznelson

Haha, yes, and that's exactly the dilemma. Maybe you'll find yourself doing better with time, and, as a result, you'll change up your strategy a bit. I imagine it seems far-fetched to have the time to go back and review several questions, but I think with enough time, you can get there.

stepharizona

@guitarnara said:
Some of you have mentioned marking a small dot beside any question that you skip, on the scantron answer sheet. Is this allowed?

Yep. I am not sure what "box" you're speaking of. This is from my actual LSAT test. Tons of small dots... and all of them I marked were right, but I marked far too many it... call it first section freak out.