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After practicing some timed tests, I've finally accepted that I won't be able to do every single problem and have to learn to give up some problems. So what type of problems do you guys skip? Like what's your criteria to skip a problem and how long does it take you to make that decision?
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I'll admit that I'm pretty bad a skipping, but when I do skip problems they're ones that just totally make no sense after reading the stimulus and question. Sometimes I'll even read it over a second time because then it'll click, but if it still doesn't then I move on.
In LG, I've started skipping the rule substitution questions. They are a total time suck for me and I'm bad at them. I'll come back if I have time.
For LR, especially when the clock is winding down, I'll sometimes skip questions that are longer. Like, parallel flaws and parallel reasoning. Those are just a lot of words to get through and analyze. It's basically reading 6 stimuli. That's time consuming. If I've hit the 5 minute warning and not finished, I'll skip over the ones that just have a ton of text like that.
Also agreed with @MissChanandler, I'm learning to be better about skipping the ones where the stimulus doesn't make a lot of sense to me on the first reading. Going back and reading over it slowly multiple times does often help me figure it out, but again that's a time suck.
So first, I love skipping. I think it is an immensely helpful too when taking timed tests. Even so, don't give up on finishing the section quite yet! With practice comes speed and you may be able to go back to some skipped questions!
As per what question type I skip, parallel and parallel flaw where immediate contenders for me. They take too long and frankly they were my worst question type. I know I am not alone in saving these for the end. Other LR skip questions include questions where I think two answer choices are strong. By skipping and coming back (after lightly guessing), sometimes I can approach the question in a new frame of mind which provides clarity.
For RC, any question that sucks me in time wise is a skip. I try to have an internal alarm that goes off telling me to move on. No question stem is an automatic skip but I often know if it is a skip contender 30 seconds into the question.
For LG, the only question I really skip on principle is rule substitution. I generally spend 45 seconds on it up front to see if an answer jumps out at me. I like to give it a first look before skipping as the rules of the game are already in my head. If none of the answer choices seem appealing I move on. Besides that, I skip according to my internal clock.
I skip when I don’t understand the stimulus or if I see multiple attractive answer choices .
I skip when I don't understand the stimulus after reading it twice.
I skip if I don't immediately understand the stimulus. If I understand the stimulus, read through the AC's and can't nail down one AC, I skip. If I space out at any point during the stimulus, I skip. If I can't concentrate on a given question, I skip. Generally speaking, I take the "least resistance" approach. This means that I skip questions that make me work abnormally hard. As you get more aware of your own competence and the difficulty of LR questions, you will intuitively come to know when to skip and when to spend time on a question.
Also, by skipping questions properly, you should be able to get to every question. Once you start skipping effectively, it gives you the flow and the confidence that you need to get to every question. For now, it sounds like you need to invest the most effort into BR
I skip when:
LR
1. I don't understand the stimulus after the second read
2. I eliminate all answer choices
RC
1. I can't find the line reference to affirm (I go with intuition, not necessarily just skip)
LG
1. I get to a rule substitution question and I feel like I'm crunched for time
Here's my method:
LR
- I consider skipping any question that has its own column (I also look at what type of question it is)
- I consider skipping any parallel method or flaw question (I also look at how long, and how complex the stimulus is)
LG
- I consider skipping any global CBT question (I look at how many relevant diagrams I have)
RC
- I don't skip any, but am comfortable with moving on even when I can't choose an answer
I don’t have a type of question I skip (it used to be parallel method but now I think they’re fairly easy to do so I don’t like to skip them). But if a question isn’t making sense, and by that I mean, I don’t like any of the answers, I’ll read it again, and if it still seems off, i skip, because, in all likelihood it’s not going to make sense now. I do the other questions on the page, then briefly go back to it and make a selection. But a big rule I have is to not wrestle/struggle with the language of it. Because, all that time spent trying to figure something out, and it could just be a trap, one of those sentences that makes no sense anyway.
Do people skip when doing problem set questions?
I am trying to start building in me the skipping technique but I am not sure how to do it.
What is a question that has its own column? Like parallel?
I mean questions that take up half a page. So just really long questions. You know how most questions only take up 1/4 of the page and there are 4 questions a page? Hahaha